Constant Contact and WeReward Announce Partnership

Constant Contact and WeReward Announce Partnership ORLANDO, Fla. (Profitable.com) Constant Contact®, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTCT), the trusted marketing advisor to more than 400,000 small organizations worldwide, and WeReward, the leading mobile loyalty and incentive platform, today announced a partnership to help merchants and product manufacturers increase customer loyalty and lifetime value through stronger relationships. This integration allows retailers and product manufacturers to attract new customers through WeReward’s mobile application and grow these relationships beyond a check-in, through Constant Contact’s email marketing tool.

“Consumers are moving away from traditional coupons and using mobile applications that allow them to save money by discovering new places and products the exact moment they need them,” said Steve Johnson, vice president, partners, for Constant Contact. “By teaming up with Constant Contact, WeReward will deliver industry-leading online marketing tools in conjunction with their 21st-century, loyalty solution to help close the loop for businesses seeking to build long-lasting relationships with their customers.”

According to eMarketer, the proliferation of smartphone owners is forcing marketers to pay closer attention to mobile marketing. Digital advertising has seemingly gone mainstream as mobile marketing spending estimates are projected to exceed $1.1 billion in 2011 and more than $2.5 billion by 2014. For marketers and business owners of all sizes, this represents a tremendous opportunity to reach and influence consumers, in real time, when they are making a purchase decision.

“Everyday we empower consumers to check-in and make money at over 15 million businesses throughout the country. This has resulted in hundreds of thousands of purchases with users sharing these experiences through their social networks,” said Ted Murphy, founder and CEO of IZEA, Inc., the parent company of WeReward. “What makes this partnership so exciting is how we can now take this one-step further by connecting the customer and business through Constant Contact’s powerful email marketing tool. This combination gives our users the ability to receive real time communications from their favorite businesses and products in a manner that is most convenient for them – through their mobile device, email, or both. For merchants, this represents the ultimate marketing solution – the opportunity to start an email and social media relationship with every person who walks in their store.”

The Constant Contact integration is immediately available through the Dashboard on WeReward. Constant Contact customers without a WeReward account can claim their business by creating an account at https://app.wereward.com/signup and start attracting new customers today. For businesses new to email marketing, Constant Contact is also offering a free 60-day trial of their tool.

About Constant Contact, Inc.

Constant Contact’s (Nasdaq: CTCT) email marketing, event marketing, social media marketing, and online survey tools help small organizations grow their businesses by building stronger customer relationships. More than 400,000 small businesses, nonprofits, and member associations worldwide rely on Constant Contact’s easy-to use, affordable online tools to create and deliver personalized, professional communications that engage casual customers, members, prospects, and passionate customers wherever they congregate online – from their email inboxes to their social networks. All Constant Contact products come with unmatched education, training, and personal coaching services, and award-winning technical support. Founded in 1995, Constant Contact is a publicly traded company with offices in Waltham, Mass.; Loveland, Colo.; and Delray, Fla.; and San Francisco, Calif. Learn more at http://www.constantcontact.com/.

About IZEA

IZEA is a world leader in social media sponsorship, operating multiple marketplaces such as WeReward, SponsoredTweets, and SocialSpark. Our mission is to empower everyone to value and exchange content, creativity and influence. IZEA is venture funded by Inflexion Partners, Village Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and DFJ Gotham Ventures. Learn more at www.izea.com

Emails Targeted to Current Loyalty Program Members Have Transaction Rates Almost 30 Percent Higher Than Bulk Mailings

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (Profitable.com) Experian Marketing Services, a leading provider of data, analytics and marketing technologies to help organizations target and engage their customers more effectively, today announced a new loyalty study that provides an in-depth look at customer loyalty behavior and trends in the marketplace. A major theme from the report is how marketers can empower their customers to become vocal advocates of the brands.

The loyalist: leveraging relationships with existing customers to increase ROI provides marketers with a unique look at what drives relationships with customers and ideas on how to improve loyalty email campaigns to deepen customer advocacy and drive long-term sales.

“Knowing which customers have a propensity to be loyal brand advocates is critical to every business today,” said Rachel Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of Experian CheetahMail, a part of Experian Marketing Services. “Given the highly competitive nature of the industry, marketers that engage customers with programs that motivate and reward loyalty will yield significant returns,” said Bergman.

The report highlights several email loyalty trends that help marketers understand how customers behave and engage with companies to which they are loyal. For example, emails targeted to current loyalty program members have:

40 percent higher open rates;
Over 20 percent higher click-through rates;
Almost 30 percent higher transaction rates;
Over 10 percent higher revenue per email.

To download a copy of the report, click here: The loyalist: leveraging relationships with existing customers to increase ROI.

About Experian Marketing Services

Experian Marketing Services delivers best-in-breed data, analytics and platforms into multiple regions around the globe. It is focused on helping marketers more effectively target and engage their best customers through email, digital advertising, customer data management, customer and competitive insight, data enrichment and list rental, modeling and analytics, and strategic consulting. Through these capabilities, Experian Marketing Services enables organizations to encourage brand advocacy, create measurable return on investment and significantly improve the lifetime value of their customers.

About Experian

Experian® is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 90 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2010, was $3.9 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; Costa Mesa, California; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.

Experian and the Experian marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Small Businesses See Social Media as Key to Customer Engagement

Small Businesses See Social Media as Key to Customer Engagement WALTHAM, Mass. (Profitable.com) In celebration of Small Business Saturday, Constant Contact®, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTCT), the trusted marketing advisor to more than 400,000 small organizations worldwide, released the results from the company’s latest Small Business Attitudinal Survey.

