The 9 points to consider when choosing the right Web Listening Tools

Questions to ask yourself before choosing web listening tools for your business (foolproof!).

Today I am going to tell you about web listening tools, which are the tools you can use to listen to the web that are essential for conducting excellent market analysis.

It is such a vast topic, I could write another book on this alone!

Indeed, if you have dealt with marketing software before, you will have already realized that the landscape is literally dotted with tools and solutions of all kinds, with all possible features and for all budgets. Well, in the case of social listening the matter is even more complicated.

The skeletons in the closet of network listening software.

Every industry has its skeletons in the closet, that is, those aspects that those who want to sell you a product will never tell you because they are hot buttons, issues that everyone is trying to solve,some better and some worse.

The seller will never be the one to advance the argument, and if by chance you are shrewd enough to ask very specific questions, he will keep very vague, hoping that your knowledge is so limited that he will convince you with a reassuring answer.

In this aprrofessional we will see just how unmasking these skeletons allows you to choose the right software for you, without risking making the wrong choice–anddiscovering something unpleasant when it’s too late!

The “uncomfortable” questions you should always ask before buying a web listening tool

This happened to me just the other week when I went to change my home phone contract to fiber. “But then how many megabytes in downloads do you guarantee?” I asked.

“No one can guarantee anything, but rest assured that I also have the same network at home and have never had any problems.”

Um, “Yes but is there a guaranteed minimum?” I pressed. “If it gets too slow for you, call service and they will check to see if there is a voltage drop.”

Okay…

Do you recognize yourself?

I bet you have also found yourself in similar situations in buying a car, an appliance, insurance, and so on.

The same happens with network listening software, also because after testing and analyzing hundreds of software, I came to a conclusion:no two software are the same as each other, but at the same time it is very difficult to compare them.

There is so much information and often nuanced differences, so those selling these tools can claim to be better at this or that without you making any move to verify it.

Don’t worry: I will now tell you what questions to ask before choosing the one that is right for you. You will learn even the most “uncomfortable” questions that most unsuspecting people never ask!

1) What sources do they monitor? How?

It is critical that the software monitor the sources that are of interest to you and allow you to add the sources you need most to your monitoring.

If you need to monitor exactly a particular blog, it should be possible to add it to your sources so that you can monitor it from that point on.

So here’s another question to ask software vendors right after the first one: “Can new sources be added or not?”

Personally, from experience I strongly recommend that you choose software where you can add sources, because over time you will almost certainly need to broaden the spectrum of what you are tracking, shaping the software to suit what you need.

2) How far can the software go back in time?

This is always about data sources, but it is used to understand whether the software also offers historical data or not.

What do I mean? I mean if the software is able to get you information about conversations in the past (and how far back in the past) or if on the contrary it only starts monitoring what I am interested in from today onwards.

The importance is obvious: you need to know whether you can get data right away on what happened in the last period, or whether you will have to wait months before you get the first results… And in the meantime, your dashboard will be more deserted than a city at mid-August.

Often, lower level software provides you with 30 days of historical data, while more expensive software can go up to 1 year, even 3 -5 years by paying an additional price.

Why these differences on historical data? Well, because they cost money. They cost money because they have to be purchased from social networks and because they require huge databases in which to keep data.

So always ask this question before choosing software, otherwise you risk finding a totally empty workspace and having to wait months before you get your first useful data!

Read also: Social marketing listening: listening to the network to enhance your marketing activities

3) How do you create searches? Can I do it independently?

The setup phase, where you set up the research that will be the basis of what the software will collect for you, is a very delicate point that should never be overlooked.

First of all you have to make sure that searches are boolean and that you can use parentheses and also make them very complex.

Otherwise you risk getting either very poor data or very dirty data full of mentions that have nothing to do with it.

It then asks a lot of questions about whether the searches can be even very long, whether there are special logical operators, and so on.

Second, I would advise you to figure out if you have the ability to edit the searches yourself or if you always have to rely on their technical team… And if so, whether they offer a service to help you create new research.

To give you an example, we at Central Marketing Intelligence are involved in supporting some of the software we have partnered with, and we used to work like this: we teach clients how to create new research through an initial course, but we don’t leave them to their own devices!

If they need to start a new, more complex research project for which they need help, we help them at a cost that varies depending on the complexity of the project.

4) How does customer support work?

