Adthena vs. D&B Hoovers vs. Webtrends Analytics

By using the share of search aspect of Adthena, I could see that although the SOS for one brand was high at this point in time compare to competitors, that the competitor had more growth in the last 3 months which identified a time to research in more depth to see as to why which I wouldn't have got if I used a platform which looks at the search volume as it stands and worked out the SOS manually.

Incentivized

Prospecting corporate accounts near a hotel location. Our sales manager wants to generate a list of companies within a 5 mile radius that may need regular lodging for employees or contractors. D&B Hoovers will allow her to filer by geography, industry, company size and employee count. Then she can view detailed company profiles and contact decision-makers.

Incentivized

Scenarios 1. If you want to use web server log files as input to your web analytics, then Webtrends will provides a good product, with great ease of implementation. Don't even think about being cheap on hardware, and make sure Webtrends runs on real servers, not in a VM environment. 2. If you want to use Data Tagging, similar to Google Analytics or Site Catalyst, Webtrends has a powerful product, just be prepared to pay. 3. If you are new to Web Analytics, but it is the strategic direction, start with Webtrends on Premises. Questions to Ask 1. What are you trying to accomplish? 2. Can you place a dollar value on the benefit that you expect/need from Webtrends? 3.Can you live with Webtrends running SaaS?

• Track and monitor spend and performance against competitors.
• Identify missed keyword opportunities.
• Informs our campaign and keyword budgeting/bidding on a daily basis.

Incentivized

• The D&B Hoovers platform enables our team to customize, giving us the ability to fine-tune our searches
• D&B Hoovers integrates very well Salesforce, our CRM system, streamlining the workflows of sales teams and ensuring the verified transfer of data between platforms
• D&B Hoovers provides highly accurate and reliable business data

Incentivized

• Control privacy, data sharing and competitive industrial knowledge using Webtrends on premises
• Great control over custom reports, custom dimensions and metrics
• Flexible tool which allows multiple methods of data capture. To my knowledge it was the first tool with a Tag Builder / Tag Management function built in via a supporting website.

• Slow performance.
• Ranking options are not detailed enough.

Incentivized

• I think maybe if they vetted the contacts that they're providing for those companies, it would be beneficial because I do use other avenues to vet the contacts because a lot of times I found that it is outdated information in D&B Hoovers, so that would be beneficial to us.

Incentivized

• The big downside, the elephant in the room, is that it does not (as of right now) have on-demand segmenting, drilldowns, etc. You have to think of what you want in advance and create those reports then analyze some data. This is huge. You can, of course, re-analyze old data after creating new reports but you still have to wait. (This deficiency may become obsolete with the release of Webtrends Explore later this month (May 2014).)
• It has fewer mature integrations with other products and databases than competitors do, although I'm told it works with SharePoint better than anything else does.
• Its attribution modeling capability is behind Google Analytics'. In my humble opinion, this could be changed quickly if Webtrends would make some tweaks to its standard visitor history files (i.e. preserve the order in which past visits were sourced beyond the single most recent one, rather than storing all those past sources as a randomized list).
• It doesn't incorporate statistical tests, confidence intervals, or statistical associations. However, this same criticism can be applied to its competitors (other than A/B Testing products). It's a tabulation program, as they all are. In this respect, web analytics tools as a group are relatively primitive. Sorry to bring this up as a criticism of Webtrends but it's my pet peeve about the whole industry and I just have to say it. (p.s. take advantage of the heavy-duty Webtrends Scheduled Export functionality to get really granular data that you can feed to a stats program to get significances.)
• Although the documentation, help screens, phone support and the knowledge base have improved tremendously in recent years, there is still a pretty steep learning curve because it is different from the tools that entry-level users may have already been exposed to. This can be a shock and many users are alienated at first because they just don't get some of the fundamentals at first. I'd like to see much better help screens that are thoroughly interlinked with the KB and documentation. Having superb online support would make a world of difference with the adoption of this basically powerful tool.

I use D&B Hoovers very frequently and could not do my job as efficiently without it. I think there is room for improvement, but it is effective enough that I feel as though I will continue renewing by subscription. I highly recommend D&B Hoovers and find it very accurate and easy to use.

Incentivized

I would be willing to try Webtrends again AFTER some research from other users. I would need to see that users mention better and faster customer support on questions and issues that arise while using the software. The software is capable of vast and incredible things, but if it isnt properly set up and supported during use, it is just a big hassel and waste of everyones time and money.

Whenever I had to use D&B hoovers, I never had a hard time with getting what I need. Additionally, when I show the tool to others, they tend to understand the platform quite quickly. The tool itself is very good and straightforward when I use it to help me put analyses together.

If I could give it a 0, I would. Not having an intuitive user interface made it impossible to convince non-analytic business users to use the tool on their own. Even as a seasoned analyst, frequent calls were needed to get what should be simple tasks done. Account managers don't understand the tool either, and have to refer you to technical support

The platform is generally reliable and accessible when needed, with minimal application errors or unplanned outages. There may be occasional maintenance or minor disruptions, but these are usually communicated in advance and handled efficiently. Overall, it offers a high level of availability, ensuring that you can count on it for your daily operations.

