Benchmark Email vs. VerticalResponse

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Benchmark Email
Score 6.4 out of 10
N/A
Benchmark is an email marketing platform on a global mission to help businesses everywhere ignite relationships with their customers, from the company of the same name in St.Louis, Missouri.
$0
per month
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.
$9
per month
Pricing
Benchmark EmailVerticalResponse
Editions & Modules
Pro
Starting at $13
per month
Enterprise
Custom
Basic
$11.00
per month
Pro
$16.00
per month
Pro Plus
$196.00
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Benchmark EmailVerticalResponse
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Benchmark EmailVerticalResponse
Considered Both Products
Benchmark Email
VerticalResponse
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Benchmark EmailVerticalResponse
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Benchmark Email
9.5
7 Ratings
15% above category average
VerticalResponse
9.9
8 Ratings
19% above category average
WYSIWYG email editor7.86 Ratings10.07 Ratings
Dynamic content10.06 Ratings10.05 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content9.34 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Landing pages10.04 Ratings10.04 Ratings
A/B testing10.06 Ratings10.05 Ratings
Mobile optimization10.07 Ratings10.05 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting10.06 Ratings10.08 Ratings
List management10.07 Ratings10.08 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences8.24 Ratings9.02 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Benchmark Email
8.3
7 Ratings
6% above category average
VerticalResponse
10.0
9 Ratings
24% above category average
Dashboards7.66 Ratings10.09 Ratings
Standard reports10.07 Ratings10.09 Ratings
Custom reports7.23 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Pre-Send Testing
Comparison of Pre-Send Testing features of Product A and Product B
Benchmark Email
10.0
1 Ratings
16% above category average
VerticalResponse
10.0
1 Ratings
16% above category average
Inbox Display10.01 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Email Previews10.01 Ratings10.01 Ratings
URL Validation00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Link Tracking00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Image Validation00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Email Accessibility Tools00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Spelling and Grammar Check00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Spam Testing00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Benchmark EmailVerticalResponse
Small Businesses
VerticalResponse
VerticalResponse
Score 10.0 out of 10
ReachMail
ReachMail
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
VerticalResponse
VerticalResponse
Score 10.0 out of 10
Emma by Marigold
Emma by Marigold
Score 8.6 out of 10
Enterprises
Emma by Marigold
Emma by Marigold
Score 8.6 out of 10
Emma by Marigold
Emma by Marigold
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Benchmark EmailVerticalResponse
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(7 ratings)
10.0
(28 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(1 ratings)
8.6
(19 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(5 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(4 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
User Testimonials
Benchmark EmailVerticalResponse
Likelihood to Recommend
BenchmarkONE
For low volume non-profits, Benchmark Email provides a respectable free service. Ease of use is high and customization of the email is good. The discount for 501(c)(3) organizations and fully free use for non-profits that help children is commendable. Although the GUI editor is flexible and easy to learn, it does have some issues with certain detailed formatting concerns, like properly showing the newlines between paragraphs. Image/photo processing and presentation is similarly both easy to use, but frustrating due to some capability gaps and quirks, like specifying image sizes and display on hi-resolution devices.

Overall, Benchmark Email provides a good service that is easy to learn to expand your communication reach; however, the ROI and satisfaction may not be as high if paying fees comparable to other offerings.
Read full review
VerticalResponse
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
Read full review
Pros
BenchmarkONE
  • 2,000 contact list space available with no time limit to those who can't upgrade.
  • The AB Testing feature helps to improve the performance of your emails by experimenting with different content and send times to determine what works best. Thus great emailing objectives are easier to achieve.
  • There is a feature where website and email engagement trigger an automatic email series. For example, the automatic flow of a subscriber from a leads list to a customer list upon making a purchase is awesome.
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VerticalResponse
  • 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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Cons
BenchmarkONE
  • List maintenance -- navigating multiple lists is a cumbersome activity.
  • Analytics about user engagement could be better. It's not super robust, especially if you're used to Google Analytics.
  • Customer support is kind of slow to get back to us.
Read full review
VerticalResponse
  • 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
BenchmarkONE
No answers on this topic
VerticalResponse
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
BenchmarkONE
No answers on this topic
VerticalResponse
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
BenchmarkONE
No answers on this topic
VerticalResponse
Never had an issue with uptime
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Performance
BenchmarkONE
No answers on this topic
VerticalResponse
No issues
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Support Rating
BenchmarkONE
No answers on this topic
VerticalResponse
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
BenchmarkONE
No answers on this topic
VerticalResponse
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
BenchmarkONE
No answers on this topic
VerticalResponse
Salesforce integration never worked right. We had to abandon.
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Alternatives Considered
BenchmarkONE
I stated this plenty of times in my previous responses but we moved to Benchmark from Mad Mimi. Mad Mimi's feature set is extremely basic and only suited for start-ups or very small businesses. Benchmark provides enough customization to take the next step in your email marketing program. It's also fairly affordable
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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 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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Return on Investment
BenchmarkONE
  • If we think particularly on the ROI then benchmark email gives you a definite amount of ROI. But it takes time, you will see the results after a six month span of time. Because sending an email itself is a slow and steady process to follow.
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VerticalResponse
  • 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.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Benchmark Email Screenshots

Screenshot of