Billo vs Insense: A Detailed Guide For Choosing The Right UGC Platform For Your Brand
Billo and Insense are among the world’s most popular and successful user-generated content (UGC) platforms. Each offers brands the ability to connect with legions of creators to do their bidding.
Getting down to the basics, Billo is a platform that makes it easy to get UGC videos for your brand’s social media outreach efforts. You pay a fixed price for each content piece, letting you scale your campaigns on your terms. Simply send creators your brief and then approve their work a few days later.
Insense’s service does something similar. Like Billo, it delivers a steady supply of UGC for brands to use in their campaigns, helping them find top-performing authentic content. Businesses can partner with creators across social media channels and run UGC ads from influencers’ accounts on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.
But, which of these platforms should you use?
That’s where this guide can help. It discusses Billo and Insense deeply, exploring their core features, price, user experience, and unique benefits for specific industries. By the end, you should have a better idea of which to choose.
Billo Vs Insense: Core Featured Compared
Billo and Insense each offer a massive array of core features to help you find suitable UGC for your brand. However, their approach isn’t identical. Both offer something slightly different along several dimensions.
Here’s a table that highlights the main points of distinction:
Core features: Billo vs Insense
Billo | Insense | |
---|---|---|
Content type | Primarily video content for branded ads, product reviews, and social media outreach | Videos with other content types mixed in, including stories for ads and influencer campaigns |
Ideal customer | Ecommerce businesses wanting to showcase their products visually through organic content and ads | Brands looking for numerous UGC formats with extra control over audience targeting |
Data analysis | Views and engagement statistics that track UGC performance over time | Demographic insights and ROI tracking for campaign monitoring |
Campaign management | Easy-to-use campaign setup with tools for messaging creators directly with requirements | Audience segmentation tools and creator vetting options |
Customization options | Extensive campaign customization options with bespoke video production | Flexible orders for specific audiences with bespoke content style |
Platform integrations | Works with most large e-commerce platforms | Integrates with social media platforms |
User-friendliness | Beginner-friendly with quick setup and the ability to make orders at scale | Complex setup suitable for professional marketers or individuals comfortable with technicalities |
Creator network size | Massive creator network with over 5,000 pre-vetted individuals | Sizeable creator network focusing on influencer marketing to Gen Z and branded content |
Pricing | Pay per video with a simple pricing structure | More complex pricing mechanisms, including subscriptions and project-based pricing |
Overall Billo is easy to use, more transparent, and simpler to set up. Brands can begin campaigns within hours of signing up, finding unique influencers in their niche to promote their products.
By contrast, Insense is more enterprise-focused. While it provides detailed analytics and more content formats, it does this at the expense of complexity.
Pricing Breakdown: Which Platform Fits Your Budget?
Billo and Insense have vastly different pricing approaches. We would argue that the former is simpler than the latter, but you can be the judge.
With Billo, videos cost around $100 each with bonuses available if you buy more in a single order. For example, we’ll give you a $125 bonus if you invest $1,000 into our services, and a $450 bonus if you invest $2,500. You can also call us for a custom pack that matches your goals for even larger savings.
Billo’s pricing is transparent – you only pay the upfront fee. It’s also risk-free: Billo will refund you the full amount if you can’t find a creator for your business. You pay once and get ads all year without commitment.
Insense applies a considerably more complex pricing structure. Its services are available on subscription across three tiers: Trial, Brand, and Agency.
“Trial” is for companies that want to test its platform one month at a time. You can run one campaign and hire up to ten creators to help you build it.
“Brand” is a pay-quarterly subscription (or annually) designed for the average company. It helps firms gather influencers and creators for combined campaigns to scale organic reach.
“Agency” is the highest tier for brand collectives and Amazon aggregators. It is an enterprise-level solution, offering unlimited whitelisted licenses, campaigns, and creators to hire.
Notice that Insense makes its clients pay more for the number of “user seats,” “brands” or “licenses” it issues. Consequently, monthly payments can be substantially higher than the baseline amounts quoted.
Furthermore, Insense charges a “marketplace fee.” This separate transaction is added to each creator payment to cover operational fees. This stands at 20% on Trial subscriptions and 10% on Brand subscriptions.
User Experience And Interface: Navigating Billo vs Insense
Billo primarily focuses on making the user experience as simple as possible. It’s for brands, ecommerce stores, and agencies that want to get UGC and avoid hassle.
