John Rodkin in Stockholm (WebTrends Dynamic Search)

John Rodkin, Vice President and GM of Digital Advertising Solutions at WebTrends, recently visited Sweden so I got the chance to ask him a few questions about WebTrends Dynamic Search.

WebTrends acquired ClickShift, where John was CEO and co-founder, in the end of 2006. John has also been the VP of Products for NBC Internet.

Dynamic Search utilizes regression analysis and bernoulli trials to optimize campaigns on the combination network-keyword-creative-landing page. The system performs multivariate tests to find out the most
effective way to reach your goal.

My questions

Do you offer optimization based on dayparting?
Yes.

Is it difficult to add another search network?
Yes, but the four networks currently supported (Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask) cover most of the volume.

What’s the pricing like?
It depends, talk to your account manager. A rough estimate is that you should spend approximately $20,000 a month and get 50-100 transactions a week to make it profitable.

Is it fully integrated with campaign IDs in WebTrends on a word/phrase level?
Yes, you can assign different query strings per keyword. Half of our clients do that.

Do you have any customers using Dynamic Search in Scandinavia?
Yes, there’s a business that’s just getting started.

What is your advantage compared to other solutions such as Omniture SearchCenter?
We’re not rules-based, less time is needed to get started, offer more scale and perform better.

Is it possible to have a primary as well as a secondary goal? Say the main focus is acquisition, but we also want to keep an eye on the effect on retention, is that possible?
Yes, and goals don’t necessarily have to be monetary. Typical goals are, however, ROAS, revenue, cost-per-acquisition, gross profit and number of clicks. Repeat traffic is by default tracked for 30 days.

Questions asked by others

Is there a function for keyword discovery in the system?
No, but you don’t have to limit the number of words you enter since only those that are effective will be active.

How do you compare to Touch Clarity?
Their solution is for website optimization by testing different elements. You can achieve the same sing with Dynamic Search if you use numerous landing pages.

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