Leadfwd vs. SMTP2GO vs. VerticalResponse

I think Inbox25 is a great fit for companies outgrowing lower-end, disconnected email marketing applications. Companies with a more formalized marketing organization that send a lot of emails (tens of thousands monthly or more) will be better served with a product like Inbox25 that is less complex, easier to use, and much more affordable (30% lower by our experience) from the larger marketing automation products on the market. Our company has 3 full-time marketing staff with over 100,000 contacts (with valid emails) that we target in various direct and drip email campaigns and Inbox25 fits our needs just fine. I suspect that we may outgrow the product eventually but I think it'll meet our needs just fine for many years to come.

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It's great for any application that you need to track email receipt and recipient interaction, or with devices/programs that don't fare well with Exchange based email services. Don't try to set SMTP2GO as your outbound email server if you're using O365, that just isn't a possibility (not that I've looked into that setup).

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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

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• SugarCRM integration
• Ease of building workflows
• Responsive, helpful support team

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• adding senders or domains to improve email deliverability
• you don't have to deal with RBL to white list an IP address previously used for spaming
• Control panel gives you enough flexibility without a cluttered UI
• Everything you need is well documented
• The API is easy to use offers you the ability to integrate SMTP2Go with virtually anything

• 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.

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• Inbox25 is in a growth phase and has transformed their product pretty fast. With that comes an increased need to continually learn how to leverage new features.
• Tutorials and product documentation exist but it is relatively minimal. They overcome this with personalized, one-on-one training that is recorded for future review using a project management platform.
• Inbox25 has expanded beyond Sugar CRM to include Salesforce.com integration. I'm not sure if they plan to add integrations to other applications but they are positioned well for growth.

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• Might be nice to add a monthly good looking PDF report for subaccount users that can be branded and sent directly to the subaccount contact. A 'client facing' report that we can use to show our customers the email usage history.

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• 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.

Reliability in email delivery is what counts the most. SMTP2GO is undeniably a winner in this category. The price is reasonable, therefore the RoI is excellent.

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.

While reporting could use some tweaks overall it is a very good product that works reliably and is simple to set up and maintain.

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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

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Never had an issue with uptime

No issues

When I first contacted SMTP2GO while searching for a solution, they were extremely helpful and attentive. I think it only took two email messages to answer all my questions and make a decision. I don't think I've ever needed any support to implement and operate the several solutions I currently use with the SMTP2GO service. It just works intuitively and flawlessly.

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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

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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.

Different platforms stack up particularly well for different use cases. INBOX25 is our default choice for SugarCRM users.

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It has been so long since I did my comparison with other products that no comparison would be valid today. It has worked so well at a price point that is so acceptable that I don't feel an urge to do the evaluation again.

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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.

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• We have successfully moved cold suspects to leads and leads to opportunities, and opportunities to customers with Inbox25. We are just now starting to realize more value given that we've only recently started using the more advanced drip marketing and lead scoring features.
• When we used the pay-as-you-go version we were paying just pennies per email and remained CAN-Spam Act compliant. It was harder to quantify the ROI then but it was apparent that email marketing was working and moving prospects from one sales stage to another. It was also very useful for re-engaging prospects and promoting products and services to customers.
• Our total investment in the advanced edition is less $30,000 annually and we expect the ROI to be less than one year. It could have been sooner if we'd have been more thoughtful in our initial implementation.

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• Allowed us to use the same SMTP information across the board for all customers instead of having them split between several accounts.
• More cost efficient than paying for several different email accounts.
• Created an additional layer of great customer service for us since SMTP information is able to be preprogrammed into the equipment before ever leaving our facility.

• 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.

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