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VerticalResponse, Inc., a leading provider of self-service email marketing, online surveys and direct mail solutions for small businesses, today announced it has passed the 65,000 customer milestone after a series of recent awards and key partnerships helped it to grow its customer base. Profitable since the beginning of 2005, the company also more than doubled its revenues from 2006 to 2008, continuing momentum despite the recession.
"I started VerticalResponse almost nine years ago with a commitment to this important group of entrepreneurs, and this latest customer milestone shows that we continue to offer comprehensive and affordable online and direct mail products as well as marketing educational resources that small businesses need to compete," said Janine Popick, founder and CEO of VerticalResponse. "We’re honored that so many small businesses choose VerticalResponse to help them grow their businesses and look forward to growing with them in the future."
Key Customers
The company is known for its dedication to the non-profit sector, and offers 10,000 free emails per month to qualifying organizations, plus deep discounts on their email marketing, online surveys and direct mail postcards. In addition to non-profits, customers of VerticalResponse span a number of diverse industries such as retail, hospitality, wineries, education, finance, healthcare, entertainment, consulting and real estate. Key customers include Due Maternity, Mavericks Surf, Splendora and ValuePetSupplies.com/.
"The ROI on Vertical Response campaigns are mind-boggling. 10% of company revenue comes from these campaigns, and it is not unusual to see over 7000% return on investment" said Nick Carter, Marketing and Sales Manager for ValuePetSupplies.com. "VerticalResponse is our most cost-effective marketing tool, and a crucial growth driver for ValuePetSupplies!"
2009 Milestones
In order to achieve rapid customer growth, over the past year the company has invested heavily in product development to build out existing offerings; won a series of prestigious awards and honors; and harnessed the power of social media to communicate with its small business customers.
Awards
VerticalResponse’s rapid growth, attention to development and commitment to customers and communication has led to a series of prestigious awards, including:
• Finalist in the 2009 San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Business "Ebbies" Awards in the 'Emerging Growth';
• Ranked #244 Fastest Growing Company in North America on Deloitte’s 2009 Technology Fast 500™;
• Finalist in the Stevie awards for Women in Business in 5 categories including Best Entrepreneur, Fastest-Growing Company of the Year, Best Overall Company of the Year, Website of the Year, and Blog of the Year;
• Ranked #52 on the 2009 San Francisco Business Times List of "Top 100 Fastest-Growing Companies in the Bay Area";
• Won four WebAwards including Best Application Service Provider, Blog Standard of Excellence, Online Community Standard of Excellence and Small Business Standard of Excellence;
• Ranked #1270 on the 2009 Inc. 5000;
• CEO Janine Popick Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2009 Award Finalist in Northern California;
• Named #23 of Bay Area’s ‘Best Places to Work’ by The San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal, The San Francisco Business Times, and The East Bay Times.
Social Networking and Media
In May 2009, VerticalResponse announced that its combined social media marketing efforts are reaching more than 20,000 people each month – across its customer forum the VerticalResponse Marketing Lounge, the award-winning VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business; and through Facebook and Twitter.
Partnerships
This year VerticalResponse partnered with BigContacts to Provide Integrated CRM & Email Marketing Services to Small Businesses. The company also joined the Intuit® Partner Platform (ipp.developer.intuit.com) to deliver its award-winning products and services to Intuit Inc.’s user community of more than 4 million small businesses.
Education and Content
VerticalResponse has been recognized for its focus on education and superior content for small business users, and continues to build out this focus area. In 2009 the company created a step-by-step email marketing guide for its newest users to get them sending email campaigns within a matter of minutes. This guide has been downloaded more than 15,000 times in 2009. In addition, VerticalResponse's free educational webinars and video tutorials have had over half a million participants since their inception in 2004.
Looking Ahead: Plans for 2010
Even though the customer-base continues to grow, in 2010 VerticalResponse plans to maintain its focus on customer communication through an all-star customer service team, multiple online forums such as blogs, the online community, the VerticalResponse Lounge, social networking sites, and small business events nationwide. The future holds more growth, through new products and integrations as small businesses become more familiar with marketing tools and best practices. VerticalResponse also plans to increase marketing spend, and encourages small businesses to take a free test-drive of the VerticalResponse product.
About VerticalResponse
VerticalResponse, Inc. (verticalresponse.com) is a leading provider of self-service email marketing, online surveys and direct mail services empowering small businesses to easily create, manage and analyze their own direct marketing campaigns. VerticalResponse’s flagship product is the Small Business Stimulus Package, which bundles email, online surveys and postcards to offer customers an integrated Web-based direct marketing solution that’s intuitive and affordable. VerticalResponse is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
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