DemandScience vs. Ion, by Rock Content

DemandScience is great if you are looking for the ability to target very specific titles, roles, companies, etc., and receive high quality leads. They have an incredible scale compared to other partners my team has worked with, but their leads also perform very well down the funnel. This is not always the case because oftentimes, a partner will have room to scale well, but the leads are colder. I'm really impressed with how well DemandScience targets and also with how quickly they respond to me when I have any questions. Recently, my DemandScience rep reached out because he wanted to get our targeting more honed in on our ideal customer. He wanted to work with me to see down-funnel data (where possible and allowed) so that we could create a more targeted campaign. Other partners have never put this kind of time into our partnership.

Incentivized

I don't give 9 ratings easily. Anyone wanting greater user engagement would benefit from ion interactive. I can slap together a simple interactive tool for a social post easily. I also have a plan selector with complex logic built in that would have cost me $50k to build without ion. Now I'm able to duplicate it and make adjustments to use it for various other applications. We've created a couple dozen fun interactive tools for social posts and now we simply re-purpose them easily to create new ones frequently. I just created a new page for our website that we'll want to be fluid; so the site developers suggested we simply embed an ion tool to give us real-time flexibility. Marketers in other divisions are jealous when they see all the fun stuff we're doing--they're gradually becoming ion converts

Incentivized

• Client Service/ Account Management
• Flexible in terms of reporting and can provide more than one per week
• Prompt in turning around previews and other client deliverables
• Competitive pricing and good coverage across EMEA markets and Middle East
• Access to senior decision makers in the business

Incentivized

• I love that ion interactive autosaves. So many of these platforms leave me terrified of disconnection or closing my laptop.
• This WYSIWYG actually works. I've yet to have a translation or code glitch.
• Fast load times are a huge bonus, as well as mobile-optimized display.

Incentivized

• Management and attention to detail - several items slip through the cracks.
• Coordination between account management and invoicing has been sloppy.
• Better intent data to match profiles.
• Connecting the download to the actual sponsor - often heard, "We never downloaded XYZ."

Incentivized

• no revert option/revision history if you make a bad mistake
• some simple styles that should be just there for you have to be made through custom CSS
• some of their template options have some pretty bad designs and are not usable beyond a basic functionality level/have to be completely reskinned

Incentivized

It works well for lead generation but renewal will depend on the strategy and budget at the point we need to renew to see if it will align.

Incentivized

Because unless I find something better to replace it with, we're probably going to renew our contract. Ideally, Ion interactive can update Liveball so it's easier to use, more functionality that includes forms and javascript options currently not in place

The leads were pretty straight forward. However, their appointment setting did not integrate well into our system and many of the meetings didn't occur. I had to chase a lot of prospects and many times Demand Science didn't provide direct dials.

Incentivized

Usability is straightforward, with extensive documentation and tutorials provided to ensure landing pages are built to specifications and can be optimized for performance. Built-in platform funnels give insight into customer dropoff, success/failures, and conversions (at a glance). Setting up a landing page can be done quickly and easily, with numerous integrations (CRMs like SalesForce, for instance) supported

Incentivized

Sometimes the editor can be a little slow.

The DemandScience Activate CSM team is always helpful and attentive to our organization's needs and goals. We receive thorough attention and detail from the team through regular touch bases and a standard reporting cadence. The team always asks where they can improve, and works to provide insights that matter to our organization and help us to try new things.

Incentivized

The ION support team is amazing. There has not been a single issue they they could not solve for me. If there is a feature or request that they do not have, they have even, on occasion, created custom scripts for our team. *Update 6/5/17 - ION has continued to delight on multiple occasions. I appreciate their attention to detail and ability to solve whatever issue I have. After 3+ years of use and support, ION still has my full endorsement.

Incentivized

They offer a great amount of online training, videos, articles, etc. There is usually an answer available if you run into an issue. I would recommend taking advantage of the online training they offer. I wish I would have done it sooner.

Incentivized

They did extremely well. However, our executives did a poor job in defining our ICP so we didn't get the maximum benefit out of it.

Incentivized

There were a lot of things we learned about the tool once we really got in and got our hands dirty. Being hands-on was essential for our team to be able to utilize ION in the most effective manner.

Incentivized

Demand Science was less expensive when quoting cost per lead than Tech Target. Other than that, the program sounded almost the same. I selected Demand Science because I was price sensitive while trying to test whether the tactic of content syndication was effective for us.

Incentivized

I haven't had a lot of experience with templated CMS systems and was not involved in the original selection, though I was part of the renewal discussions. Most of the templates I've used have been html and created in house on an as-needed bases

Incentivized

Separate client portfolios enable scalability, however, some elements are still grouped for all accounts so it's difficult to scale for an ad agency with multiple clients. Would prefer totally separate sections of the platform for all clients with each element housed separately.

Incentivized

• Delivered quality leads that had engaged with our top of funnel content
• Added quality contacts to our marketing database
• Cost per lead slightly higher than some other vendors
• Quick to set up, launch and deliver the campaign once everything in place
• Excellent account management and named-person support

Incentivized

• So far the impact has been positive, but as we are new to the platform that opinion is based on relatively few interactive assets.
• There hasn't been any negative reactions or impact from Ion as of yet, but as I said before it's still early for us in terms of usage (less than a year).
• We do really appreciate the level of complexity and customization available in the platform.

Incentivized