VerticalResponse, Inc. Named As Finalist In 2010 Stevie® Awards For Sales & Customer Service

Finalist for Two Customer Service Categories, Stevie Award Winners to Be Announced on February 22 in Miami Beach

SAN FRANCISCO – January 14, 2010 – VerticalResponse, Inc. was named a Finalist today in the "Best Use of Technology in Customer Service" and "Customer Service Department of the Year - IT & Telecommunications" categories in the fourth annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. This recognition comes after the November announcement that CEO took home the "Best Entrepreneur of the Year" award from the Stevie Awards for Women in Business for the second year in a row.

More than 500 entries from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted to this year’s competition. There are 27 categories for customer service professionals, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; as well as 41 categories for sales professionals, ranging from Global Sales Leader of the Year to Sales Training Program of the Year to Sales Department of the Year. The awards are presented by the Stevie® Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows including the prestigious American Business Awards.

"We’re honored to be recognized for our customer education and support improvements, as we’ve always been focused on providing the best customer service for small businesses," said VerticalResponse CEO Janine Popick. "We have several new products and enhancements planned for customers in 2010, and I’ve never been more excited about VerticalResponse than I am for this coming year."

The finalist entries from VerticalResponse are as follows:

"Customer Service Department of the Year - IT & Telecommunications"

Since July 2008 VerticalResponse has had a number of accomplishments, including doubling the size of the customer service team, and adding new channels such as social media to ensure customers have access to the support they need to grow their businesses. Significant benchmarks for the customer service team include:

• VerticalResponse now offers a dedicated second-level support team, which has been put in place to address more difficult and specialized customer support issues
• After recognizing that customers have different communication preferences when speaking with VerticalResponse, the company recently deployed new tools to improve customer email and chat management. These tools include an automated pop up for proactive web-based chats on the VerticalResponse website
• Improved the VerticalResponse "How to do everything" customer help site, in order to ensure small business customers have access to the webinars, how-to videos and best practice for email marketing that VerticalResponse provides to add value to their customers
• Broadened the support team to include coverage for a number of key partners, to ensure VerticalResponse partner integrations are useful for customers
• In 2009 the company created a step-by-step email marketing guide for its newest users to get them sending email campaigns within a matter of minutes. This guide has been downloaded more than 15,000 times in 2009.

"Best Use of Technology in Customer Service"

As VerticalResponse’s customer-base continues to grow exponentially, the company is dedicated to maintaining open lines of communication with customers. In late 2008, the company began using Twitter to ensure they are in constant touch with the diverse customer base. Along with VerticalResponse’s Community Lounge, Facebook Group and LinkedIn group, the company adopted the Twitter platform to get people using VerticalResponse’s marketing solutions instantly. Customer service achievements:

• VerticalResponse now uses Twitter and social media tools in the event of an unexpected problem with its service to update customers on the expected extent of the problem
• VerticalResponse social media referrals growth in 2008 was 300%, and increased steadily in 2009
• As a result of using Twitter and other social media tools, VerticalResponse is better equipped to keep track of online sentiment and is in constant dialogue with its growing customer base.

"Being named a Finalist in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is an important achievement," said Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards. "It means that independent business executives have agreed that the nominee is worthy of international recognition. We congratulate all of the Finalists on their achievement and wish them well in the competition."

Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word "crowned," winners will be announced during a gala banquet on Monday, February 22 at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. Nominated customer service and sales executives from the U.S.A. and several other countries are expected to attend. 

Members of the Awards' Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors will select Stevie Award winners from among the Finalists during final judging, to take place January 25 - February 3. Finalists were chosen by business professionals worldwide during preliminary judging.

Details about the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and the list of Finalists in all categories are available at www.stevieawards.com/sales.

About VerticalResponse

VerticalResponse, Inc. is a leading provider of self-service email marketing, online surveys and direct mail services empowering small businesses to easily create, manage and analyze their own direct marketing campaigns. VerticalResponse bundles email, online surveys and postcards to offer customers an integrated Web-based direct marketing solution that’s intuitive and affordable. VerticalResponse is headquartered in San Francisco, California. For additional information, please visit www.verticalresponse.com

About The Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, The Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about The Stevie Awards at www.stevieawards.com.