VerticalResponse for AppExchange Blog

VR for AppExchange Event Marketing Is Here!

  It's truly been a labor of love these past few months behind the scenes at VR for Appexchange, and we're proud to announce that VerticalResponse Event Marketing is now available! With this new product offering comes the ability to easily create event web sites, sell tickets, and promote events through your email and social media networks in a matter of minutes. We hope you'll be surprised and delighted at how quickly you can create and market your events, all through your VR for AppExchange account!

Review Event Marketing pricing and then take advantage of this exciting new product! Event marketing can be found under "Resources and Tools" in the "VR Email" tab of your VerticalResponse for AppEx account.

Related blog posts:

• Event Marketing is Coming to VR for AppEx - Stay Tuned!
• Coming Soon! Sell Tickets and Promote Events through VR
  

Posted by Jason Whittenberg

Jason Whittenberg is a Product Manager at VerticalResponse and blogs about enhancements and new functionality.

The Social Future is Here!

In the old days there was a pretty limited set of options to spread a message far and wide:

1. You could climb to the top of a mountain and shout to the people below.
2. You could tell some guy on horseback to ride from town to town and yell it to people he passed.
3. You could pay people to hand-copy something you wrote and hand-deliver it all over the place.
4. And in the more recent past, there were fliers and phone trees (which were admittedly kind of fun).

While each of those options could help get the word out (and in some cases have awesome fitness side effects), reaching a large audience was no small feat.

Email marketing (along with a few other technologies) changed that. And in the last few years, social media has completely revamped the game. Today, the rules change again:

VerticalResponse for Salesforce is happy to introduce our enhanced social media features for email marketing!

You asked for it and we delivered. We've been working on our new social features for several months, taking great care to build what you need. In the last couple of months we introduced you to the basics of the new features which give you the ability to:

• Include social sharing icons in the emails you create
• Share your email on Twitter and BOTH your Facebook Profile AND business Page(s) when you launch your email
• Track the social activity generated by your email

And, we also discussed a couple of finer points of the integration:

• Clicks vs. Social Reach: Who clicks on the icons in the email they receive from you, and how viral it becomes once it hits the social networks
• Facebook Graph API: The latest and greatest from Facebook that enables almost all of our new features

Now it's time to give this new stuff a try! We enabled sharing icons by default in any new email you create, and you can share your email right from the launch page, so it's easy to start sharing right away. And as we all know, sharing is caring (enough said).

So sit back, create a new email, and easily share it with the world (and let others do some of the sharing for you). You'll be glad you didn't have to climb a mountain to do it (unless you're into that sort of thing).

Switch to Our Enhanced Email Creation Tools by March 3rd

Hi! I'm Bryan, a product manager here at  VerticalResponse. I've been working to phase-in our enhanced email creation tools and retire our original editors since March 2010. If you're a new customer, you might not notice this change because you're probably already using the enhanced email editors. But if you've been with VR for AppExchange for a while, you may be aware of the change and this blog post is especially for you.

How do I know if I’m using an enhanced or original editor? We’ve been transitioning  to the enhanced email editors for the past 10 months and now over 90% of our campaigns are being sent using these editors. So, if you’re still using one of the original email editors, you’ll see the following warning message at the top of every page while creating your email.

Also, there’s a difference between how the original and enhanced editors look:

First, the Original Wizard editor looks like this:

And the Enhanced Wizard editor looks like this:

 

So you may be wondering when the original editors will finally be laid to rest? They will officially retire on March 3, 2011.

What does that mean if I am still using the original email editors? On March 3, new emails will no longer be created or sent using the original editors. However, any emails created before retirement, created using the original editors, or saved in Drafts, will be available in original editors until they're launched.

In other words, if you have a draft email message that was created using the original editors, you'll still be able to edit and launch it using the original tools. But once that email is launched you won't have access to the original email editors again - unless you have other draft emails. Also, when you copy an original-style email, it will copy to the enhanced editors.

I like using the Freeform HTML editor, is that going away? Only the original version of each editor is being retired and replaced with an enhanced version. So, each of the original editor types, the Wizard, Canvas, Freeform HTML and Text, have their counterparts with the enhanced editors. So, you’ll be able to find and select the editor that you’re familiar with. For example, if the Freeform HTML editor is your longtime preference, you’ll be able to continue using the enhanced version of that editor after the original version is retired.

Why are the original editors being retired? The main reason is to better serve you, our customers, and this is done in two ways. First, we believe the enhanced email editors are better than the original ones. We’ve improved their ease-of-use and reduced the amount of time and effort it takes to create and launch an email campaign. Second, we’ve updated the underlying technology so they’re more stable and allow us to add new features and enhancements faster than in the past. These changes were inspired by customer feedback and validated every step of the way with user feedback. The goal is to help you send messages to your customers quickly and easily.