As such, Billo’s onboarding process is straightforward. Tools guide you through campaign setup, providing clear instructions, and allowing you to create video campaign templates or bespoke briefs depending on your requirements.
This approach means there’s no need for the endless back-and-forth you often see on production timelines. Billo allows you to order the videos you need in minutes, owing to its streamlined process.
You start by telling Billo which platform you want videos for. TikTok and Meta are the default options, but you can choose others. Then, you select the video length, whether you want editing, and the aspect ratio (whether you want it for desktop or mobile). These selections provide creators with vital information on how to shoot and format your content.
Once you do that, you can choose how many creators you want to work on your video. Each will produce custom-made content just from them, and publish it to their respective audiences. Billo can supply you with 4 authentic photos from each creator as thumbnails for your social media posts or website (if needed) and change the aspect ratio.
Following payment, you have an opportunity to write a video brief. These instructions tell creators what you want them to do.
You can also get an estimate of the lead time for your video. It shows each step of video production and when it will happen.
As you might expect, Insense’s platform has a steeper learning curve. The initial onboarding process is complex and overwhelming for brands without experience ordering and generating UGC.
Insense does provide some help in this regard, allowing customers to book a free demo. This service guides brands through finding suitable UGC creators for your campaign and helps source ready-to-use ads in under ten days.
Once you start using Insense, you can specify the campaigns you want. The platform offers numerous customization options and audience targeting settings, allowing you to meet corporate expectations. However, the user interface is more cluttered because of the sheer range of features available.
As for communication, Billo lets you talk to creators directly as part of the feedback and revision process. This tool isn’t just for correcting content, it is also for building closer relationships with influencers. Over time, brands using Billo have the same quality interactions and connections with creators as if they had reached out organically.
Insense’s collaboration approach operates differently. Brands enter into a more structured workflow for submissions and approvals which can be good for enterprises wanting to generate scalable content but is impersonal for smaller brands. The platform makes building a personal rapport with influencers more challenging, reducing the ability to sustain relationships.
Finally, significant differences exist between Billo’s and Insense’s use of metrics. Our platform focuses on the performance metrics required to judge campaign success, such as views and engagement rates (how many people like, share, and comment). Meanwhile, Insense adds more analytics, including insights into audience demographics and engagement patterns.
Billo’s Unique Benefits For Specific Business Niches
Billo offers unique benefits for specific business niches, focusing on those most likely to want to use UGC.
Ecommerce Brands
For example, we provide comprehensive UGC assistance to ecommerce brands. Companies in virtually every niche can find creators to review or advertise their products, including:
- Health and wellness
- Automotive
- Children and family
- Home and lifestyle
- Pets
- Food and beverage
- Cosmetics and beauty
- Technology and gadgets
- Apps and digital services
- Apparel and fashion
Billo’s creators are US-based, making them suitable for a local audience, and hand-picked for their exceptional quality. Furthermore, every production is authentic. Creators communicate transparently and honestly with their audiences about their experience with your products.
Adore Me is an ecommerce brand that worked with Billo creators on a TikTok campaign. Using our influencers allowed it more impact than leveraging those it found organically, increasing its click-through rate (CTR) by 15% and reducing its cost-per-acquisition (CPA) by 8%.
Pineapple Products, a health supplement company, had a similar experience. After using Billo, the number of people interacting with the company went up between 30% and 50%, with a 10.75% increase in ROI and a 5% increase in conversion rates on pages featuring Billo UGC.
Agencies
Billo also works with agencies. They can get scalable UGC on demand and pass it on to their customers.
Intelligence Media, an ecommerce growth agency, discovered this reality firsthand when it started using Billo’s UGC. It leveraged our recommended ready-to-go ad structure, which worked better than their previous highly refined ads. After the partnership, the company’s return on ad spend (ROAS) increased significantly and its acquisition costs fell substantially. Overall, it saw a 120% rise in total sales in two months and a net profit increase of 200%.
Apps
Finally, Billo targets app developers, helping them boost engagement with authentic UGC. For example, app publisher Brickster found it challenging to produce videos for its clients on-demand. However, the outfit managed to significantly scale its Chatster app’s marketing efforts using our UGC creators. Cost-per-install (CPI) fell 500%, CPA plunged 2.5 times, and spending on Facebook rose 600%.
Insense’s Unique Benefits For Specific Business Niches
Insense also offers unique benefits for specific business niches. However, its focus is slightly different.
