VerticalResponse and Intuit: Marketing Meets Finance

Self-service marketing specialist VerticalResponse has teamed up with financial-software giant Intuit to make it easy for QuickBooks customers to launch e-mail and direct-mail campaigns and online surveys.

 VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace integrates VerticalResponse’s marketing offerings directly into the QuickBooks platform, so you can use the historical data you’ve accumulated in QuickBooks for a variety of marketing functions.

Thanks to the Intuit Partner Platform, any Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) developer can integrate a Web application with Intuit’s business software and offer it via the Intuit Workplace, an online portal where you can search, try and buy SaaS solutions for QuickBooks. The portal, which came out of beta in October 2008, now hosts two dozen applications, such as a travel and entertainment expense tracker, HR tools, online business proposal software and more.

VerticalResponse is the latest partner to debut a solution on Workplace. “Before if you wanted to use an online marketing service, you had to export your QuickBooks customer list to a CSV file, then import it into our platform,” said Janine Popick, CEO of VerticalResponse. “Now, you simply sign into Workplace, sign up for our free trial and seamlessly pull in your customer data.” She noted that VerticalResponse is a natural fit for QuickBooks, since so many small business owners use the accounting software’s database as a makeshift CRM (customer relationship management) application.

VerticalResponse lets you create, send and track e-mail marketing campaigns, as well as design, print and send direct-mail postcards. You can also use VerticalResponse to conduct online surveys to collect opinions and input from your customers, and the service provider also lets you keep track of your marketing activities throughout the year with a handy marketing calendar. The service’s tracking and reporting capabilities show you (in real time) how many people opened an e-mail or clicked on a link, and its integration with Google Analytics lets you evaluate how much traffic a given campaign drove to your site.

VerticalResponse also offers marketing-list management and list-segmentation services, so you can send targeted mailings. With VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace, you can be sure that your all-important customer list is up to date. “The last thing business users want is to deal with lists,” said Popick. “The integration with QuickBooks cuts down on the time it takes to implement a campaign.”

VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace carries the same pricing as the company’s direct offering. A free trial is available that lets you send the first 500 e-mail messages for free, create one sample postcard and conduct one free online survey (up to 25 responses).

After that, you can sign up for monthly subscription plans that range from $10 (for e-mail list sizes up to 500) to $240 (for lists with 40,000 names) with five levels in between. Or you can inquire about a pay-as-you-go plan.

VerticalResponse even offers a plan for qualifying 501(c) non-profits that lets such organizations send up to 10,000 e-mails per month at no charge. Postcards (available in two sizes) range in price from $1.59 to as little as 75 cents each depending on the quantity ordered, while survey plans range from $13.50 to $67.50 per month.

Jamie Bsales is an award-winning technology writer and editor with nearly 14 years of experience covering the latest hardware, software and Internet products and services.