Even though we regularly use Vertical Response to manage and send newsletters, it had been a while since I clicked on the ‘Calendar’ tab in their interface’s main menu. Their calendar feature has actually been developed into a pretty nifty tool that offers users the ability to view campaign history and scheduling at a glance. But we also have a few suggestions for the folks at Vertical Response.
The calendar makes it easy to see previously sent campaigns and also those that are scheduled to launch. Past months’ calendars show the campaigns that went out on a given day and time, while also providing a snapshot of campaign statistics once the email title is clicked on. You can even export your Vertical Response calendar to Outlook if you like.
That being said, here are a few suggested improvements for the Vertical Response calendar:
- While it is nice that national holidays are added to the calendar, it isn’t possible to delete or hide any of them particular one. You can either hide them all, or have them all displayed – I want to be able to pick and choose which holidays are displayed.
- A reminder feature would be a nice addition. If reminders popped up upon logging in, that would help me keep scheduled email blasts from slipping through the cracks.
- The fact that the calendar is exportable to Outlook is great, but a ‘sync’ feature would eliminate the need for frequent export/import updates, and help ensure that the Vertical Response calendar in Outlook was always up to date.
Overall, though, it’s a nice feature to help get a high-level time-line overview of email campaigns. And if you’re currently using your Outlook calendar to track that stuff, this could be a nice compliment.