Where can I go for help? If you need help, we have heaps of information and resources available to help you:

• Use our How to Do Everything - Email Creation page
• Attend a free demo - Using VerticalResponse for SalesForce - our Training & Education manager will walk you through step-by-step and answer your questions.
• Contact our knowledgeable Customer Support team - we're here 7 days a week to save the day

Related Posts:

AppEx Tip: Need Some Elbow Room to Build Your Emails

How to Make the Best Use of An Email Signature

Product Update: Download to PDF, Spellchecker & More

We released some more new features and enhancements in the product this month. Below is a quick summary of what's new and cool in VerticalResponse for AppExchange. Once again, all these enhancements were made based on direct customer feedback, so thanks for making your voice heard.  Got other ideas or comments to share?  Let's hear from you!

1. Save Your Email as a PDF:

Our customer support team got this request so many times from customers that they surrounded our User Interface designer with torches and pitchforks and demanded that he add this feature into the product. 

Ok, maybe that didn't happen but they did ask really nicely and our developer James aims to please, so he whipped this up and there was much rejoicing! 

During the "Preview" step of the email creation process you'll now be able to download a copy of the email to a PDF for easy proofreading, sharing for approval rounds, or any of your non-electronic communication needs. Yes, you can even fax a copy of your email to someone who might be interested in your message through faxes!

2. Spellchecker in the New Email Wizard:

 

Now you can easily proof your spelling when creating your email in our slick new Email Wizard editor. Ok, ok you're right we really should have had this in the app when we launched but there's a really interesting story that explains why it was left out.  It all started when -- hey, did we mention you can save your email as a PDF?  Yeah, PDFs are cool.  Moving on...

3. View Your List of Lists:

 

When we re-designed the new launch page for our recent Email Creation Upgrade we really wanted to remove some of the extraneous details and highlight only the most critical bits. We thought this would be more visually appealing and get users through the process even faster. From your feedback it sounds like we were on target for the most part but we did make a mistake by removing the ability to view all the lists you are mailing to on the final launch page. 

We made the assumption that you would be fine with just seeing the total subscriber count that they were about to mail.  Well, you know what happens when you assume.  Yeah, sorry about that. We heard you loud and clear and we're happy to report that you can now see all your lists on the launch page by just toggling between "View" and "Hide."  Thanks for your feedback and for setting us straight, we promise never to disappoint you again (but if we do we'll *totally* fix it in a follow up release).

 

4. Other Stuff:

In addition to the features noted above we also made some additional improvements to the product such as:

• Upgrading the open source engine that powers our Email Canvas product
• Creating and patching up some of our API methods to play nicely within our new Email Editors
• Solving a bunch of bugs and nagging usability issues, specifically related to list loading and email formatting

Discover Our New Templates and Email Editing Options

Since rolling out our new Email Creation Upgrade this Spring, we've added new templates, designs and email editing methods to VR for AppExchange.  Be sure to try our new options to see all that the new upgrade has to offer.  Click the "Start Now" button in your VR for AppExchange session to get started.

 

Did You Know:

• Our new email creation methods include more than 500 pre-designed templates featuring brand-new designs and layouts  

• Our super flexible and easy Wizard features ready-to-use layouts that include sample copy, and our Canvas method lets you toggle between graphical view and HTML Code view.

• You can once again send emails using your existing Salesforce email templates with our fully-integrated Salesforce email template picker. 

• You can always provide your own HTML designs using our freeform editor, too.

Whether you're a start-from-scratch freeform user, you're true-blue loyal to your existing Salesforce templates, or you want to discover how easy it is to get started quickly on high-impact emails with our email wizard, VerticalResponse has an email editing method for you.

Login to Salesforce and start creating an email today!

New! Test Seed Lists + Merge Field Testing

Back in March we launched our big Email Creation Upgrade which provided tons of new enhancements to make creating your email marketing messages easier and faster. At the time of launch one feature that wasn't quite ready for prime time was our new seed list feature for sending pre-launch test emails. So we placed a little "coming soon" blurb into the app to let you know we were working on something better.

First, we wanted to say thanks for your patience while we put the finishing touches on things and today we're happy to announce the new seed list features are available in your account. You can now create and save simple seed lists of just email addresses AND you can use existing mailing lists as seed lists to test personalization merge fields in your email. Login to VR for AppExchange now to check them out or keep reading to get a full overview of these enhancements.

What is a test email and why do I need to send one?
Sending a test email before launching your email is a great way to see how your message will look from your recipient's standpoint when they receive it in their inbox. You can send it to friends, co-workers or your boss to get additional comments and make any last-minute edits before launching your live email. Another added benefit is to see how your email displays in different email programs such as Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail or MS Outlook. Just include those email addresses on your seed list and test away!

