TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Outgrow

    Score7.5 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    Outgrow enables marketers to create calculators, recommendations, quizzes and polls to better acquire, qualify, and monetize leads. Outgrow is designed so marketers can build these tools without a developer or a designer in minutes. Common Examples of interactive content that you can build with Outgrow include: ROI calculators Cost Calculators Sales lift calculators Graders Knowledge tests Fun quizzes Product recommendations

    $22

    per month per user

    Shorthand

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AShorthand enables the user to create interactive multimedia stories for any online audience — all with no code. The vendor boasts that Shorthand is used by hundreds of publishers, brands, non-profits, and more — including the BBC, Honda, Business Insider, and Doctors Without Borders.N/A
    Pricing
    OutgrowShorthand
    Editions & Modules
    Freelancer Plan
    $22
    per month per user
    Freelancer Pro
    $45
    per month per user
    Essentials Plan
    $115
    per month for 3 users
    Business Plan
    $720
    per month
    Enterprise Plan
    Custom Pricing
    Agency Plan
    Custom Pricing
    per Client
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    OutgrowShorthand
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsOutgrow also offers the option to build interactive content including calculators, quizzes, recommendations, polls and graded tests for clients. Pricing varies based on the number of experiences built and the complexity of each experience.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    OutgrowShorthand
    Considered Both Products
    Outgrow
    No answer on this topic
    Shorthand
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    88%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    OutgrowShorthand
    Content Creation
    Comparison of Content Creation features of Outgrow and Shorthand
    Feature
    Outgrow
    6.2
    32 Ratings
    23% below category average
    Shorthand
    9.0
    1 Ratings
    14% above category average
    Ideation7.031 Ratings00 Ratings
    Approval workflows6.517 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content collaboration5.025 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Content Publishing
    Comparison of Content Publishing features of Outgrow and Shorthand
    Feature
    Outgrow
    6.8
    38 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Shorthand
    6.8
    1 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Content hub5.527 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Forms / Gated content7.032 Ratings00 Ratings
    Embedded CTAs6.134 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Content distribution9.11 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    Content promotion7.030 Ratings5.01 Ratings
    Content automation6.025 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Content Reporting & Analytics features of Outgrow and Shorthand
    Feature
    Outgrow
    6.3
    39 Ratings
    16% below category average
    Shorthand
    -
    Ratings
    Audience profiling and targeting6.629 Ratings00 Ratings
    Closed-loop tracking and reporting6.530 Ratings00 Ratings
    Content performance analytics5.535 Ratings00 Ratings
    Campaign optimization dashboard5.528 Ratings00 Ratings
    Competitive analytics7.31 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    OutgrowShorthand
    Small Businesses
    Contently
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Contently
    Score9.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    CoSchedule Marketing Suite
    Score10 out of 10
    CoSchedule Marketing Suite
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    PathFactory
    Score8.3 out of 10
    PathFactory
    Score8.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    OutgrowShorthand
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.5
    (42 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.4
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    OutgrowShorthand
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Outgrow
    Well suited: When you want (potential) customers to quickly determine if your product or service is right for them. I noticed that we could make a very honest calculation tool that shows how quickly our car sharing service is beneficial to customers. These types of calculations are difficult to convey in text. Less appropriate: The length of your calculation has to be in line with what the engagement people have with your product or service. We want to determine if a shared car is interesting, so we don't want 10+ questions. But if you're selling a house you can include more questions.
    Read full review
    Shorthand
    Shorthand is ideally suited to visual stories where you have a good number of images and/or embeds or video to include. It is well-suited to long-form stories, where you wish to keep the readers' attention longer than usual. It can help to differentiate particularly important or intriguing stories from others on your website - and for this reason, it could be used as a premium content tool, perhaps for subscribers. It can also be used to showcase stories about awards you've organised, giving them special treatment. It is less suited to breaking news, or very time-sensitive news stories, as it can take some time to prepare, post or update shorthand stories. And it doesn't work well for stories with strong accompanying imagery
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Outgrow
    • Outgrow provides a comprehensive knowledge base, which allows you to quickly become adept at using their platform.
    • They don't make any assumptions. When your quiz or calculator is ready to go live, they offer you an in-depth checklist of ideas to promote it.
    • They ensure that you have a high degree of creativity.
    Read full review
    Shorthand
    • Enabling visual storytelling with multiple pictures
    • Embedding rich media within a story, including video
    • Engaging readers for longer than average dwell times
    • Making it easy to create striking article design without coding experience
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Outgrow
    • The UI is a bit elaborate, it seems a bit too much when I want something basic
    • The results emails were a bit confusing to setup but support was great in getting this fixed
    • Only one Admin can use the basic service
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Shorthand
    • Additional flexibility in how text is overlaid on pictures would be welcome so that there are more choices on what images to use with particular layouts
    • Enabling users to control the path of text - for example, enabling runaround - could enable some excellent designs
    • Adding additional section templates could speed up design
    • More flexibility in caption placement would be helpful
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Outgrow
    It is a no code platform that makes content creation very easy with pre-built templates and strong lead generation tools. However, customisation options are limited , complex logic can be tricky and better content organisation is needed for a large scale use. Overall, it's user friendly but needs improvement in scalability and flexibility.
    Read full review
    Shorthand
    No answers on this topic
    Reliability and Availability
    Outgrow
    No answers on this topic
    Shorthand
    I have never known it to be down during my use of it. All you require is an internet connection to log in and you can use it on multiple devices. Adding ease of accessibility, there are simple ways to log in. I've also never known a Shorthand story to go down once live on our site.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Outgrow
    No answers on this topic
    Shorthand
    Due to the integration with our content management software, there is a short delay on our site while it loads, which may cause some readers to drift away. However, I've seen other sites where it instantly loads articles, so I believe this to be down to the content management software behind our site more than Shorthand itself. Once that brief initial period is over, it doesn't require additional loading time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Outgrow
    Support is very responsive and is quick to respond to questions and problems. Outgrow sometimes changes their pricing and plan structures and add/remove options without properly relaying the info to customers. They could do a better job with communications and being upfront with the pricing plans people sign up for.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Shorthand
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Outgrow
    The previous tools we used had no ability to make numerical calculators and limited logic jump features within surveys (if someone answers question one a particular way, skip question two, etc.) and more limited ability to direct people toward different outcomes based on how they answered questions in the surveys. Many of them didn’t have native integrations with Marketo either. These were critical features that we needed so we decided to switch to outgrow.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Shorthand
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Outgrow
    No answers on this topic
    Shorthand
    As a web-based service, it is easy for users to log into from anywhere. Content can easily be shared, as you can set up teams that enable access to each other's work as required. And content can be reviewed by others before publication using the sharing function. You can also view how an article will look on different devices.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Outgrow
    • Outgrow has helped me sell more life insurance through the use of interactive calculators.
    • Outgrow has helped me attract more referral partners thus helping my agency grow.
    • Outgrow saved my agency money because I was able to cancel subscriptions to other services which offered fewer features.
    Read full review
    Shorthand
    • Helped us create one of our top 10 most-read and most-shared stories in the last year
    • Enabled us to elevate key pieces of content, boosting dwell time on our site
    • But can also be time-consuming to adopt for some stories, meaning you need to choose well what stories really deserve the investment in time
    • Boosted collaboration between teams via its ability to share, including offering the chance for others to preview content prior to publication
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Outgrow Screenshots

    Screenshot of Results Page of a Calculator with Lead Generation form and CTAScreenshot of Analytics Tab: Funnel Visualization of a Completed QuizProduct screenshot

    Shorthand Screenshots

    Screenshot of Easily add sections and adjust styling.