Yep. Me too. I tried the intelligence of KM, but it is not that great. (Well, better than in KM7.)
In addition it has an UI problem: If you rethink, you have to press several times Delete until you can enter your new search abbreviation. (Otherwise your search string will just be appended to your existing one.) — Similar as in macOS’ Spotlight, pretty debil.
So, still, my preferred way (since I can’t remember overly complex combos) is LaunchBar, also for launching KM macros. (see there). And for snippets anyway.
Nothing easier than that.