Fast & Easy, but Comes With a Price
August 06, 2014
Fast & Easy, but Comes With a Price
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Kenshoo Social
Overall Satisfaction with Kenshoo Social
Used by the Marketing team, both search and social. It allows us to both efficiently and effectively test multiple aspects of our social strategy. Not only does it allow us to test multiple things instantly, but it also helps to manage the process. The social editor, ad creator, and bid policy were some of the main things that I took advantage of. It takes a few weeks for the bidding system to gain enough data to begin the optimization phase, but once the data is set, the system can do some amazing things. The editor allows you to test multiple ad units and creatives at once as well.
- The ease of the Kenshoo Product was amazing. It makes the Facebook tool look like it was designed by a 5th grader. Facebook has since caught up, but it's still behind compared to Kenshoo Social.
- Kenshoo Social has an editor feature. I'm a search and social professional, so I know the importance of doing bulk edits to save time. The KS Editor allows you to test multiple ad units, both text and images in a very quick manner.
- Cross-channel attribution. LOVE IT! Social is very difficult when we look at direct response, especially in this industry where the product is more expensive. KS allows you to track across multiple channels (search, affiliate, direct, SEO...) and will properly attribute social if it was part of the funnel. This gives you a real idea of how social played a part in the conversion funnel.
- When working with large accounts, such as mine, the tool can be slow. There are a lot of times where the editor tool will freeze, and I'm not sure if I need to reboot or exit the tool. I wish it was a smooth process, much like the AdWords editor tool.
- Kenshoo support can be slow to respond at times. In the ticketing industry, things are very much based on time of day or time of the week. If the product is down or not functioning during an on-sale or a major event, it can be difficult to get tech support on the phone.
- Their reporting really doesn't set them a part from the competition. I've used social tools such as Marin and a few others, and they're all pretty similar as far as reporting. If possible, I think you're better off using Google Analytics for reporting, just so you have a common denominator.
- A decrease (over time, took approximately 3months) in ETS. Expense to Sales ration prior to Kenshoo social was about 43% through our social channel. About 3-4months after implementation, ETS came down to 30%. As a benchmark, search engine marketing ETS is sub 20%. This shows how difficult DR through social is.
- Increased employee efficiency. The editor tool really allowed us to pump out more ad units and targets. We saw an immediate impact here against using the Facebook UI. This one is a no brainer, you will see an impact.
- Better tracking. We had never seen accurate cross channel attribution. We had tried it through a number of products (Omni, ugh, never use) and didn't see the results. Kenshoo Social gave us an accurate run down of cross channel use.
Kenshoo is a more effective and user friendly platform than most competitors. Their tool is more expensive and like I said before, tailored to larger marketing budgets. They set them self apart with the ease of use, the Kenshoo editor, and cross channel functionality. However, the cost and unwillingness to budge on a 12mo contract makes it a little more difficult to not look elsewhere.