Responsys sees 40% growth in 2008

With new client wins including Epson America, Freshpair, Johnson & Johnson's Asia Pacific, Questia Media, Sanrio and Whole Foods Market, e-mail service provider (ESP) Responsys has posted record growth for its 2008 business.

With these new account wins, Responsys said it saw a 40% revenue growth in 2008, representing the company's fifth consecutive year of profitability.

“The big trend that you are seeing is that the e-mail channel is still the most effective channel out there,” said Scott Olrich, CMO of Responsys. “Most of our new clients came to us from another ESP or an in-house solution after they had hit a status quo in their e-mail marketing.”

The ESP attributed its growth to an attention to its infrastructure. In 2008, the firm expanded its infrastructure making it capable of supporting tens of billions of messages per month and increased message volume 40% over 2007.

Responsys also recently released Real-Time Messaging, an e-mail triggering service that automatically sends e-mails when consumers make specific actions.

“Our infrastructure and application enhancements played a huge role in our successful holiday season,” said Don Smith, chief information officer of Responsys, in a statement. “Our customers have come to expect superior uptime, which equates to zero lost opportunity costs.”

On the tails of this revenue and infrastructure growth, Responsys also increased its staff by 33% in 2008 with hires in engineering, client services and sales. This includes moving its San Francisco office to a larger location.

Internationally Responsys saw a 60% revenue growth in Europe, where they continued to hire new staff members. Responsys Asia, which began operating in 2008, grew quarterly revenue at an average of 55% a quarter last year. This office focuses on clients including dmg World Media Singapore, Johnson & Johnson's Asia Pacific, OSIM and Wego.com.