Incentivized

It is much better than average. Down time usually occurs because of a need to refresh the server on our end.

While the platform generally functions well, with pages loading in a reasonable time and reports completing within a satisfactory timeframe, there is room for improvement. Performance can sometimes lag with more complex queries or during peak usage times. Additionally, when integrated with other software or systems, there can be occasional slowdowns. Overall, while it performs adequately, optimizing speed and integration efficiency could enhance the user experience.

Incentivized

The v9 admin interface and v10 reporting interface work as well as expected, but have a tendency to be pokey, especially for bulky reports and whenever you're connected to wifi. I much prefer using the REST API for all reporting for this reason, which simply dumps out the data and doesn't bother with the user interface.

Our Kantar rep is great and very responsive overall. It is hard to get on-site training and preferred pricing with them, but at the end of the day, I am helpful that they are around.

Incentivized

I think it could be better, easier and faster. Whenever I chat with someone it takes so long to get to an actual agent, and then when I finally get to one, they oftentimes don't have the answers for me or do not understand what I am asking, which is very frustrating.

Incentivized

I once went on to Twitter to ask for help from my network of analytics people, and Webtrends themselves responded. They have been an excellent partner in making sure that their product is being used to the best of it's ability and I greatly appreciate that. Both Omniture and Google Analytics, do not have that level of support over social media

The in-person training was comprehensive enough to get you started, but I strongly recommend having a more experienced person when beginning with the tool.

The training sessions were well-structured and covered the key functionalities of the platform, making it easy to get up to speed. The trainers were knowledgeable and responsive to questions, which added value to the learning experience. However, a bit more in-depth coverage of advanced features and use cases would have made the training even more beneficial.

Incentivized

Webtrends provides several free webinars over the course of the year, many of which I would expect to pay for. The people providing the webinars seem to have a good feel for real-world application of the product.

for our use case, the implementation was minimal and we did not need a lot of help. The D&B Hoovers platform is pretty intuitive and our account manager was ready for any questions that came up when we use the D&B Hoovers platform

Incentivized

Careful planning and patience. Use a non-public test site to fine tune tags and reporting. Despite best laid plans, there will be surprises when you collect the data, run the analysis and begin generating reports using the tool. Perform a tag audit to ensure tags fire as desired.

You see more insight (over time, period on period growth) and save time compared to platforms which looks at the search volume as it stands and you have to work out the SOS manually.

Incentivized

Finance Analytics provides a more thorough company credit report and is more in-depth than Hoovers. However, I use Hoovers for instances where I do not need that information because it allows unlimited queries, whereas you pay for a limited number of reports from Finance Analytics. Hoovers provides a better link between corporate family trees and finance analytics.

Incentivized

Webtrends has its work cut out for itself considering you have the behemoth Google Analytics and Google Analytics Premium having a strong offering and brand recognition for the price of free. After reviewing the paid service I'd suggest you start off with GA as a cheaper alternative that is just as robust, if not much more flexible in regards to the reporting and goal tracking needs for our company.

Incentivized

The pricing model is generally clear and competitive, but there could be more flexibility in terms of unit pricing or billing frequency to better accommodate varying needs. While the contract terms are straightforward, exploring more options or customizable plans might enhance the overall value.

Incentivized

D&B Hoovers is quite effective at adapting to the needs of different departments and locations, allowing for flexible deployment and integration across various parts of an organization. While it scales well and supports a broad range of users and functions, there might be some limitations depending on the size and complexity of the organization’s requirements. Overall, it provides a robust solution that can grow with your needs.4o mini

Incentivized

very professional

Incentivized

• Improved competitive analysis
• Insightful data that helps improve client trust
• Indentifying opportunities for keyword expansions

Incentivized

• D&B Hoovers allows me to make the most of my time when searching for companies within specific industries. Once I find a company and examine their profile, I can then generate a list of employees in the purchasing and engineering departments. The profiles for each listed employee contain cell phone, Email address and LinkedIn profile. This information helps me to bypass the companies front desk and get directly to the people I need to speak with.
• By knowing the specific job title for the people that I am contacting and then being able to click on their LinkedIn link to learn a little about them before I make the call, I come across as a sales professional instead of an impersonal cold-caller.
• In cases where I do need to go through a front desk receptionist whose primary mission is to screen out sales people, I find that three out of four times the receptionist will connect me to the specific employee because I know their name, department, and job title. The Intel provided by D&B Hoovers makes it possible for me to get to the people I need to speak with.

Incentivized

• Webtrends has had a positive impact on site visitation because it allowed us to understand the sources by domain for site traffic and find out ways to increase visits from those domains.
• Webtrends has also allowed us to understand areas of optimization on the site, which has had a positive impact on the overall user journey on the site, likely leading to longer site duration and engagement.