Coremetrics / IBM Digital Analytics (discontinued) vs. Textmetrics

IBM analytics has continued to improve upon the days of being the original core metrics. After using the updated version for quite some time, it has been great at providing the needed analytics to measure ROI and goal performance for our quarterly KPI's. It has resulted in a great increase in web engagements although we are a midsize company, smaller outfits may not need such an expensive option.

Incentivized

I honestly can't think of a scenario where WebTextTool (TextMetrics) would not be valuable for anyone writing content intended for publishing either online or in print media. If the intent is for print media, then even if you completely ignore the SEO section of the analysis, all of the other analysis tools intended for content are incredibly insightful and helpful. These days, even print media almost always ends up online in some form or another on the publisher's website or in a digital format of the publication. So the SEO tools can still give a little boost in reworking or rewording some parts to make sure they will be effective not only in print but online as well.

Incentivized

• IBM CXA comprises an acquisition called Tealeaf. This tool has deep heritage and this is evident in its present-day capabilities.
• The Universal Behaviour Exchange or UBX puts the concept of personalisation at the forefront. The ability to combine physical (analog) and digital transactions to create the complete picture of a customer journey, is a stand out benefit.
• The solution does not have to involve the purchase of software. IBM CXA can be sold as a service bundled with analytics as a service. This not only lowers the cost of ownership, it gets around one of the principal issues. Strong staff with design and analytical capability to drive the solution and deliver tangible benefits.
• The seamless integration of Watson AI services to help with the heavy lifiting. Watson reinforces the analytical focus this solution has and can learn to recognise situations specific to a company.

Incentivized

• Tracks the exact page ranking
• Optimizes SEO on-page in detail and with a number of measures, including a readability metric.
• Tracking website content with a website ranking system

Incentivized

• The user interface is in Flash, which can be very frustrating and slow at times. Apparently, this is to be transitioned in a future release.
• Can only segment the last 93 days of data. Any historical segmentation beyond the 93 days must be run in Explore (which is credit based, and has its own limitations with the number of credits per month, based on the initial contract with IBM).
• Reports can only display 93 days of data at a given time for custom date ranges. There are pre-programmed date ranges setup with IBM during implementation (last week, last month, last quarter etc.), but are not flexible enough to answer more specific questions.
• Certain reports cannot have segments applied, making answering some simple questions a bit more tricky. For example, I can create a segment around mobile devices and apply it to the marketing channels report, but I can't create a marketing channel segment and apply it to the mobile reports.
• Built in API calls allows for nice report design and automation.

• WebTextTool (TextMetrics) assumes that each uploaded or typed in the article is intended for online publishing, mostly in a blog type environment. While this is a perfectly understandable assumption in this day and age, it shouldn't be so difficult to ask the question of whether the content is intended for online or print media.
• The "Credibility" section tends to be a little too harsh for my taste. Depending on the style of writing and the type of content, "too many adjectives" is too subjective a metric to apply to all writing ( still, I do get why they try to do it).
• This is a little nitpicky, but I'd prefer to see how many projects and credits I have left to use on the dashboard page as opposed to having to click over to my account. A dashboard should show everything that a user needs to see in one shot.

Incentivized

IBM Digital Analytics is a great solution for our clients and I believe they offer the best solution for the retail space. We have access to IBM support via email or live chat and they can answer many of the reporting questions that come up. IBM is receptive to our feedback of the product so I am confident they will continue making improvements

Very easy to implement and use.

Never had any issues

As reports are templated, the system is pretty quick. Sometimes you have to wait a bit for a report to render. Or you might have to re-load the page. But there is no real issue here and the system is on par with other similar systems.

Overall, the level of support is very good and I would say it is a strong asset of the solution. However, you can sometimes feel that there is a difference of level among the support team.

I only had to reach out to TexMetrics once when initially getting my account setup after signing up. The response was swift, and they addressed my question completely. I've had no other issues since I began using TextMetrics, so based on that one interaction, I have to give them a great score. I assume that it is still the same as when I reached out that one time (at least I hope it is!).

Incentivized

Online training is really great. One of the best assets that they have. Lots of great videos, pop quizzes at the end of each module. Fantastic. Other tools have similar features, but not as good.

See previous comment: reading and understanding the encyclopedic implementation guide is a must.

Much of the work we did in IBM Digital Analytics could have been answered through Google Analytics, a much simpler, agile and FREE solution set. Not mention, given the vast number of Google Analytics USERS, free and actionable support is simply a click away ... this compared to IBM Digital Analytics fractured and often absent support service.

WebTextTool plugin works like a charm, but it should better integrate with Yoast, as it would create a huge benefit.

Incentivized

This solution can support large amount of data and transaction. The way that user management features are built, it shows it is meant for large organizations.

• We spend too much time trying to work around bugs on the new UI.
• We spend too much time trying to figure out how to make certain segments work because support and the knowledge center are lackluster.
• Our sales rep is very unresponsive and leaves us searching for a lot of answers on our own, including what other products we may benefit from that IBM offers.

Incentivized

• My organic traffic has improved 11% every month

Incentivized