Here’s another very important question: who will follow you and help you when you need it?

It may seem superfluous, but it often happens that you need to add a research source, or need to ask for help on how to use a chart, or even have any problem on how the software works.

I advise against choosing a provider whose support team is located overseas, because from experience I can tell you that the service will be slow and communications not at all easy!

This is also one of the reasons why we at CMI have partnered with the best listening software in the network, to provide customer service in Italian and at the time when the customer needs it most.

So always ask if local support is available and, of course, if it involves additional costs!

5) How does the price of software licenses work?

Each software has its own different way of structuring the price of licenses.

So you have to be very careful, because salespeople always tend to be a little vague and make you choose a plan that is too big for you, or that you will soon have to increase because you don’t fit into it.

There are four main variables in determining price:

1. The volume of mentions, that is, you have a maximum number of conversations that can be collected each month.
2. The number of searches set, that is, you can do a certain number of searches and that’s it. If you want to add one more, you have to delete one of the previous ones, or go to the next license.
3. The number of dashboards/workspaces/projects, i.e., areas where the same users access at the same time to see results.
4. The number of users who can access the dashboard. Obviously it depends on the size of your team, however, it is better not to have a limit. You never know who might need the instrument in the future!

These 4 variables are often combined to form even very complex pricing plans. You pay for a workspace with a certain volume, a certain number of searches, and a certain number of users.

Then there are other additional variables, such as historical data, some data sources that can be premium, some more in-depth charts that are separate, a reporting service, and so on.

After looking at dozens of them, in my opinion the best plan is the one that does not limit you on the number of searches and also puts few limits on the volume.

There is also one other very important aspect to consider: always ask how many months of license you are limiting yourself for! Usually, higher level software always has a minimum limit of one year, but some restrict you for longer.

It is not wise to tie yourself down for so much right away, because unfortunately you will only be certain that the software is right for you by using it for a while and selling the results of your practical case.

6) How do real-time alerts work?

Alerts are a key point, because you can’t spend your day looking at the software dashboard.

You have more to do, don’t you?

So if something suddenly happens that you need to know about, it is critical that you get an alert, email or text message right away. Taxing!

More or less all software offers this service, however, the questions to ask are these:

“How do you set it up?

Can you choose a specific filter, such as negative conversations on that specific topic, or a growth in volume, or do you get a message for everything as with Google Alerts?

Is there then the possibility of having periodic reports emailed to you with some information to stay updated, and if so what information?”

Ask these questions and you have a great chance of choosing the right Web Listening Tools.

7) Is it possible to moderate mentions? Delete them, change sentiment, change user data?

It may sound absurd, but in some cases it is simply not possible.

No software provider will willingly tell you that the thing can’t be done, so always ask–because if it really can’t be done, you might as well change software!

Read also: Listening social media: what can be heard today and from what sources

8) How does sentiment work? What about language recognition?

Let’s bring up one of the biggest skeletons of all right away: sentiment. It is not possible to achieve 100% correct sentiment detection.

Did you know that man can’t do it either?

A great deal of research has been done on this topic. If you assign mentions for review to more than one person, the results will be more than 80-85% inconsistent.

Why? Because everyone interprets positive/negative/neutral in their own way.

So, NEVER expect sentiment to be 100% accurate. If you want it to be very accurate, then you will have to review it manually.

Automatic sentiment is a good indication to get an overview and understand the situation at a glance. If you then want a fine job, then better overhaul it.

Just remember to ask how the sentiment works, whether the software has evolved algorithms that learn over time, and what languages it is available for.

9) What indexes are available? How are they calculated?

More advanced web listening tools will boast that they have a proprietary index system that allows you to define the importance of the authors of mentions and the mentions themselves.

Perfect, but how are they calculated? Don’t make a fuss and ask to have it explained in detail.

The most important indexes are:

• Importance of users and sources, usually called an index of authority or influence.
• Mention interactions, i.e., how many likes, shares and replies each mention had.
• Mention importance index, which puts together how visible the source is, how many interactions it has had, and other parameters to define how relevant it is.
• Overall index of visibility of the whole topic.

An index system done well is a great help, but if it is calculated half-heartedly instead, it can even become misleading!

In conclusion

Now you know in great detail how to choose a web listening tool and what questions you should ask a salesperson.

Want to get more information about it, book a consultation or market research for your company?

Contact us now : we are here to help you!