October 12, 2012
By Leonard Klie, Editor, CRM magazine and SmartCustomerService.com

ExactTarget Acquires Pardot and iGoDigital

Global interactive marketing provider ExactTarget today announced its acquisitions of marketing automation provider Pardot for $95.5 million and Web site personalization and predictive analytics provider iGoDigital,for $21 million.

Pardot, which was founded in 2007, provides a marketing automation platform under the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. It allows companies to create, deploy, and manage online lead nurturing marketing campaigns. It features certified integrations with salesforce.com, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and SugarCRM, and has a client list of more than 1,000 small to midsized companies, including Restaurant.com, comScore, and Twilio.

"Marketers around the world are hungry for a lead nurturing solution that integrates with their broader marketing efforts and transcends the current offerings available from point solution providers," said Scott Dorsey, ExactTarget co-founder and CEO, in a statement. "With the addition of Pardot to the ExactTarget suite, we will redefine marketing automation and deliver the most scalable, comprehensive automation solution that helps both B-to-B and B-to-C marketers leverage the power of data to connect with customers across email, mobile, social media and the Web."

"Now as a part of the ExactTarget family, we can provide our clients with even greater capabilities as we leverage ExactTarget's substantial resources and industry-leading cross-channel messaging platform," said Adam Blitzer, Pardot co-founder and chief operating officer, in the statement. "Our goal remains the same: to redefine marketing automation and help marketers around the globe achieve even greater results."

For many in the industry, the acquisition was expected. "We are not surprised to see ExactTarget move to acquire marketing automation technology," says Atri Chatterjee, chief marketing officer at rival Act-On Software. "The trend from email marketing to marketing automation is real, and ExactTarget's acquisition of Pardot substantiates the marketing automation Industry and what we have been saying all along: There is a need for more than just email marketing."

Founded in 2004, iGoDigital provides Web personalization solutions that deliver predictive, real-time product recommendations and online guided selling experiences. iGoDigital's SaaS platform lets clients observe and analyze online behavior and ask explicit questions through its guided selling application to develop highly accurate customer profiles that can power cross-channel personalization and optimization. Eight of the top 10 online retailers and many of the world's top brands harness the power of iGoDigital's solutions, including Staples, Walmart, P&G, Lids, and Scholastic.

iGoDigital will lead ExactTarget's expanded Web product line under the leadership of iGoDigital founder and president Eric Tobias.

"Consumers expect a seamless experience across every interaction with a brand," Dorsey said. "With the addition of iGoDigital's advanced Web capabilities and predictive analytics to the ExactTarget platform, we will continue to revolutionize marketing with a powerful suite of new applications to transform data into highly personalized, seamless experiences across email, mobile, social media and the Web."

"iGoDigital is revolutionizing the online experience by providing consumer brands a powerful and intuitive solution to transform what they know about a consumer into a highly targeted and relevant online experience," Tobias said in the statement. "As a part of ExactTarget, we can provide our clients even greater levels of innovation by bringing together the best of our Web and predictive analytics capabilities with ExactTarget's cross-channel interactive marketing platform."