VerticalResponse Helps BigStockPhoto Easily Evolve And Grow Within Its Fast-Changing Industry

Background

BigStockPhoto is a microstock photo image supply company. Their mission is to provide people with a system that lets them download high-quality, low cost stock photos and images. Their photos are royalty free for use in templates, Web sites, print campaigns, advertisements, commercial products and more. BigStockPhoto’s customer ranges from Fortune 100 companies to Mom and Pop shops.

Problem

To succeed and grow, BigStockPhoto needed to market to two different types of customers: photographers who’d want to see their pictures on the site, and image buyers looking for affordable, professional photographs. To make good on their promise of providing a large, useful and diverse library of images, BigStockPhoto needed to let photographers know that its site was a great way to get their work distributed and promote their name and brand. It was vital to BigStockPhoto to continue to receive photographers’ content, so their offerings would continue to grow and broaden.

On the other hand, BigStockPhoto wanted to continue to increase sales, which meant building their network of image buyers: companies and individuals who purchase images they need from BigStockPhoto’s inventory.

BigStockPhoto came to the conclusion that email marketing would help them expand both their distribution channels and the number of photographers contributing content to the site, but they weren’t sure where to turn.

Discovery

BigStockPhoto was referred to VerticalResponse by a friend and was quickly sold on the product because of its friendly User Interface and impressive tracking and measurement tools. Since BigStockPhoto was just starting out, it was important to them to closely track feedback and adjust their messaging, delivery timing, and more – for both audiences. "Since beginning to use VerticalResponse, we have seen the marketing tools and technologies it offers grow along with our needs," said Tim Donahue, CEO and founder. "With technology and media changing so quickly, it really helps us stay relevant to our customers."

VerticalResponse allowed BigStockPhoto to monitor both photographers and buyers, by region, to track the actions they took after receiving various campaigns. Looking at the reports generated, BigStockPhoto knew immediately that VerticalResponse met its needs, and exceptional customer service sealed the deal. For BigStockPhoto, it was crucial to be able to quickly get someone on the phone to troubleshoot problems; a must in any budding company – especially one with the CEO and founder training the team on marketing, as in this case.

Solution

Four years later, BigStockPhoto attributes its continued success to VerticalResponse's "phenomenal product, helping us easily evolve within our fast-changing industry. What was extremely helpful in the beginning was the intuitive User Interface because we were able to quickly train our staff to use the products. We love the list building and list management tools also. The ability to build customized segments from our existing lists has proven invaluable and we wouldn’t be able to communicate properly with our customers without these tools," Donahue commented.

With the help of VerticalResponse, BigStockPhoto has been able to target the various parts of its customer base and continually gauge the success of its communication. In addition, VerticalResponse has provided BigStockPhoto the flexibility it has needed to adjust to any new photography licensing regulations or other changes to help smooth over any bumps that have occurred along the way.

Finally, with the longstanding relationship, BigStockPhoto has been impressed with VerticalResponse’s quick development and frequent product upgrades. The new and improved features seem to predict the needs of the company, and keep the product ahead of the curve.

Results

With the feedback from the various measurement tools, VerticalResponse helped BigStockPhoto breathe life into its email marketing programs, making them extremely effective: growing its network from 2,500 subscribers to 250,000, 44,000 of whom are photographers.

VerticalResponse has also positively affected BigStockPhoto’s click-through and open rates, with its consistent blog and newsletter content with best practices and other tips and tricks. Now the open rate usually exceeds 20% for each campaign, with click-through rates often over 5%. VerticalResponse and BigStockPhoto have been together from start to successful finish with only a bright future ahead of them.