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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Ads

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Ads (formerly AdWords) is Google's pay-per-click online advertising program. With Google Ads users set their budget and choose where their ads appear in search listings, and on partner websites. Google Ads uses cost-per-click (CPC) bidding.

    $500

    in Ads credit in the first 60 days

    Varicent

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AFrom quotas to sales and compensation, Varicent helps revenue leaders in enterprise organizations chart a more effective, connected path to revenue by providing vital data, insights, and sales go-to-market planning tools.N/A
    Pricing
    Google AdsVaricent
    Editions & Modules
    Offer A
    $500
    in Ads credit in the first 60 days
    Offer B
    $1500
    in Ads credit in the first 60 days
    Offer C
    $3000
    in Ads credit in the first 60 days
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google AdsVaricent
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    Google AdsVaricent
    Ad Campaigns
    Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Google Ads and Varicent
    Feature
    Google Ads
    7.3
    11 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Varicent
    -
    Ratings
    Ad campaign creation7.911 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad deployment7.510 Ratings00 Ratings
    Display advertising7.410 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad display and retargeting segmentation7.511 Ratings00 Ratings
    Sequence targeting6.910 Ratings00 Ratings
    Contextual advertising7.210 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social advertising6.35 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Google Ads and Varicent
    Feature
    Google Ads
    7.3
    11 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Varicent
    -
    Ratings
    Ad dashboards7.511 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad performance reports7.911 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad conversion tracking7.311 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad attribution reporting7.211 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad forecasting and optimization6.911 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ad Auctions
    Comparison of Ad Auctions features of Google Ads and Varicent
    Feature
    Google Ads
    7.9
    10 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Varicent
    -
    Ratings
    Ad bidding7.910 Ratings00 Ratings
    Sales ICM
    Comparison of Sales ICM features of Google Ads and Varicent
    Feature
    Google Ads
    -
    Ratings
    Varicent
    6.7
    55 Ratings
    16% below category average
    Sales compensation plan creation00 Ratings7.148 Ratings
    Complex sales crediting00 Ratings7.548 Ratings
    Sales compensation process automation00 Ratings7.452 Ratings
    Incentive auditing/regulation compliance00 Ratings6.546 Ratings
    Sales compensation dashboards & forecasting00 Ratings6.447 Ratings
    Incentive modeling00 Ratings6.243 Ratings
    Agile incentive strategy00 Ratings6.538 Ratings
    ICM mobile visibility00 Ratings6.232 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google AdsVaricent
    Small Businesses
    WordStream
    Score6.9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    WordStream
    Score6.9 out of 10
    Everstage
    Score9.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    CaptivateIQ
    Score9.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google AdsVaricent
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.7
    (126 ratings)
    7.3
    (67 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.6
    (21 ratings)
    4.8
    (15 ratings)
    Usability
    7.7
    (17 ratings)
    7.0
    (59 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.2
    (3 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    5.8
    (3 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (8 ratings)
    6.8
    (6 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.7
    (2 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.7
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.8
    (6 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.2
    (3 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    4.3
    (3 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.8
    (58 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    1.0
    (1 ratings)
    5.9
    (3 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    5.9
    (3 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google AdsVaricent
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    Google Ads is a useful advertising tool to build brand exposure and generate lead volumes for your chosen product. Whilst it can be costly at times due to competitor bidding strategies and requires constant monitoring to ensure campaigns perform as expected, it typically provides the desired quality and quantity of leads for custom budgets.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    For the use cases we have at the bank, ICM is a perfect solution. For any bank or institution that has similar requirements, ICM would be a perfect solution. But I also think for any use case that has any sort of incentives based on Sales done, this would work amazing, as both Calculations and reports are handled by ICM very well; it's an all-in-one solution, I feel like.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • Automated targeting via Smart Shopping campaign. It's one of the best campaign types in Google Ads. In the beginning, you may see lower revenue and ROAS, but once you give some meaningful time to your campaign, it is most likely to perform well.
    • Smart bidding strategies: Google Ads has developed some really great bidding strategies such as maximizing conversion and maximizing conversion with ROAS settings. Based on one's requirement and their goal with revenue and target ROAS, they can choose the appropriate bidding strategy.
    • Reporting: A business owner and advertising must know about their audiences, how their campaigns have been performing, what's working and what's not, and for that reason, powerful, effective reporting is needed, and Google Ads provides rich details reporting that covers almost every aspect of a business.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    • Flexibility - Varicent is not template based. You can implement the model specifically for your organisation.
    • Scalability - Since it is not stick to templates you are able to expand the model for other domains as well.
    • Reporting - Several ways of reporting are possible and each has their own benefit/purpose.
    • Strong/Powerfull Calculation Engine delivering fast results/speed to insight
    • User Interface is minimized to what you need and is not showing off all the functions it can "also" do
    • Strong audittrail
    • Appears to be almost unlimited in what you are able to create
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • If you don't know what you're doing, it will be a costly mistake. You need to target ads, and it is difficult the first time to do that.
