PORTLAND, Ore. & READING, United Kingdom--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Act-On Software, the leading provider of marketing automation for fast-growing businesses, today announced a vision to enable marketers to easily implement an adaptive marketing strategy for their business. Act-On is showcasing a strategy and technology platform that will enable marketers to connect with their buyers and customers in more personalized ways through Adaptive Journeys. The Act-On platform can recognize behaviors, preferences, and interests, and use that data to automatically adapt the message, the timing, and the delivery channel for more customized engagements.
Act-On was the first marketing automation platform built on a modern, NoSQL cloud architecture. Unlike competitive systems, Act-On does not have to be rebuilt from the ground up in order to leverage machine learning and big data. As a result, Act-On has a clear advantage over these vendors by being able to add a machine learning layer on top of its existing platform, which today is the bedrock for Adaptive Journeys.
The company’s 2017-18 product roadmap is focused on building a predictive engagement engine on this real-time platform that can automatically tailor customer journeys (timing, channel & message) to an individual’s preferences and behaviors. Act-On will be expanding on the use cases for personalization, going beyond personalized content & messaging, to also include personalized delivery channels and sending times.
“Act-On is going to make predictive intelligence the new normal, and that’s a game changer for marketers like me in mid-sized organizations who often don’t have access to that level of sophistication,” said Cynthia Schulte, GM Nameplate’s Senior Marketing Manager. “I’m looking forward to building Adaptive Journeys in Act-On to transform the way we engage and build relationships with our buyers. I can’t wait to get my hands on it.”
Act-On has been delivering on its platform innovation with first to market, native marketing automation features like responsive-design emails, landing pages, and web forms as well as Account-Based Marketing (ABM), and plans to make machine learning powered Adaptive Journeys simple and easy to create for marketers.
Act-On is making Adaptive Journeys possible through predictive, behavior-based intelligence that can deliver:
The Best Message:
- With Adaptive Segmentation™ marketers can dynamically create lists of engaged contacts by any combination of factors, whether that data is brought in from the CRM, captured via web form, or behavior insights that Act-On tracks; these segments can automatically adapt as new information is provided. In the future, more data from additional sources can be leveraged to further personalize engagement efforts.
- Act-On’s Adaptive Forms™ can now support conditional follow-up questions; dynamically presenting, or hiding, questions based on an individual’s responses.
At The Perfect Time:
- Act-On’s Adaptive Sending™ can predict the best time to send a message to an intended recipient based on past behaviors and actions. The system will automatically send the message during prescribed ‘optimal engagement window’ for increased open and click-throughs.
- Adaptive Scoring™ builds on Act-On’s investment in big data that will enable marketers to go beyond conditional scoring rules, thresholds, and time windows – and give marketers the choice to automate scoring across different segments, industries, and buyers.
Through The Ideal Channel:
- With Adaptive Channels™, Act-On’s system will take advantage of machine learning to select the best channel (email, web, mobile or social) to send a given message across based on the individual’s previous interactions with the brand.
- Act-On is also building deeper partnerships with ad retargeting, SMS, and direct mail vendors. These partnerships will allow Act-On users to implement a more multi-channel marketing approach and be able to better adapt to their customers’ preferred channels across any online or offline channel – be it paid or owned media.
According to Forrester Research, “In this digital age, B2B buyers use online resources and content to research and learn independently. This shift presents an opportunity: More online research translates to more digital breadcrumbs that leave an enormous data trail comprised of search terms, content consumption patterns, and other interest signals. Historically, this data has eluded many marketers’ data-gathering capabilities because buyers deposit it outside of brand-owned platforms such as the company website, email, or social media platforms. Here again, new technology solutions are reducing this problem.”²
Traditionally, buyers and customers have been forced through a few pre-defined paths created by marketers. While these paths added a level of personalization to the experience, the method has fallen short for buyers and customers. Similar in how we’ve seen the evolution of mapping technology like Waze™ and Google Maps™, “pre-defined directions” have given way to more fluid recommended paths that take into account individual user behaviors and outside factors in real-time. This is similar to the innovation Act-On looks to apply to Adaptive Journeys in order to consistently deliver more precise, more personalized engagement paths for brands and their buyers.
“Every customer is unique, as is their path to purchase, and in today’s connected world it is more important than ever that brands adapt to how their customers want to be engaged,” said Andy MacMillan, CEO of Act-On Software. “Marketers at mid-sized organizations might think that this is unattainable, but we believe that companies of all sizes should be able to take advantage of the power of predictive to accomplish this – and we’re simplifying how marketers can do this and making it possible with Adaptive Journeys.”
Act-On looks to make Adaptive Journeys the standard for B2B marketing automation by building in the intelligence layer that can predict, adapt, and respond to the way each customer wants to be engaged. Act-On believes that the future of marketing is adaptive - it’s about using the buyer’s own behaviors to intelligently guide the engagement strategy. The result for companies will be more delighted customers who feel as if the brand has connected with them in meaningful and relevant ways, which will ultimately translate into better business outcomes like higher win rates and customer lifetime value.
¹Waze is a trademark of Alphabet, Inc.
²“What’s Possible With Predictive Marketing Right Now?”, Forrester Research, Inc., July 25, 2016
About Act-On Software
Act-On Software is a marketing automation company delivering innovation that empowers marketers to do the best work of their careers. Act-On is the only integrated workspace that powers the customer experience from end-to-end, from brand awareness and demand generation, to retention and loyalty. With Act-On, marketers can drive better business outcomes and see higher customer lifetime value. Act-On is squarely focused on the success of its customers and offers consultant-level quality with everyday customer support. Act-On has been recognized for its superior product and rapid business growth by Deloitte, Forbes, and Inc. Magazine. For more information, visit Act-On Software.
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