All the latest martech, customer and adtech news from Sitecore, Litmus, Quadient, Verint, 4D, ResultsCX, vFairs and Act-On Software
Sitecore acquires email marketing vendor
Sitecore struck an agreement to acquire Moosend, a UK-based email marketing automation and campaign management platform, for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition comes just months after Sitecore raised US$1.2 billion in order to fuel its ambitious growth plans to build a comprehensive personalisation platform for organisations. Sitecore also recently acquired ecommerce player, Four51, as well as customer data platform provider, Boxever.
In a statement, the company said Moosend’s email marketing campaign automation and AI-powered customer engagement features will help streamline Sitecore’s ability to engage, nurture and convert customer relationships by personalisation across every channel. The deal is set to close by the end of May 2021. Moosend currently counts Sephora, Interpublic Group and Domino’s as customers.
Sitecore chief executive officer, Steve Tzikakis, noted concerns around privacy and new regulations such as Apple’s tightened app settings and the demise of the cookie, appear at odds with the push for data-driven personalisation in engagement.
“At Sitecore, we believe this environment is actually an opportunity for enterprise customers to make once-in-a-generation leaps forward in terms of human connection, customer acquisition, and brand loyalty,” he said. “That’s why Sitecore is building the industry’s first fully integrated, end-to-end SaaS-based digital experience platform – to facilitate both the modern art and science of earning customer relationships through experience to make consenting to data-sharing an afterthought.”
Litmus launches new features and integrations
Email marketing platform, Litmus, has announced new capabilities and integrations to further scale on-brand email production while enabling flexibility, creativity and innovation.
Updates include new integrations with HubSpot and Adobe Campaign Standard which help users build, test and review emails more efficiently than ever before. New features in Visual Editor, Design Library and Litmus Test help email marketers to create on-brand emails and include drag-and-drop modular building in Visual Editor, custom categories in Design Library, Litmus extension for Adobe Campaign Standard, ESP syncing for HubSpot and the ability to filter and sort email previews in Litmus Test.
Quadient launches Inspire Evolve
Quadient, which specialises in digital customer connections, has announced the launch of Inspire Evolve, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) customer communications management (CCM) solution.
The solution is aimed at supporting rapid enterprise transformation by enabling employees to control customer communications with little reliance on IT. With Inspire Evolve, customer communications can be maintained and delivered in the cloud by individual lines of business in the moment they are needed.
Inspire Evolve comprises four integrated components - content author, front office, generate and archive - that work together to deliver a secure, seamless customer experience. Inspire Evolve is a standalone solution in the Inspire Suite, which includes Inspire Flex, an on-premise and hybrid cloud CCM solution, and Inspire Journey, a SaaS customer journey mapping and orchestration solution.
Verint launches virtual customer assistant
Customer engagement outfit, Verint, has launched Verint Intelligent Virtual Assistant Professional (IVA Pro) Package, a low-code conversational artificial intelligence (AI) package that can rapidly turn existing conversation data into automated self-service experiences.
The package allows business professionals to quickly deploy a production-ready chatbot to deflect calls and support customers and enables businesses to expand capabilities across the enterprise with intelligence for both voice and digital. Powered by the Verint Customer Engagement Cloud Platform, this new SaaS offering includes a set of user-friendly AI-powered design and analytics tools to adjust and optimise chatbots quickly and easily.
4D partners with DeepSee
Contextual outcomes engine, 4D, a division of marketing transformation company Silverbullet, has announced a new partnership with AI-powered insights platform, DeepSee, to further protect brand safety on the Web, post-cookie.
DeepSee’s analytics are not predicated on collecting large amounts of data from web users. Instead, DeepSee uses AI to examine the nature of websites and their networks to discover places that harbour site fraud. By expanding its ‘Dimension Marketplace’ with the addition of DeepSee, 4D can now enable advertisers to further ensure their ads are running on suitable content and their customers have a good experience interacting with their advertising.
"Through this partnership, brands have the ability to dynamically target or block across the best four performing and unique user experience signals which ultimately drive better outcomes for marketers,” commented 4D co-founder, Umberto Torrielli.
Act-On Software Launches SMS Channel
Marketing automation platform, Act-On Software, has launched automated SMS marketing to allow marketers to send ‘in-the-moment’ messaging and create data-driven, automated SMS campaigns.
Built directly into Act-On’s platform, the solution allows marketers to leverage SMS as a fully integrated, primary marketing automation channel. With the ability to build SMS automated campaigns ahead of time or send direct SMS messaging on the fly, Act-On users can now leverage the power of direct and personalised mobile engagement to improve the experience for their customers.
ResultsCX launches enhanced CX services
ResultsCX has expanded its digital and social media experience management operations to provide comprehensive customer care on behalf of its client brands. The company now offers simultaneous monitoring, triage and response across hundreds of social channels and digital brand properties; online reputation management strategies; and content moderation that present a singular brand experience to customers.
ResultsCX’s omnichannel CX platform leverages human and AI support across all communication channels, enabling the company to deliver resolution-centred CX to every customer no matter their preferred channel of communicating with their favourite brand.
vFairs announces new product integrations
vFairs, the platform for hybrid and virtual events, has released a new line of product integrations which provide greater control over events to organisers. These newly integrated platforms include Slido, ReStream, SyncWords, Oracle Eloqua, Worldly and Interprify, which expands vFairs’ functionality while offering a more immersive, inclusive event experience to audiences.
vFairs enables a realistic virtual event experience through the creation of customised three-dimensional models of the desired event location, from buildings and other landmarks to customised avatars for each participant. In addition to user-planned events, vFairs fosters interactivity and engagement through additional features, including virtual leaderboards, scavenger hunts and more.
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