Sizmek Ad Suite (discontinued) vs. WordStream

If you need a prompt support for any kind of issue, those guys really rock. I opened tickets on Friday evening getting things fixed in less than an hour. That's a critical point for demanding clients. The main weaknesses in my opinion are the user interface that is not so user friendly and the integration with Google products. This is in place but, mainly due to Google's walled garden, the environment is not so efficient.

WordStream is so beneficial to a green digital marketing team. If your team is new to paid ads, this will help immensely. It might not be as beneficial for a company that does not use AdWords and is strictly in social ads.

Incentivized

• Easy Dashboard Navigation - Search bar allows user to quickly locate details about any campaign
• Insightful Analytics Tools - Platform provides users customizable graphs to leverage for reporting presentations
• Extensive Reporting Metrics - Ability to pull ad performance reports on all aspects of campaign
• Simple Creative Hosting - Easy upload and path location details for creative files

Incentivized

• Remove duplicates: The platform has a tool that enables marketers to easily identify duplicate keywords across campaigns, ad groups, and the account; from there duplicates can be paused in an effort to improve quality scores and account performance.
• Bid management: WordStream reveals which current keywords can improve campaign performance by increasing and decreasing their bids - updates can be made on the spot.
• Ad optimizations: WordStream scans paid search accounts to ensure each ad group is using high performing ads. Marketers can quickly create new ads, and pause ads based on the tool's recommendations.

Incentivized

• Sizmek's trading desk was a total miss when I tested it a few years ago.
• I briefly used Abakus and did not find it intuitive, accurate or helpful. It has a long way to go before it can compete with the likes of VisualIQ.

Incentivized

• This is definitely not for a beginner and require knowledge on how PPC/SEM campaigns are run unless you purchase the premium support package that includes a dedicated representative to which they are very helpful.
• We had some serious tracking issues and were unable to effectively track the clicks to our website. Because of this, I had to start from scratch and decided not to use WordStream.

I am not the PPC manager here so I have to use the products available.

I have not had any experience with the customer support team for platform issues, but the account representative checks in with us often and is always available to answer questions. We will usually get on quarterly review calls so that she can share any new updates to the platform and answer questions.

Incentivized

When it comes to serving Ads, Doubleclick does a better job with QA and handling creative in my opinion. However the tagging system is more diverse and handy in Sizmek.

Incentivized

I've never used a system to help with my Google AdWords. This was the first system I had used. WordStream definitely takes the cake though, I have a hard time believing there could be a better system out there. I wouldn't even consider going to look for a new system. I am confident WordStream has owned the Google AdWords space.

Incentivized

• Sizmek has had a positive impact on ROI because it delivers the reports our clients want and need
• Sizmek has had a postive impact on employee morale due to ease of use

Incentivized

• Since beginning to use the tool, we've seen our search impression share nearly double for some campaigns.
• We've increased our click-through rates by over 25% since adding WordStream to our toolset.
• I'm more confident in the strategies that are having an impact on our cost per conversion, and can better forecast our impact for the future.

Incentivized