Hey, wait -- didn't you guys have a seed list feature in your older email creation tools?
Yup, we sure did but it had some limitations, specifically with testing personalization merge fields. Using our old seed list feature, you could only "test" a few fields within a sample email (First Name, Last Name and Email Address) so there really wasn't an easy way to run a pre-launch test of all your personalization fields above and beyond these defaults.

The Old Way: Limited Merge Field Testing

The New Way: Test as Many Custom Fields as You Like

We know a lot of you use multiple merge fields in your email including standard fields (e.g. Company Name) and custom fields that you add when creating a new mailing list (e.g. Purchase Date) so we've added some new functionality that gives you a few different options for creating and saving seed lists for your test emails.

You can use any of the options below, and for those of you who previously created and saved seed lists in our old workflows, you can now import those to use in the new email creation workflows.

Summary of the new seed list features in your VerticalResponse account:

1. Create and save simple seed lists of "email addresses only"
If you are looking for a quick and easy way to create and save a list of just email addresses then the simple seed list is a great option.  Just create a new seed list, enter in up to 10 email addresses and then save it. You can create up to 20 unique seed lists containing 10 addresses per list which you can use for all future test emails you send.

2. Send a test email to an existing mailing list (max. 10 records)
We figured that the best way to provide additional merge field testing was to use the mailing list management tools already found within your account. Since it's easy to populate fields and create custom ones as well, this works well for test emails that contain any number of personalization merge fields. So when you choose the "Mailing Lists" seed list option you'll be shown a listing of ALL mailing lists within your account that contain 10 records or less. You can send test emails to these lists and also add/update standard and custom fields to help with your personalization testing. Note: any new mailing lists that you create and/or upload into your account will automatically be available to you for test email sending as well.

3. Import your previously saved seed lists into the new email workflow

This last bit only applies to customers who have previously created seed lists in our older email workflows, likely before March 19th, 2010. What you can do now is instantly import those seed lists to use within the new workflows and the following actions will take place.

• With one click we'll import your old seed lists and they will be converted into actual mailing lists so you'll see them in the "Lists" section of your account

• You can edit/update these lists as you would any other mailing list so you can input values for standard and custom fields for testing

• These lists will be available for use for all future test emails, assuming of course that you don't delete these from your mailing list section
  
  

Login to VR for AppExchange now to create your next email and try out the new seed list features!

We'd love to hear your feedback so let us know what you think.

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

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.

Try Our Email Creation Upgrades in AppExchange

You know you want to.  

Go ahead. 

Launch that new Email Creation button. 

We dare you...

We dare you to discover how fast and easy it is to build new email campaigns.  

We dare you to try out more than 500 pre-designed layouts to craft eye-catching and effective email messages.

We dare you to see how easy our new drag-and-drop editing can be, and we dare you to test how "WYS" (what you see) really is "WYG" (what you get) with inline editing via our live edit tools.

If you haven't done so already, give it a whirl.  Login to salesforce.com and click the "New Email" link on the VR Email Tab to see the new Email Wizard and other email creation upgrades! Learn about some of the key features, and get an inside look at what an integral part you, our customers, played in this release.

Access the Email Creation Upgrades by creating a new email. You'll have the option to choose from the new Email Creation methods (click "Start Now!"), or you can stick with the 'old' VerticalResponse by clicking 'No Thanks'. But why would you want to, with all of these exciting new features?

  

Spring makes for a great opportunity to re-engage your opted-in leads and contacts.  Try a "Spring Cleaning" seasonal special or take advantage of the Mother's Day shopping push to reach out and engage with your audience.  Build an email, select your mailing list, and watch sales roll in.  

Go on. We dare you.

VerticalResponse Goes Live on AppExchange 2

We're reporting live from Salesforce's "Cloudforce2" event in New York City.  Just this morning, CEO Marc Benioff rolled out a big announcement.  "We are opening doors today," he said. And with that, they opened the door to the AppExchange 2.

In addition to the new ChatterExchange category, AppExchange 2 has also added Aloha Apps, the new unlimited App category from salesforce.com. Aloha Apps don’t count against your system limits for Apps, tabs, and objects—no matter which salesforce.com edition you’re using--including Group Edition!

VerticalResponse is happy and proud to be chosen as an Aloha App for this debut. This means the power of VerticalResponse is now available to more people. And, if you've ever been constrained by your system limits, you can now install and use our App in conjunction with any number of Aloha Apps.  With more than 500 to choose from, you’re in for an “all-you-can-app” experience. More apps plus more access equals more success.

If you haven't installed VerticalResponse for AppExchange, try it today.  Send 500 free messages when you sign up for a free trial.

• VerticalResponse for AppExchange - for Professional, Enterprise and Unlimited edition users

• VerticalResponse for Group Edition - for Group Edition users