Audience Republic vs. Everest (Return Path + 250ok)

Audience Republic is good for data acquisition using their gamified competitions, but I think that's about the only point of difference it has from Braze, Mailchimp or Campaign Monitor. While they promise to allow you to easily segment data from ticketing outlets, in my opinion, this is a blatant falsehood. In my experience, excuses come through thick and fast from the customer service team, but nothing has been resolved in the 2.5 years of using them.

Incentivized

Every new or established brand should be using Everest. It doesn't matter what you're trying to say in your emails—if they're not reaching the inbox, no one is listening or reading. Everest gives you the insight you need to understand your inbox placement, reputation and so much more.

• Segmentation
• EDM template refinements
• Data acquisition

Incentivized

• Individualized attention. They really dug in to understand our products and services.
• Easy-to-understand training and actionable items that you can sustain over a long period of time.
• They're embedded in our instance of Exact Target, so I'm able to review the entire email program and don't have to open up a separate tool to gather this information.

Incentivized

• Integration of ticketing agencies
• More flexible templates
• Better customer service
• Not lying about the fees charged to other clients

Incentivized

• Some domain summary data inconsistent with seedlist detail
• UI feels a little dated
• Reporting options are limited
• As part of the SFMC integration, Return Path support issues and question go through Salesforce, not Return Path
• Inbox Preview rendering could be more robust and extensive
• Would like to see Dark Mode previewing rendering

Incentivized

We have two separate areas for using Return Path. Our web ecommerce area that is using only transactional emails and a marketing email program that is partnered on the backend with Return Path. I see Return Path continuing to be utilized with our marketing emails, but over time I see less need for our transactional emails to maintain Return Path components.

Incentivized

It's easy enough to use, even for a beginner, but I think the usability is dampened by the terrible dynamics of the platform and, in my experience, how they create more manual labour and legwork instead of the optimisation they promise.

Incentivized

I find it fairly easy to use, though the interface is a bit clunky and I may be missing some revolutionary use because it's lost in the clutter.

Incentivized

Absolutely fantastic support. It runs circles around the competition. They regularly reach out and chat, even if it's just to see if there's any issues we need to discuss. They clearly want the business and don't forget you once you sign the contract which is an issue with other similar services.

Incentivized

I joined my company after the implementation was nearly complete. We used the Return Path tool as we slowly increased our send volume in Marketing Cloud to monitor IP reputation and inbox placement.

Incentivized

All of these platforms offer the same level of performance to Audience Republic, but are a lot cheaper. I didn't choose Audience Republic, it was passed down to me from a former employee. I am in the process of moving to Braze as for the exact same service they will save our company $100k a year.

Incentivized

Like I said before, Return Path is really the budget bundle. You get a lot of service for how much you pay. Since I am currently at an early stage startup, we could not afford Litmus, so having Return Path is crucial. The partnership with Salesforce also allowed us to get it at pretty low cost.

Incentivized

• Besides from the gamified competitions to attain data to then market to, literally nothing that I couldn't get from a competitor.
• Audience Republic lie to us about how much their services cost. They were charging us 0.0053c per email send (and they upped this price without telling us one month), and a peer told me they were paying 0.0015c per send. In my opinion, they are not trustworthy.

Incentivized

• It has helped identify inbox issues and thus helping our clients reach more inboxes.
• They have negatively impacted client relations on numerous occasions. They have reached out and told clients they are having issues or need certain products when they are already our clients and we are proving solutions for them.
• They provide solid customer support when you create a support ticket. They are usually very quick to respond and give you an answer.