Kenshoo & Pay per click management software
- Thread starter myk08
- Start date
PPC Management Software
OK my opinion probably doesn't mean squat seeing as though this is my first post but i thought i would chime in.
I previously worked for a search agency and was responsible for vetting a few of the search platforms at the end of last year, although things could have changed since then.
Kenshoo - Only had a chance to get a demonstration of their system but it was pretty awesome from what i could see and especially suited towards e-commerce sites with automatic creative and keyword generation based on landing pages. The only downside of the system was that it was around 5%-7% of ad spend if i remember correctly and were not willing to really budge on price at all. I have heard of an agency down here in Sydney that has actually been using it and been pretty happy.
Clickable - By far the worst platform that we actually tried out and probably the cheapest as well (i think there was/is a 30 day free trial as well). Had some interesting ideas but i think it was absolutely rubbish.
SearchForce - Was actually advised by a rep who showed us the Kenshoo demo that SearchForce was one of the better platforms in the market. Again they had some interesting ideas, easy enough platform to use, the logic of their bid management system looked interesting, and was a lot cheaper than Kenshoo (and they were willing to negotiate big time on the % of ad spend we were paying). Although it worked great in using it to bid to simple bid management rules, more complex CPA based rules didn't really work that well and I just stopped using the system altogether.
ClickEquations - Had a look at this system when Avinash Kaushik mentioned it on his blog (not sure if anyone reads any of his stuff here). Only had a chance to demo the system but it definitely looked like it had some great features - especially their excel plugin which pulls in data directly from AdWords. I think it sits at around 2%-3% of ad spend.
Acquisio - Actually had a chance to try out their system for a month or 2 but again they really disappointed us. They will try and sell their rule based system as being just as effective as "black box" systems such as Efficient Frontier but it is just full of crap. It might have changed since i last tried it, but their rule based bidding was majorly broken and ended up screwing up our bidding every time and they also had no real answer to why it was happening. For agencies they have a nifty tool that can generate an automatic markup on all click costs, which i haven't really seen in any other system. These guys were also willing to negotiate majorly with their costs and got it down to about 1% for us.
Omniture - Had a demo with these guys quite a while ago and know some people who use it down here in Sydney. Predominately used as an analytics platform, but it also has a search platform as on of its other offerings. Can't remember alot of the details of its features but i was definitely impressed back when i saw it.
The platform you are going to chose is really going to depend on the reasons why you think you need a search platform (eg. Are you an agency, advertiser or affiliate?), how much you are spending and how good you actually are at managing your PPC, as well as what sort of margin/profit you are willing to give away to these company. IMHO from the companies that I have talked to or had a demo with, I would go for either Kenshoo, ClickEquations or Omniture.
However, you might want to check out some other platforms like Marin Software, SearchIgnite, Atlas or even DART.
Hope this helps
OK my opinion probably doesn't mean squat seeing as though this is my first post but i thought i would chime in.
I previously worked for a search agency and was responsible for vetting a few of the search platforms at the end of last year, although things could have changed since then.
Kenshoo - Only had a chance to get a demonstration of their system but it was pretty awesome from what i could see and especially suited towards e-commerce sites with automatic creative and keyword generation based on landing pages. The only downside of the system was that it was around 5%-7% of ad spend if i remember correctly and were not willing to really budge on price at all. I have heard of an agency down here in Sydney that has actually been using it and been pretty happy.
Clickable - By far the worst platform that we actually tried out and probably the cheapest as well (i think there was/is a 30 day free trial as well). Had some interesting ideas but i think it was absolutely rubbish.
SearchForce - Was actually advised by a rep who showed us the Kenshoo demo that SearchForce was one of the better platforms in the market. Again they had some interesting ideas, easy enough platform to use, the logic of their bid management system looked interesting, and was a lot cheaper than Kenshoo (and they were willing to negotiate big time on the % of ad spend we were paying). Although it worked great in using it to bid to simple bid management rules, more complex CPA based rules didn't really work that well and I just stopped using the system altogether.
ClickEquations - Had a look at this system when Avinash Kaushik mentioned it on his blog (not sure if anyone reads any of his stuff here). Only had a chance to demo the system but it definitely looked like it had some great features - especially their excel plugin which pulls in data directly from AdWords. I think it sits at around 2%-3% of ad spend.
Acquisio - Actually had a chance to try out their system for a month or 2 but again they really disappointed us. They will try and sell their rule based system as being just as effective as "black box" systems such as Efficient Frontier but it is just full of crap. It might have changed since i last tried it, but their rule based bidding was majorly broken and ended up screwing up our bidding every time and they also had no real answer to why it was happening. For agencies they have a nifty tool that can generate an automatic markup on all click costs, which i haven't really seen in any other system. These guys were also willing to negotiate majorly with their costs and got it down to about 1% for us.
Omniture - Had a demo with these guys quite a while ago and know some people who use it down here in Sydney. Predominately used as an analytics platform, but it also has a search platform as on of its other offerings. Can't remember alot of the details of its features but i was definitely impressed back when i saw it.
The platform you are going to chose is really going to depend on the reasons why you think you need a search platform (eg. Are you an agency, advertiser or affiliate?), how much you are spending and how good you actually are at managing your PPC, as well as what sort of margin/profit you are willing to give away to these company. IMHO from the companies that I have talked to or had a demo with, I would go for either Kenshoo, ClickEquations or Omniture.
However, you might want to check out some other platforms like Marin Software, SearchIgnite, Atlas or even DART.
Hope this helps
