Dotdigital vs. VerticalResponse

DotDigital has a drag-and-drop email builder and many good templates. Using automation, I was able to send out emails with ease. During the onboarding process, you will also be able to speak with real people. We use it to create modern and engaging emails for customers, whether abandoned cart or post-purchase. It has excellent reporting modules, but it lacks a few fundamentals, which can be frustrating. As a whole, the partnership has been a success so far.

Incentivized

For businesses requiring advanced email marketing features like sophisticated automation, in-depth analytics, and extensive customization, VerticalResponse might fall short due to its limited featuresVerticalResponse is ideal for small businesses or freelancers who need a simple, straightforward email marketing tool. Its ease of use and basic features make it suitable for those without extensive technical expertise in email marketing

Incentivized

• Email Campaigns are simple and easy to crease
• We use the SMS to alert our customers to any technical issues
• Good support from account managers

Incentivized

• I love the ease of list builder because we often times have a lot of data to import. It would be simply impossible without this tool, considering the amount of customer data we have for any one given email.
• We really enjoy the ease of use of the HTML wizard as well. It helps even a novice be able to make a beautiful and attention grabbing email.
• The dashboard is functional and easy to find when you need with a quick search.

Incentivized

• API limits: There is a hardcoded limit on how many API calls you can make per hour, and to raise it, you have to pay.
• The API set is very limited in general.
• The API set is very limited in general

Incentivized

• The type face is small. Not sure if this is to avoid overwhelming the reader, but I could see this being an issue with vision-impaired people or people who don't see small print well.
• Sometimes I find it takes multiple clicks to make one simple change. I wish there was a search field at the top of the screen that allowed me to jump directly to a client's entry to update it there.

Product is easy for both technical and non-technical people to use. A cost effective solution for sending out large number of messages. We can manage unsubscribes by individual accounts, so we can have multiple multiple accounts combined to maximize our buying power on credits. Effective API for sending/receiving data makes tool a valuable asset.

DotDigital is not difficult to use, however, the user interface could use some optimization. There are certain elements that can be challenging to find, and the menus are not always intuitive. However, the tool makes up for that with easy to use features, like creating segments, and allowing many rules to specify these particular groups.

Incentivized

I truly love this product. We are moving to an all-in-one system next year and my greatest fear in doing so is how much I will miss this platform. Although we are excited for things ahead, I will always keep Vertical Response in my back pocket incase I don't love the new platform as much

Incentivized

Never had an issue with uptime

No issues

At Vertical Response the help desk associates are courteous, knowledgeable and helpful. You can tell they enjoy what they do. And clearly, they are well trained because most times, the first point of contact is able to resolve any issue you may have. There have been very few times where an associate has needed to get back to me or escalate me to a supervisor

Incentivized

Basic functions and online help...we used what was needed, at the time, and will continue to explore other online trainings as our functional needs expand

Salesforce integration never worked right. We had to abandon.

DotDigital's platform is simple to use for essential email marketing campaigns. Setting up Programs (action-driven automation) is simple. It gives you the ability to design stunning campaigns with a wide range of customizability. To better understand our customer base, it analyzes each email sent out. In every situation, the support team has been responsive and helpful.

Incentivized

In addition to using Vertical Response personally I also manage email marketing for clients that already use Mailchimp, Robly and Constant Contact. While most of these platforms all offer similar features I choose Vertical Response first if the client does not have a platform in place. Typically I am also teaching the client how to use this tool and the Vertical Response visual interface is very easy for me to teach a client how to navigate and create their own campaigns.

Incentivized

• Maintenance costs due to integration limits.
• API tiers (now formalized in the documentation) were discovered after the initial purchase, so there are more recurring costs.
• In general, a raise of costs in the IT compartment, while it can benefit marketing.

Incentivized

• We were able to blast out promotions our company was having to customers which created an increase in business.
• By blasting out any service issues, it keeps our customers informed so that they are not wondering what is going on.
• Allows us to store unsubscribed emails so that we are not constantly pestering people who do not want to be emailed.

Incentivized