Kimpton Group taps VerticalResponse for e-mail marketing

July 11, 2005 |

Not only does VerticalResponse provide a means for Kimpton to stay in touch with its valued guests, it also offers a way to measure their receptivity.

In a world-class culinary market, the competition is intense and no one knows this better than The Kimpton Group, the San Francisco-based pioneer of the boutique hotel industry. Yet, for help in extending a world-renowned brand even further, Kimpton has enlisted the services of VerticalResponse, a leading provider of branded experience email and direct mail marketing services.

VerticalResponse provides Kimpton’s restaurants with customized email templates that reflect the look and feel of the establishment, allowing them to launch email campaigns in minutes while protecting the integrity of their general marketing efforts. Not only does VerticalResponse provide a means for Kimpton to stay in touch with its valued guests, it also offers a way to measure their receptivity. With a single click, managers can see who opened their email as well as who followed the link to the restaurant’s website. As a result, Kimpton’s restaurants can determine a true return on their investment.

“The majority of our restaurants nationwide use the VerticalResponse service to consistently send email offers to their previous guests; they send recipes and email offers to VIPs,” noted Greg Horner, Kimpton’s Director of Restaurant Sales and Marketing. “We’ve found the open rate is very high and the number of guests that choose to opt-out is very low. I think that shows our guests appreciate receiving the communication from our restaurants.”

By tailoring templates so even technophobes can create email campaigns incorporating their brand image, VerticalResponse ensures that a consistent theme is communicated across all levels of a company’s direct marketing efforts. The Kimpton Group, named one of FastCompany’s “Top 10 Brand Story Tellers”, recognizes that a well–told tale goes a long way toward building a business. The company has even gone so far as to create a novella that tells its brand story in book form. It’s no surprise, then, that the promise of engaging guests with a narrative is what attracted Kimpton to VerticalResponse.

“Too often, direct marketing campaigns feel detached from the spirit of the company they promote, explained VerticalResponse’s CEO and founder Janine Popick. “The purpose of these direct marketing efforts is to identify the restaurant’s popular strengths and to use those strengths as a foundation on which to build broader recognition of its own, distinct brand.”