E-mail marketing firm Responsys is teaming with systems integrator and e-commerce ASP Digital River, in an agreement that will broaden its client base while adding capabilities to its partner’s online marketing services.
The agreement will see Digital River adding tools from Palo Alto, Calif.-based Responsys to its e-mail marketing ASP product. Once bundled with Digital River’s Enterprise Campaign Management service, Responsys’ tools will help clients capture real-time response information from e-mail campaigns to track results and build customer profiles.
E-commerce sales activities that result from e-mail campaigns will be tracked through Minneapolis-based Digital River’s e-commerce system.
The agreement gives Responsys a major outlet for the use of its e-mail tools. Digital River clients include Fujitsu, Siemens, Nabisco, Major League Baseball and Staples.com.
“High ROI e-marketing campaigns require top-notch quality of service and superior personalization,” said George Wiedemann, Responsys’ president and chief executive officer. “We look forward to working with Digital River and its clients to make the right offers, to the right customers, at the right time.”
“E-mail is an essential catalyst for driving customers to an e-commerce site,” said Digital River chief executive officer Joel Ronning. “When e-mail campaigns are followed by other e-marketing programs that increase site revenue through average order size and close ratio, clients see rapid return on investment. There are many companies that claim they execute online marketing programs, but without the tight integration that Digital River offers to clients, e-marketing programs tend to be less effective and have little impact on the bottom line.”
The deal with Digital River continues efforts by Responsys to line up distribution partners. In recent months, the firm signed agreements with two Australian interactive agencies, Omnicom’s Tribal DDB Australia, and Hyro (which had been recently purchased by BMC Media Limited, a larger regional competitor.) Existing partners include WPP-owned
digital@JWT, a unit of J. Walter Thompson, and TMP Worldwide.
“The addition of Digital River to our growing partner roster is further evidence that Responsys is the interactive marketing technology platform of choice for sophisticated e-commerce providers,” Wiedemann said.
