ExactTarget
Encyclopedia
ExactTarget is an email marketing and interactive marketing provider headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The privately owned company was founded in December 2000 by Scott Dorsey, Chris Baggott, and Peter McCormick
, for an initial investment of $200,000.
ExactTarget provides on-demand software for permission-based email marketing, mobile marketing and social media marketing. They provide software as a service
(SaaS). ExactTarget sells their software directly to the end user – typically a corporate marketing department – or through a reseller network.
's Hot 500 Fastest Growing Businesses in America.
The company filed with the Security & Exchange Commission in September 2007 to become publicly traded, but withdrew from the IPO process in May 2009 after determining, according to CEO Dorsey, that their growth “was better served by staying private.” ExactTarget posted revenues of $134 million in 2010 from clients such as Groupon
, Oakley
, Toyota, Citigroup
, Financial Times
, and Argos
. They also secured $145 million in venture capital in 2009, with $70 million being raised in May 2009 from Battery Ventures, Scale Venture Partners and Montagu Newhall and another $75 million in December 2009 from Technology Crossover Ventures.
The company lists among its customers well-known brands including Expedia.com, Papa John’s, CareerBuilder.com, Gannett Co., Home Depot, and Wellpoint
.
ExactTarget hosts an annual multiday email marketing user conference in their hometown of Indianapolis. The 2009 event, Connections 09, featured keynote presentations from CEO Scott Dorsey, COO Scott McCorkle, author Malcolm Gladwell
, and actress Marlee Matlin
.
In 2009, the Indianapolis Symphony employed ExactTarget software to permit concert-goers to vote for a concert's encore performance from their cell phones.
In November 2011, ExactTarget filed with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.
, and Facebook
. The platform includes the ability to pre-plan messages and track response rates.
ExactTarget’s technology allows subscribers to determine what content they want from a company, when they want to receive it, and in which format they want to receive it. ExactTarget created and trademarked the slogan Subscribers Rule! to promote their philosophy of serving the email subscriber, delivering value, and honoring subscriber preferences.
ExactTarget acquired CoTweet, a business-oriented front-end to Twitter, on March 2, 2010. The acquisition created an enterprise solution to managing social media, email marketing, and mobile marketing within a single software platform. CoTweet powers the Twitter campaigns of major brands including Microsoft, McDonald's, Sprint, Ford, Dell, Pepsi, Whole Foods, Intuit, Salesforce.com, USA Today, and Coca-Cola.
After acquiring CoTweet, ExactTarget opened the ExactTarget Social Media Lab in San Francisco's SoMa Neighborhood on February 9, 2010. The Social Media Lab was opened to serve as a center of product innovation, training, sales and support for ExactTarget's social media business.
The software’s Social Forward feature embeds social sharing functionality into marketing emails, allowing the email recipient to forward the email's content to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other social networking or bookmarking site, or forward the email to a friend.
In addition to traditional methods of subscribing to email lists, ExactTarget software allows users to subscribe through text messages. The software can also send an automatic update to a company’s Twitter followers when a marketing email is launched.
In December 2009, a Forrester Research "Wave" study listed ExactTarget among its Best of the Email Service Providers. The study evaluated firms with at least $10 million in global billings which send at least 200 million emails a month.
In 2010, ExactTarget became an American Business Awards Finalist, is recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in Indiana, and named in Lead411's Hottest Companies in the Midwest list.
Peter McCormick
Peter David Godfrey McCormick is an English lawyer.He was educated at Ashville College and at King's College London . He began life as a Director of Leeds United Football Club, however, he was thrust into the public eye by a court case involving Leeds footballers Lee Bowyer, Jonathan Woodgate and...
, for an initial investment of $200,000.
ExactTarget provides on-demand software for permission-based email marketing, mobile marketing and social media marketing. They provide software as a service
Software as a Service
Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
(SaaS). ExactTarget sells their software directly to the end user – typically a corporate marketing department – or through a reseller network.
History and customers
In 2003, CareerBuilder.com selected ExactTarget software to create and deliver their email marketing, the volume of which Online Media Daily estimated at “millions of emails” per month. In the first quarter of 2005, ExactTarget added more than 250 customers, bringing its total number of customers under contract to 3,250. In 2006, ExactTarget was ranked number 56 on the Inc. 500 listing of the fastest growing private companies in the United States, based on revenue growth from 2002 through 2005. In 2007, ExactTarget was ranked number 43 on Entrepreneur MagazineEntrepreneur Magazine
Entrepreneur is a publication that carries news stories about entrepreneurialism, small business management, and business opportunities. It is published by Entrepreneur Media Inc., headquartered in Irvine, California....
's Hot 500 Fastest Growing Businesses in America.
The company filed with the Security & Exchange Commission in September 2007 to become publicly traded, but withdrew from the IPO process in May 2009 after determining, according to CEO Dorsey, that their growth “was better served by staying private.” ExactTarget posted revenues of $134 million in 2010 from clients such as Groupon
Groupon
Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Groupon was launched in November 2008, the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto...
