PaperDirect Selects VerticalResponse To Power Email Marketing Service

World's Leading Supplier of Designed Desktop Paper to Deliver Permission-Based Email Marketing Service to Business Customers

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Oct. 23, 2002 - VerticalResponse, a leading provider of permission-based email marketing applications, today announced an agreement to power a new email marketing service for PaperDirect. PaperDirect is the leading supplier of designed desktop papers for businesses of every size, from home-based businesses to Fortune 500 companies. The new service will allow PaperDirect's customers to design and deliver email marketing campaigns online using PaperDirect's library of professional designs and VerticalResponse's self-service email marketing product, iBuilder.

"With email service powered by VerticalResponse, our customers will be able to create, deliver and track email campaigns online, in minutes. For the first time, our customers will also be able to deliver consistently branded materials in both email and postal mail," said Annette Grotz of PaperDirect. "VerticalResponse is the only company that can deliver a service that's as easy to use as iBuilder, with the professional support that PaperDirect customers expect."

Using the service, business users will be able to create, deliver and track permission-based email campaigns in minutes. The service also automatically tracks email bounces and customer unsubscriptions which alleviates the time and labor intensive task of manually updating customer lists. The service also gives business users real-time information on email open rates and clicks on hyperlinks.

"For over a decade, PaperDirect has supplied businesses of all sizes with the paper and products they need to communicate with customers, suppliers and vendors. PaperDirect customers will now be able to use the same industry leading products to communicate via email," said Janine Popick, CEO of VerticalResponse. "Businesses of all sizes are migrating to email for regular communication to save time and money. PaperDirect will help their customers take advantage of these cost savings, without sacrificing the personalized communication that made them the leader that they are."

About VerticalResponse

VerticalResponse, Inc. is the leading provider of email marketing applications as online services. VerticalResponse's self-service campaign creation and deployment application, iBuilder, allows businesses of any size to quickly create and affordably deliver email marketing campaigns regardless of technical expertise. Today, over 20,000 businesses including Brookstone, ACT!, The Breast Cancer Fund, Gardeners Eden and PetCareRx have registered to use iBuilder to power their email marketing programs.

VerticalResponse was founded in 2001 by a team of direct marketing and email technology experts that designed and managed one of the first email marketing engines ever built. VerticalResponse is headquartered in San Francisco and can be reached via their Web site at http://www.verticalresponse.com or by phone at 1-866-683-7842.

About PaperDirect

Founded in 1987, PaperDirect is the nation's leading mail marketer of specialty, designed papers and desktop publishing-related products and services. PaperDirect provides its customers with do-it-yourself communications solutions, including the patented PaperTemplates(tm) Software. This software allows users to create professional-quality brochures, business cards, envelopes and other designed paper products.

PaperDirect provides customers with a family of solutions for any type of communications need. The company offers innovative, premium-quality products, most of which are not available elsewhere. Customers create their own communications materials by using their PC's, inkjet or laser printers or copier. In fact, many new product offerings are the direct result of input and creative suggestions from PaperDirect's customers.