Direct-To-Consumer
Insense targets the direct-to-consumer (DTC) market, assisting companies across niches, including:
- Business and finance
- Health and wellness
- Sports and fitness
- Pets
- Home and garden
- Fashion and style
- Food and drinks
- Lifestyle
- Beauty and care
Furthermore, like Billo, Insense can point to instances where its services supported its clients and helped them achieve their business goals. For example, the UGC platform helped Bones Coffee generate over $25,000 in revenue by running 16 “video assets” generating a ROAS of 2.16. It also helped Nurture Life, a brand that assists busy parents with healthy food solutions for their children, deliver a campaign in less than two weeks. Thanks to the short lead time, the company could operate more efficiently.
Amazon
Insense also helps Amazon sellers leverage the power of UGC by forging strong partnerships. For example, the platform assisted Malouf, a bedding brand, leverage TikTok Spark Ads to increase its product and brand searches on Amazon by over 100%. The company saw massive increases in SKU-related keyword searches and achieved its lowest cost-per-impression ever.
Digital Services
Digital services are another of Insense’s target niches, similar to Billo. The platform helps agencies source high-quality content for their clients’ campaigns.
For example, Insense assisted Easy A Media with challenges regarding sourcing high-quality content for its weekly ad creative testing process. The company wanted a cost-effective method to acquire a large volume of UGC to deliver to customers. Within 45 days, Insense ran product seeding campaigns, collaborating with over 100 creators to generate hundreds of video assets, including testimonials and reviews for Instagram.
It also did something similar for BabyQuip using TikTok influencers, helping the company grow its reach in new markets like the UK and Canada, generating over 40,000 views.
Mobile App
Insense also has limited experience helping mobile apps drive downloads and lower marketing costs. Its UGC lets outfits find specific influencers to fit their brands.
For example, Zing Coach, a fitness app, needed creators who matched its product profiles, typically young athletic males, who could speak effectively to audiences on camera. Soon after, Insense sourced over 20 creators, lowering the business’s CPA by over 25%.
Brick And Mortar
Lastly, Insense sometimes focuses on the brick-and-mortar store niche. It uses online influencers to connect audiences to products they can purchase locally.
For example, Postino Wine Cafe had worked with independent influencers before but couldn’t manage the collaborations well. The outfit found it difficult to discover the creators in its locations, preventing it from using UGC effectively.
Working with Insense changed that. It sourced influencers from numerous cities, including Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta, and received the required content in under 2.5 weeks.
Key Considerations When Choosing Between Billo And Insense
As we have seen, Billo and Insense let you connect with creators. However, the platforms differ significantly. So, which should you choose?
Here are some key considerations you should make before coming to a final decision:
Scalability and Campaign Flexibility
Billo is for brands wanting to run short-term campaigns that morph into larger efforts. Thanks to its massive creator portfolio, scaling is relatively easy.
On the other hand, Insense offers tools for large-scale campaigns but requires extra payment for additional brands and users. It uses advanced UGC strategies, taking a more formulaic approach to collaboration, with less back-and-forth with creators than Billo.
Analytics
Analytics is another consideration. Billo lets you track metrics like views and engagement that are simple to evaluate and understand. You can learn whether campaigns succeed quickly, without being a numbers expert.
Meanwhile, Insense has more data-driven features and requires individuals with extra technical experience. Understanding some metrics is challenging and requires expert education in marketing and statistics.
Creator Network
You also want to think about the quality and characteristics of the creator network each platform offers. One could be better for your brand than the other.
For example, Billo has a large network of more than 5,000 curated creators (and growing). Furthermore, there is an intensive vetting process. Each influencer must be skilled and versed in delivering brand-friendly content.
On the other hand, Insense has a larger creator network, but it is less curated. Specific targeting options are available across niches. However, the risk might outweigh the reward.
Learning Curve
Then, of course, there is the learning curve. How steep this can be for your enterprise determines which platform to use.
Billo is well-known in brand and creator circles for being among the simplest platforms available. Complete beginners can usually order videos without complications.
Meanwhile, Insense’s options are more complex. The platform focuses on advanced features you may not use but could still get in the way of using the service.
Content Type
Lastly, consider the content type, which differs between Billo and Insense. The former specializes in video content for brands that love short-form, while the latter offers more formats, including stories, images, and carousels. Think carefully about which option suits you and your audience best.
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