Item: KickFire
Rating: 10
Author: Nick Ezzo

Overall Satisfaction with KickFire LIVE Leads

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use VisiStat as part of our core success metrics for marketing. A number of the reports and graphs go directly to our executive team each week to measure the effectiveness of the website and marketing efforts. PageAlarm gives us the ability to reduce downtime and detect threats and outages. The StatCaster Ticker tells us who is on the site right now, and helps inform our sales team of real time activities.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Real time analytics shows who is on the site right now
Simple and well-designed interface is far superior to Google Analytics and others
Reports and graphs are boardroom-ready
Simple and easy to get started

Cons

Support could be more proactive to make sure we are getting the most out of our subscription.

Return on Investment

Reduced time spent collecting data and reporting on traffic to nearly zero
Provides clear visibility across all departments in the organization
Allows faster follow up by sales reps

Alternatives Considered

Google Analytics is clumsy and has an extremely complex user interface. We're also wary about Google having access to our website data. We did not evaluate other solutions.

Support Rating

They are very good at solving cases that I bring to them. I'd like to see more proactive support to make sure we are getting the full value out of the solution.

Likelihood to Recommend

For small businesses that don't have big budgets for marketing automation, VisiStat is an ideal first step. For companies that have sophisticated systems in place, VisiStat will augment your analytics and provide a deeper dive into your website activity. Since the implementation involves adding javascript to your site, the user should be familiar with how to do this.

Using KickFire LIVE Leads

Users and Roles

3 - VisiStat is used by Marketing, Sales, and Products. Marketing wants to track website usage, unique visitors, and returning visitors. Sales wants to see who is on the site right now. Products wants to have a sense for which areas within our product are the most popular and how long people spend in each module.

Support Headcount Required

1 - You just need someone who can copy and paste the javascript snippet onto the page. Our web designer placed it into the footer of our CMS. It took 2 minutes.

Business Processes Supported

Website effectiveness
Real time sales prospecting
Product usage data

Innovative Uses

The emails that get sent when someone hits a landing page are a real bonus
The website monitoring is key for us
The Pulse score is something we've started checking more

Future Planned Uses

We'd like to add more of the lead conversion functionality

Likelihood to Renew

We've been happy customers of VisiStat for many years. I've used the service at multiple companies and you can't beat it.

Evaluating KickFire LIVE Leads and Competitors

Products Replaced

Yes - We were using log-based web analytics from Urchin, which was later purchased by Google and turned into Google Analytics.

Key Differentiators

Price
Product Features
Product Usability
Product Reputation
Vendor Reputation

The real time web analytics were something we could not get anywhere else. VisiStat nailed it with that functionality.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

Today, there are more choices. When we implemented VisiStat, we were really only looking at Google Analytics.

KickFire LIVE Leads Implementation

Implementation Rating

Don't hesitate to contact VisiStat support. They are extremely helpful.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Implemented in-house

Implementation Phases

Change Management Lessons

Change management was minimal

Implementation Issues

Finding the right place in our CMS to place the javascript
Making sure non-CMS pages had the code
Making sure that our IP range was filtered out

KickFire LIVE Leads Training

Training Types Used

Online training
Self-taught

Online Training

The tutorials are very good and they explain how to get started using the system. The online webinars are very good for advancing your knowledge of the product.

Ease of KickFire Training

You can easily begin using the product because of the extensive in-app tooltips and other help resources. Everything is extremely well documented and easy to understand.

Configuring KickFire LIVE Leads

Product Configurability

The product is very easy for novice users to get in and start using. For more advanced users, the system allows a flexible API and other advanced features.

Configuration Lessons

Make sure you have a good list of known IP addresses and domains to filter out. Make sure your web designer or webmaster knows how to place the javascript on each page or in an include file.

UI Customization

Some - we have done small customizations to the interface - We've created a custom website summary that goes to our executive team every week. It shows the KPIs we care about.

Extensibility and Customization

No - we have not done any custom code

Additional Customization Considerations

We use Wordpress and Joomla extensively. You should be aware of how to add custom code to these CMS systems.

KickFire LIVE Leads Support

KickFire Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Bug Resolution

Exceptional Examples of KickFire Support

Back in December 2008, VisiStat CEO Stephen Oachs personally responded to a question from our web designer.

Using KickFire LIVE Leads

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

The graphs are perfect for distribution to an executive audience
The heat map shows us the most interesting places on the page
The transition messages are a great way to pass the time when data is loading. They are great!