VerticalResponse for AppExchange Blog

VerticalResponse Seamlessly Integrates with Picnik for Image Editing

One of my favorite features in our recent Email Creation Upgrade is the integration with Picnik. For those who aren’t familiar, Picnik is a web-based image editing tool that makes it really easy to crop, re-size and polish up your images to use within your VerticalResponse email marketing campaigns. They recently got snatched up by Google which is a testament to the great product they have – congrats Picnik people.

See below for a walkthrough, or check out our brief demo video from Jill.

 




There is an interesting story about how this integrated feature got included into our recent release. Early on in the planning stages of the Email Creation Upgrade we brought members of our Customer Advisory Board (CAB) into our offices here in San Francisco. We wanted to give them a preview of what we’d been working on and get their honest, real-world feedback to make sure we were building something they’d love to use.

As we went through our presentation there was a great back-and-forth dialogue and general head-nodding we were on the right track with how we planned to upgrade our email creation tools. But as the meeting went on, we started hearing a common theme in the voices of our users: they wanted an easier and better way to upload images into their email campaigns.

So while we definitely had “upgrade our image editing tools” on our product backlog, it was a bit lower on the list because we had intended to tackle a few other features we thought were more important. What was great about this meeting is that it (a) gave us a good reality check in terms of what real-life users wanted to see in the app (b) took place early enough on in the development process that we were able to shuffle some priorities around to slot this into the big release on March 19, 2010.

So thanks to the CAB folks for your candid feedback – you’ve put your stamp on the VerticalResponse product.  And thanks of course to all our customers who made their voices heard on features they wanted to see included in our Email Creation Upgrade. We’re certainly not done and we’re working on some other great things for release later in the year – stay tuned!

Lastly, if you’re interested in joining our Customer Advisory Board or would like to participate in early access beta programs for new features please let us know via email. We’d love to have you join us.

Josh Feinberg - VP Product Management

 




There is an interesting story about how this integrated feature got included into our recent release. Early on in the planning stages of the Email Creation Upgrade we brought members of our Customer Advisory Board (CAB) into our offices here in San Francisco. We wanted to give them a preview of what we’d been working on and get their honest, real-world feedback to make sure we were building something they’d love to use.

As we went through our presentation there was a great back-and-forth dialogue and general head-nodding we were on the right track with how we planned to upgrade our email creation tools. But as the meeting went on, we started hearing a common theme in the voices of our users: they wanted an easier and better way to upload images into their email campaigns.

So while we definitely had “upgrade our image editing tools” on our product backlog, it was a bit lower on the list because we had intended to tackle a few other features we thought were more important. What was great about this meeting is that it (a) gave us a good reality check in terms of what real-life users wanted to see in the app (b) took place early enough on in the development process that we were able to shuffle some priorities around to slot this into the big release on March 19, 2010.

So thanks to the CAB folks for your candid feedback – you’ve put your stamp on the VerticalResponse product.  And thanks of course to all our customers who made their voices heard on features they wanted to see included in our Email Creation Upgrade. We’re certainly not done and we’re working on some other great things for release later in the year – stay tuned!

Lastly, if you’re interested in joining our Customer Advisory Board or would like to participate in early access beta programs for new features please let us know via email. We’d love to have you join us.

Josh Feinberg - VP Product Management

B2B Sales Pitching: Why Soft Selling Works

If your business sells to other businesses you might have it rough; you could be selling something pretty expensive that has a long sales cycle, you could have a specific time of year when businesses have the approved budgets to buy, you could be dealing with C-level people who are never around, or you could be dealing with Purchasing Agents whose livelihood depends on getting the best deal for their companies.

So what do you do? What is the best way to approach this sales process? Some say you should make the best offer you can and bang your poor prospect over the head to buy. What you might end up with is someone who never wants to hear from you again or worse, someone you condition to "always expect a sale".

Others say take the soft-sell approach and "help" your prospect with their day. How? With quality information that helps them be better informed.

All of us need help with something in our business, right? Here are just a few examples of ways we've seen businesses help us rather than sell to us:

1. We received a nice mailer from a commercial real estate agent in our area giving us tips on future leasing plans and what comparable rates are for each building (even for properties they might not represent.)
2. We got an invitation to a Social Media webinar with a free white paper called 7 Ways to Increase the ROI of your Lead Generation Efforts (who doesn't need that?) from a company that tracks social media. The webinar is full of ideas for increasing Social Media, not a webinar on how to use their product.
3. We were invited to a webinar called "Get to the top of Google: 10 Free SEO Tools".
4. We received a white paper "5 Ideas to Get New Clients in a Down Economy"

Our business wrestles with all of these issues, so giving us an incentive to dig in to get more information is always a good thing for us, for you and for your prospects.

Be sure to offer your prospects things that will help them, like advice on overcoming obstacles they encounter on a day-to-day basis. It especially works if your product is exactly what might solve their problem. You don't need to be "selling" until they're ready. And the more content you have to offer, the more your prospects will come to respect you as a trusted leader in your field. Then they'll come to you when they're ready.

Blog - If you're an authority in your field you should be regularly blogging about topics in your industry. When people have questions, your blog will likely show up in the natural search results when your prospects are asking Google.

White Papers - They are not meant to be salesy, they're meant to educate customers and help them make decisions.  Here is a nice outline of how to write a good white paper.

Guides - How-to Guides are a great tool to offer to your customers. Webinars - Re-work your How-to Guides into webinars. Some people are more visual and just like to listen to you speak and get a feel for what you know.

Email Marketing - All of these things get delivered because of your e-relationship with your prospect, so it's essential to get out there and build that prospecting email marketing list. Then use it as a vehicle to announce your monthly white paper, your weekly webinar and your blog updates.

Moving prospects along the sales cycle with free information is a great way to cultivate your sales relationships. People will respect you as an authority and not a pesky salesperson. Do you have any ideas on soft selling?

Related Link: 7 Tips for Using Email to Promote Webinars

Live Support Now Available 7 Days a Week

We had quite a few of our customers reach out to us asking for weekend support. Well, we heard your feedback and we understand that for businesses like yours, the work never stops--even on the weekend.

Weekend support is now available! Initially, the weekend support hours are 8:30 – 5:00 pm PST at 1-866-6VERTICAL (866-683-7842).

While we are working out all the kinks to this newly added service the best way to reach us on the weekend is via email or chat. If you would rather speak to one of our representatives the wait time might be just a bit longer than our weekday service at the beginning.

Our customer support, which is provided free to all VerticalResponse for AppExchange users, has been rated as one of the best in the business and we feel this is one of the biggest reasons we’re successful. They're here to help you with the initial set up of your account, your first email, and anything else with which you might need assistance.

And, as always, our detailed How to Do Everything Pages are available 24/7 with resources, demos and materials to help get you mailing.The quicker you get your answer, the quicker you can get back to doing what you need for your business.