VerticalResponse

I’ve had serious issues with VR recently. I was unable to upload photos from my computer to my newsletter. I was told it was easier if I uploaded first to the library… if this is a change, why wasn’t I told? Last week I sent out a newsletter to 4000+ subs customized for first name and it went out with ‘Dear First-​Name… I’ve been waiting more than 24 hours for customer service to get back to me.

I’ve been using Vertical Response (the new version, not Classic) for just over a year. I’ve had some inconveniences with their site layout and tools (no Undo button if you delete a section by accident; tendency to delete sections by moving them, limited templates and limited ability to customize templates) but I like the analytics tools, etc. However, I’ve had a very hard time getting hold of Customer Service. After two phone calls/​voice messages, an email, an attempt to Live Chat during business hours that suddenly became unavailable as I went to click it, and a 35 minute hold time (all over the course of 4+ weeks) later, I FINALLY got to update my subscription information, which I could not do online. It’s not an awful service by any means, but there are tools that need improvement, and they need a larger customer service force. However, the customer service was very friendly and helpful once I got hold of them. My experience has been «eh, okay», but I’m investigating other options that will hopefully bring me more convenience than annoyance.

I use VR for email newsletters. I could not ask for better, more responsive customer tech support. No wait time for either phone or online chat help. And they fixed all my issues quickly. Thanks VR!

A few years ago, I caught Vertical Response making false spam complaints against me, even though my complaint rates were around 1 per 20,000 emails. So, a few years later, I set up a «triple-​blind» test with three identical accounts from three different email addresses and three different people emailing the exact same email lists, with the same frequency and Identical messages.
As I expected, they forged complaints against me (personally), while they ignored the same emails being sent to the exact same lists by my co-​workers, who were sending identical material.
I’m pretty sure that they are scamming at this point. One example of the lies they told me was «these aren’t just complaints, they are complaints that are special…» Special how? A complaint is a complaint… unless they are trying to say, «but since it’s you, this is a complaint we will pay attention to…» Bullshit! Also, they won’t provide the names of those that complain, unlike competitor services, so there is no way to verify whether the complaints are real. Not very likely, when you consider the probability being so very low, in addition to the other obvious fakery. With my other email service, I have gone without any complaints sometimes for as many 150,000 consecutive emails.
Also, their (Vertical Response’s) deliverability rates are not that competitive. They start out very high, then drop drastically.
Just as an addendum, once I told them that there were three identical accounts with three identical lists of email, one of the accounts received its first complaints (three complaints) after two months of no complaints at all. Pretty obvious that the staff put them there and that they were fake, based on probability.
To top that all off, after they blocked my account (which wrecked about thirty ads I had carefully placed on different websites), then THEY sent me SPAM about their seminars, AFTER I cancelled my subscription. Hypocrites.

Until a few months ago, I was with VerticalResponse for more than 4 years, mostly because I was always too lazy to change over to another email marketing company. Finally, I took the extra time and I made a switch to Constant Contact… and I am much happier now. MAINLY because Constant Contact has a larger customer service staff… with longer hours (including the weekends). Unlike VerticalResponse, Constant Contact doesn’t leave you hanging when you have issues that need to be resolved immediately… especially when your company depends on direct email marketing to make sales.
VerticalResponse simply does NOT have the customer service unit that it needs to service customers, yet they still charge as much as the other LARGER, more equipped companies. There were AT LEAST over 50 times that I had to wait for hours or days to get some resolution from VerticalResponse to my issues. And, VerticalResponse was never very apologetic about it. In fact, their customer service was not very friendly.
Overall, VerticalResponses’ prices are too high for what they offer. You are better off paying a bit more and going elsewhere… like I did, to Constant Contact. Plus, the other LARGER competitors offer other perks (like freezing subscriptions, easier opt-​in policies, etc) than VerticalResponse.