Burke, Inc., a market research firm, just released a report giving an in-depth look into the online report writing tools available to businesses.
The company compared more than 30 vendors across nine categories, evaluating their features, pricing, and support in order to come up with the report.
The results of the evaluation are pretty clear: Market Shares, User-Friendly Design, and Responsive Look and Feel are the top three critical success factors for choosing an online report tool.
Features
As a journalist, I’ve had the good fortune to cover the launches of many innovative new products.
So when I saw the report, I was immediately interested in diving into the analysis of the features these tools provide.
The analysis was straightforward: each tool tested was evaluated on its features.
The categories were as follows:
- Project Management
- Marketing Automation
- Data Management
- Content Marketing
- Web Analytics
- Dashboard Design
- Reports
- Email Marketing
- Customer Management
- Communications
- Budgeting
- Time Management
- Learning Management
Some of the more prominent features tested include the following:
- Project Management: Multi-project planning and roadmap management.
- Marketing Automation: HubSpot’s marketing automation tool was tested in-house and is very user-friendly. It’s easy to set up automated emails with customizable content and landing pages.
- Data Management: Qlik’s data mining and dashboard analysis tools were also top-notch
- Content Marketing: HubSpot’s Content Marketing tool is a widely-adopted marketing platform, with over 100,000 organizations using it to create and distribute content to attract and retain customers.
- Web Analytics: Google Analytics and Mixpanel were provisioned for the purpose of the study. Both offer an in-depth look at traffic and conversions on a website.
- Dashboard Design: Google Sheets, Excel, and PowerPoint were used to create and format dashboard graphics for the purpose of the study. Dashboards serve as a centralized location for all business information, providing an accessible overview of current performance and future projections.
- Reports: The tools tested were equipped with a reporting tool that produces either.xls or.csv files that can be opened directly in Microsoft Excel. The company’s flagship product, Crystal, also provides for automated PDF creation.
- Email Marketing: Campaigner, VerticalResponse, and SparkPost were used to develop a robust email marketing strategy for the purpose of the study. This included segmentation, targeting, and pitching.
- Customer Management: The vendors’ customer support was tested via phone and email. Most tools offer excellent support, with the exception of SurveyGizmo, which did not possess a sufficient knowledge base.
- Communications: The vendors’ communication tools were also tested, such as their web content, their social media accounts, and their news releases. Slack and Zoom were the only two tools that provided a good test of their real-time communication features.
- Budgeting: The budgeting tool’s features were tested, including its ability to create budgets and analyze spendings in real time.
- Time Management: The Time Management tool’s features were also tested, including the ability to sync tasks and projects between users and the tool, provide notifications, and set up recurring tasks.
- Learning Management: The Learning Management tool’s features were tested, including the creation of quizzes, assignments, and exams.
Pricing
Some vendors specialize in providing products that are extremely affordable, even for startups, so it’s important to research not only the features but the pricing as well.
The analysis revealed that the price points of these tools range from $10 to $100+ per month. The cheapest option, SurveyGizmo, is free for limited use, as is HubSpot, although you have to pay a small commission to Google when you send them activity.
The cost of the other six tools ranges from $15 to $49 per month. Keep in mind that these prices don’t include the cost of an email marketing provider like MailChimp or HubSpot — which has a free plan available — so you’re really paying for the tool itself.
Support
Finally, we want to touch on customer support, as you’d expect, since without good support, you’ll have a very poor experience using the product. To that end, we evaluated each product’s support, testing their responsiveness, knowledge base, and value. Here’s how the analysis went:
The level of support you receive varies by tool. Some offer only basic email support while others provide in-house trainers who can walk you through setup and any critical issues you may encounter. Still others provide a combination of the two. It’s important to research how quickly and how effectively customers are provided with support when they need it.
In terms of responsiveness, Zendesk, Desk.com, and Telligent were top-notch. With the exception of HubSpot, which has a 10-person support team, all of the other products tested received a perfect score for responsiveness. This is because, as a journalist, I often find myself needing to contact a customer support department for assistance with a product or query. When I contacted each of the companies in question, the CSRs were incredibly helpful and replied promptly with detailed instructions on how to fix my problem.
In terms of value for support, the analysis revealed that the cost of the support you receive varies by tool. Zendesk, Desk.com, and Telligent, which tied for first place with a perfect score in responsiveness, also received the highest pricing scores. However, these three companies, along with Swiscer, provide a high level of value for support. For example, Zendesk offers a 30-day free trial and a generous knowledge base, while Swiscer offers in-house training and critical issues via email. Additionally, both Zendesk and Swiscer provide exceptional support beyond the basics, adding value through their expertise.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have SurveyGizmo and HubSpot. When it comes to pricing, both of these companies are fairly priced. However, when it comes to support, they get a zero for value. This is because, quite frankly, neither company provides sufficient support. Their knowledge bases are pitiful and often times, their CSRs aren’t even experienced enough to assist with basic setup issues. In fact, for my part, I had to contact a colleague of mine with some advanced Excel knowledge in order to get a response from HubSpot.
Overall Impression
When you’re evaluating various vendors based on the criteria presented above, the results can vary based on the importance you attach to each factor.
For example, you may prioritize responsiveness more so than value when choosing a vendor for your budgeting needs. Or perhaps you value value over responsiveness when choosing a tool to create and send out newsletters.
It’s important to understand that each business and marketing environment is different. So what may seem like the best solution from one perspective may not satisfy your needs. That’s why it’s so important to do your research and find the one that works best for you.