, Oakley
Oakley, Inc.
Oakley, Inc., based in Foothill Ranch, California, makes sport equipment including sunglasses, sports visors, and ski goggles, as well as watches, clothing, bags, backpacks, shoes, prescription glasses, football and hockey eyewear, Golf gear and other accessories...
, Toyota, Citigroup
Citigroup
Citigroup Inc. or Citi is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate...
, Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, and Argos
Argos (disambiguation)
-Greece:*Argos, a city in the northeast Peloponnese, which shares this name with several smaller towns:** Argos Pelasgikon in Thessaly** Amphilochian Argos, an ancient settlement in Amphilochia** Argos Ippaton, an ancient settlement in Epirus...
. They also secured $145 million in venture capital in 2009, with $70 million being raised in May 2009 from Battery Ventures, Scale Venture Partners and Montagu Newhall and another $75 million in December 2009 from Technology Crossover Ventures.
The company lists among its customers well-known brands including Expedia.com, Papa John’s, CareerBuilder.com, Gannett Co., Home Depot, and Wellpoint
WellPoint
WellPoint, Inc. is the largest health plan company in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. It was formed when WellPoint Health Networks, Inc. merged into Anthem, Inc., with the surviving Anthem adopting the name, WellPoint, Inc...
.
ExactTarget hosts an annual multiday email marketing user conference in their hometown of Indianapolis. The 2009 event, Connections 09, featured keynote presentations from CEO Scott Dorsey, COO Scott McCorkle, author Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...
, and actress Marlee Matlin
Marlee Matlin
Marlee Bethany Matlin is an American actress. She is the only deaf actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which she won for Children of a Lesser God. Her work in film and television has resulted in a Golden Globe award, with two additional nominations, and four Emmy...
.
In 2009, the Indianapolis Symphony employed ExactTarget software to permit concert-goers to vote for a concert's encore performance from their cell phones.
In November 2011, ExactTarget filed with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.
Application
ExactTarget’s software enables companies to engage in one-to-one marketing by providing organizations with a single platform (called Interactive Marketing Hub) to connect with customers through email, integrated text messaging, voice messaging, Internet landing pages, TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, and Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
. The platform includes the ability to pre-plan messages and track response rates.
ExactTarget’s technology allows subscribers to determine what content they want from a company, when they want to receive it, and in which format they want to receive it. ExactTarget created and trademarked the slogan Subscribers Rule! to promote their philosophy of serving the email subscriber, delivering value, and honoring subscriber preferences.
Acquisitions
In 2009, ExactTarget expanded into the UK and European markets with the acquisition of KeyMail Marketing, a significant reseller of ExactTarget software to European end users.ExactTarget acquired CoTweet, a business-oriented front-end to Twitter, on March 2, 2010. The acquisition created an enterprise solution to managing social media, email marketing, and mobile marketing within a single software platform. CoTweet powers the Twitter campaigns of major brands including Microsoft, McDonald's, Sprint, Ford, Dell, Pepsi, Whole Foods, Intuit, Salesforce.com, USA Today, and Coca-Cola.
After acquiring CoTweet, ExactTarget opened the ExactTarget Social Media Lab in San Francisco's SoMa Neighborhood on February 9, 2010. The Social Media Lab was opened to serve as a center of product innovation, training, sales and support for ExactTarget's social media business.
Integrations
Integration with Coremetrics web analytics enables ExactTarget customers to automatically generate personalized emails to website visitors who abandon an online transaction before completing it. The company’s ExactTarget Embedded product provides an API for developers to integrate features such as dynamic content, relational data support, and support for new messaging technologies such as SMS and voice into their applications. ExactTarget provides built-in integration with customer relationship management (CRM) systems including Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Salesforce.com, and with web analytics software from Omniture and WebTrends.The software’s Social Forward feature embeds social sharing functionality into marketing emails, allowing the email recipient to forward the email's content to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other social networking or bookmarking site, or forward the email to a friend.
In addition to traditional methods of subscribing to email lists, ExactTarget software allows users to subscribe through text messages. The software can also send an automatic update to a company’s Twitter followers when a marketing email is launched.
Awards
In 2003, co-founder and CEO Scott Dorsey was named Ernst & Young's Indiana Entrepreneur of the Year. ExactTarget was ranked a “Strong Performer” in the 2004 Forrester Research "Wave" study for the software’s ease of use and capabilities for managing brand consistency and legislative compliance. CFO Traci Dolan was honored in 2009 as a CFO of the Year by the Indianapolis Business Journal in its Private Companies with Revenue under $100 Million category. The ExactTarget Reseller Edition software was selected by ClickZ as the top E-mail Marketing Tool in the 2009 ClickZ Marketing Excellence Awards.In December 2009, a Forrester Research "Wave" study listed ExactTarget among its Best of the Email Service Providers. The study evaluated firms with at least $10 million in global billings which send at least 200 million emails a month.
In 2010, ExactTarget became an American Business Awards Finalist, is recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in Indiana, and named in Lead411's Hottest Companies in the Midwest list.