    • There isn't a feature to run an add for a couple set date spans, just hours you want to run them or a single date span.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    • As [the] model gets more and more transactional data, the calculation time increases. This should/can be handled internally with better model optimization.
    • Migrating from one env to other sometimes is challenging. There can be better 'Alerts' or 'Explanation' provided to handle it or at least to give a hint of the error.
    • For managers viewing their rep's report, the access part can be made easier. It should be linked to Payee hierarchy and access can be done automatically.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    I think Google Ads is good for getting your company out there and becoming more visible to potential customers in general. However, for specific product launches, social media advertising might be a better fit. Also, our user base is younger so social media is a better channel for our target audience.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    Customer support from IBM is impeccable. They are quick to respond and they don't nickel and dime you for every request you make. Their goal is to ensure your success and as a user, I really feel like they listen to my concerns. That's not to say there are no problems. All software has its issues, but I don't feel like those issues fall on deaf ears.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Google
    This is more of a subjective rating, because I think it can be increased with how much our ad spend is. The more of an ad spend, the more visibility we can get, and therefore all features can climb. With an overall larger presence the usability is that where we can get messages out quick, and that's the main thing we try to do with our campaigns.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    Any calculations can be implemented as there are hardly any limitations on complexity. However, online real-time usability is lacking - a simple user enters, and the system calculates work in a way that it is in the browser and hence still needs overnight to be properly reflected in the batch calculations and backend tables.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Varicent
    Never went down in last 3 years that I worked with it (every hour of the day basically). That is a 10 in my book.
    Read full review
    Performance
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Varicent
    All is fast, but with API's it is sometimes slower due to the application we are pulling data from. Reports are loaded directly or within seconds and our reports are very detailed with many columns and rows.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Google
    We have not yet had an account rep who hasn't tried to bully me or other employees to raise our budgets. At the same time, several years ago, one attempted to help refine our ads and ended up changing the ads to be something we were not affiliated with
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    Giving a 10 would suggest there is no room for improvement. I don't feel like their support is perfect. However, I have never met another team that was more dedicated to making sure we get what we want and need.
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Varicent
    The training was good in general with a nice trainer as well. But, the training could be better if it is more focussed on our process/data etc.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Google
    Daily use with advanced account structures. Familiarity with reporting/api and complex setups.
    Read full review
    Varicent
    There is a learning portal with many videos about navigation, creating reports and managing your model.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Varicent
    Test test test. Make sure that the product is calculating everyone 100% correctly. DO NOT accept a 70% pass rate as some companies would like to have you believe is acceptable. This means conducting thorough testing by providing 100% of all expected results, but it will be worth it when you know that the compensation plans are working entirely as expected.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    Our agency invests heavily in Google Ads (particularly paid search advertising) on behalf of our clients relative to competitors like Microsoft and Yahoo because Google is the top search engine in the world. Google collects the most search data which enables the company to improve its AI to drive better performance for agencies and brands. As such, our paid search and app install campaigns always start with Google. If a client has a large budget, we will allocate media dollars to other search engines, but in some cases, the entire search budget goes to Google because we see the best returns.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    In 2015, we used a scorecard containing 80 attributes in our review of Oracle, Callidus, and Xactly & Varicent. Oracle did not have true self serve capabilities- programming was heavily required, not intuitive, out of the box functionality was limited. Callidus & Xactly could not provide us a demo using our data, statements could not be sent out in bulk form, difficulty in importing/exporting to CRM. Varicent excelled in most areas and was the clear winner.
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Varicent
    It is very scalable and adaptable to changing complexities of calculations and business rules under a variety of different scenarios. It does not get full points because in large data loads the time needed to calculate and import the data increases exponentially and may cause issues related to timing potentially.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • Google Ads is often one of our highest ROI channels, especially when you factor in branded ads.
    • Depending on the stage your business is in, search ads can be really powerful from an ROI perspective, providing an investment with a very high spend cap.
    • If you do not manage the campaigns well though, you can quickly spend a lot of money on nothing. So make sure someone is keeping an eye on your account.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Varicent
    • Compliance - with a central system used for calculation incentive payments and commissions, we are able to provide reports and data showing every detail of how payments are calculated and why they are justified. We can also identify anomalies and outliers.
    • Integration with our payroll system is seamless. Except for regular pay, nothing goes to payroll without going through ICM. The process for paying incentives/bonuses/commissions is now very structured and efficient.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Varicent Screenshots

    Screenshot of Varicent providing clarity and transparency to sellers, helping them to find answers faster and have confidence in compensation plans.Screenshot of Tools for sellers that help them align strategic initiatives, and that help them understand which deals will help them win.Screenshot of Varicent ICM model compensation plans that display the financial impact of changes. Its ability to more accurately forecast commission payouts with “what-if” assumptions, users can budget more effectively for sales compensation costs, manage target total compensation for sales representatives and assess plan effectiveness.Screenshot of Shareable information sent to the right people to drive the right results.