Sendblaster vs. VerticalResponse

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Sendblaster
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
SendBlaster is the eponymous lean, list management / newsletter-centric email marketing software from the Italian company founded in 2006, basically for creating newsletters in a WYSIWYG editor and sending them out to the multitudes, with tools facilitating this: programmable tags, personalization, link checking, embedded image support, file importing, templates, and help from partner Mailstyler (free) for newsletter optimization and styling. Bulk mailing is managed for free with Sendblaster…N/A
VerticalResponse
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
VerticalResponse is an email campaign management software and services platform from Deluxe. In addition to providing email marketing tools, VerticalResponse offers fully managed email marketing services from campaign launch and management to reporting and analysis.
$11
per month
Pricing
SendblasterVerticalResponse
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Basic
$11.00
per month
Pro
$16.00
per month
Pro Plus
$196.00
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
SendblasterVerticalResponse
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
SendblasterVerticalResponse
Considered Both Products
Sendblaster
Chose Sendblaster
Sendblaster has all the features of these other alternatives, and its more flexible. Its a lot easier to develop custom messages/templates. There are a lot more sending configurations that are possible. There are no subscriptions fees with Sendblaster, unlike MailChimp and …
VerticalResponse
Chose VerticalResponse
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 …
Chose VerticalResponse
Vertical Response is most akin to Constant Contact. No frills, agile, easy to use. The one advantage that it has over Constant Contact is that you don't need to be locked into a month-to-month plan, which is what I needed. Salesforce and HubSpot aren't fair comparisons--these …
Chose VerticalResponse
This was the first bulk emailing system that I tried. I looked into Constant Contact.
Chose VerticalResponse
I think Vertical Response is a lot more user-friendly than Constant Contact and allows for more features that constant contact does not. I like the email WYSIWYG feature better on here and it allows us to preview our emails before we send them out to our entire customer base.
Chose VerticalResponse
Vertical Response was already in use when I joined the organization. It was selected for affordability. In comparison to other email marketing platforms, it was harder to use for an end user, but we were able to hire a developer to create some custom templates, and that worked …
Chose VerticalResponse
Pardot is a good tool but with the cost you will get a better value from Vertical Response and easier design capabilities. MailChimp is a widely used tool but I found the list segmentation and general template at Vertical Response to be better.
Chose VerticalResponse
I am a true believer in Vertical Response. So much so, that this is the first and only software I have used for this type of marketing. When this program was first launched it was a godsend - truly innovative for its time. And in the years since, I have continued to implement …
Chose VerticalResponse
VR, MailChimp and Constant Contact all provide similar experience and provide the same function. I use many different tools.
Chose VerticalResponse
Marketo covered more scope than we needed at the time.
Chose VerticalResponse
ExactTarget, MailChimp. I liked VerticalResponse's integration with Salesforce. We used MailChimp before and it says on their website they have integration with Salesforce, but we were never able to find it on the Force.com website.

For ExactTarget, we used that in the past and …
Chose VerticalResponse
Constant Contact, MailChimp. Vertical Response covered our basic needs - contacts management, newsletter and marketing email activity analysis, templates/wizards, etc. and was free for non-profits up to 10,000 contacts/month.
Features
SendblasterVerticalResponse
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Sendblaster
8.6
Ratings
7% above category average
VerticalResponse
9.9
Ratings
21% above category average
WYSIWYG email editor6.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Dynamic content7.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Landing pages10.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
A/B testing10.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Mobile optimization7.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting9.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
List management10.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Sendblaster
8.0
Ratings
4% above category average
VerticalResponse
10.0
Ratings
26% above category average
Standard reports8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Dashboards00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Pre-Send Testing
Comparison of Pre-Send Testing features of Product A and Product B
Sendblaster
-
Ratings
VerticalResponse
10.0
Ratings
20% above category average
URL Validation00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Link Tracking00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Image Validation00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Inbox Display00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Email Accessibility Tools00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Spelling and Grammar Check00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Spam Testing00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Email Previews00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
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SendblasterVerticalResponse
Small Businesses
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Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
VerticalResponse
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Score 10.0 out of 10
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Score 8.6 out of 10
Enterprises
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All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
SendblasterVerticalResponse
Likelihood to Recommend
9.5
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
SendblasterVerticalResponse
Likelihood to Recommend
Sendblaster is really, really very easy to use, especially for non-technical people. Problems arise when someone tries to paste content that was formatted in, say, Microsoft Word or Excel, into Sendblaster, then all hell breaks loose. If you have to use it in WYSIWYG mode, then it is important to use just straight paragraphed content.
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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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Pros
  • Rendering HTML source code
  • Managing mailing lists
  • You can control the speed of email broadcasts
  • Ease of importing lists
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  • The tools that they provide you with for building out emails are particularly easy to use. I love the drag and drop ability that gives anyone the opportunity to build professional looking emails without any extensive experience.
  • With the majority of people checking emails on mobile, it is necessary to have highly responsive designs and this tool does all the work for you, no developer is needed and that is a MAJOR plus.
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Cons
  • The user interface could be more polished. It's very easy to use, but the appearance of the user interface looks a little old fashioned for a desktop software. Of course recipients don't see that interface, so that is not very consequential.
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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.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
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.
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Usability
No answers on this topic
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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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
Never had an issue with uptime
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Performance
No answers on this topic
No issues
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Support Rating
No answers on this topic
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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Online Training
No answers on this topic
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
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
Salesforce integration never worked right. We had to abandon.
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Alternatives Considered
Sendblaster has all the features of these other alternatives, and its more flexible. Its a lot easier to develop custom messages/templates. There are a lot more sending configurations that are possible. There are no subscriptions fees with Sendblaster, unlike MailChimp and Constant Contact. I haven't found another solution that has all of the same features.
Read full review
I am a true believer in Vertical Response. So much so, that this is the first and only software I have used for this type of marketing. When this program was first launched it was a godsend - truly innovative for its time. And in the years since, I have continued to implement this software at three other winery properties because there is nothing else I want to use
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Return on Investment
  • Customer service was greatly improved because of Sendblaster. We were able to design our communication exactly the way we wanted to improve communication effectiveness.
  • Sendblaster helped our brand because email recipients have been very impressed by the polished visual appearance of our outgoing messages, consistent branding and use of logo, wordmark, and other identifiers, etc.
  • We saved a lot of money with Sendblaster. Our organization can send unlimited messages, and the Sendblaster software we paid for places no limit on messages sent. So, since there are no ongoing subscription fees or volume fees after paying for the the software, we saved a lot. Other "software as a service" options would have cost a minimum of $50 per month, and potentially a lot more than that for high-volume email communication.
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  • 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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ScreenShots