In the fall 2010 survey, small businesses reported an increased use of social media tools, viewing these tools as additive and complementary to other marketing activities. Small businesses plan to dedicate more dollars to social media marketing efforts in 2011.

63% cited Facebook and 30.7% cite Twitter as important tools for marketing, up from 50.5% and 25.6%, respectively, from Constant Contact’s March 2010 survey.
Further, the survey suggests that small businesses now see Facebook as equally important as face-to-face interactions; 62% cited face-to-face interactions as important.
Traditional marketing activities, including websites, email marketing, event marketing, and online surveys, all saw modest increases in importance this fall, compared to the spring survey results.

“Today’s reality is that everyone is trying to do more with less,” said Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact. “Small organizations don’t have the luxury of full-time, dedicated social media staff like larger companies do, but that’s not stopping them from using social media marketing to broaden their marketing reach.”

Email Marketing and Online Surveys by Constant Contact make it easy to connect with your customers. Try it FREE for 60-Days.

The Constant Contact survey also found that small businesses’ greatest challenges relate to generating new business through effective planning, sales, and marketing.

When looking for new customers, 91% cite the value and importance of word of mouth.
Other online tools rate as very important as tools for finding new customers; 68.8% rate a company’s website and 58.6% rate email marketing as very important for finding new customers.
Nearly 75% of respondents said they expect their businesses to grow in the next year.

“We applaud our small business customers who have found a way to work creatively and use the resources they have to grow their business, despite tough economic times. For example, they are pairing tried-and-true tools like email marketing with new tools in social media to exponentially increase their reach – at no added dollar cost,” said Goodman.

While the year has been tough for many small businesses, only 18.5% reported a negative outlook on the economy for the next 12 months.

“While we can’t predict the economy, we expect that small businesses will continue to survive and thrive in 2011 by finding new, innovative ways to grow their businesses using limited budget and resources,” said Goodman. “We anticipate further adoption of social media marketing tools as a way to give added lift to other proven marketing winners, including email and event marketing.”

Complete survey results may be viewed at http://conta.cc/bunme8.

In celebration of Small Business Saturday, following are three examples of the company’s more than 400,000 small businesses that are increasing their reach through innovative online marketing programs:

Boston-based Busa Wine & Spirits has seen an 80% increase in online wine sales in the past six months based on its integrated online marketing program that combines Constant Contact email marketing with social networking and community website postings. On November 12, Constant Contact’s event marketing tool was used to organize an event that attracted 300 attendees and raised more than $16,000 for local charities.
New York City’s Sweet Sally’s bakery began integrating social media with its Constant Contact email marketing campaign two months ago to create dialogue and interaction around recipe testing to meal planning. The results: sales have increased approximately 50% and the bakeshop has been featured by more than 30 media outlets since launching the campaign.
In October, Cincinnati, Ohio, pet food distributor Dingo offered fans a $20 coupon for joining their email newsletter list and “Liking” the company’s Facebook page – if the page reached 5,000 “Likes.” The company went from 330 to its target 5,000 “Likes” in just 72 hours. Dingo reported a 22% sales increase (45% of increased volume from new customers) and the company’s email newsletter list grew by 60% as a result.

About Constant Contact, Inc.

Constant Contact’s email marketing, social media marketing, event marketing, and online survey tools help small organizations grow their businesses by building stronger customer relationships. More than 400,000 small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and member associations worldwide rely on Constant Contact’s easy-to-use, affordable online tools to create and deliver personalized, professional communications that engage casual customers, members, prospects, and passionate customers wherever they congregate online — from their email inboxes to their social networks. All Constant Contact products come with unmatched education, training and personal coaching services, and award-winning technical support. Founded in 1995, Constant Contact is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: CTCT) with offices in Waltham, Mass.; Loveland, Colo.; Delray, Fla.; and, San Francisco, Calif. Learn more at www.ConstantContact.com or call 781-472-8100.

Constant Contact and the Constant Contact Logo are registered trademarks of Constant Contact, Inc. All Constant Contact product names and other brand names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Constant Contact, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to, statements regarding the introduction of new product features and future social media marketing offerings. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date they were first issued and were based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections, as well as the beliefs and assumptions of our management. Words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “should,” “believe,” “hope,” “target,” “project,” “goals,” “estimate,” “potential,” “predict,” “may,” “will,” “might,” “could,” “intend,” variations of these terms, or the negative of these terms, and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond Constant Contact’s control. Constant Contact’s actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including but not limited to the risks detailed in Constant Contact’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as other documents that may be filed by the Company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent Constant Contact’s views as of the date of this press release. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause its views to change. Constant Contact undertakes no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Constant Contact’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Welcome Emails Drive Transaction Rates Nine Times Higher Than Bulk Mailings

NEW YORK (Profitable.com) Experian Marketing Services, a global marketing leader and provider of email marketing and customer intelligence technologies, today announced the findings of a new study from its email marketing technology, Experian CheetahMail.

The study, titled The welcome email report: Benchmark data and analysis for engaging new subscribers through email marketing, reports critical data on welcome email campaigns indicting that welcome emails have transaction rates nine times higher than bulk mailings. The analysis clearly shows that a welcome campaign is an essential component of a sophisticated email program.

To gauge the impact of welcome messages and determine optimal best practices surrounding them, Experian CheetahMail’s Strategic Services Group analyzed the performance and content details of welcome emails compared with mass promotions deployed by the same businesses from May 2009 to April 2010. Key findings include the following:

Revenue per email is eight times higher and transaction rates are nine times higher for welcome emails than for bulk mailings.
Welcome emails generate four times the total open rates and five times the click rates compared with other bulk promotions.
Welcome messages sent in real time as triggered emails, deployed through Experian CheetahMail’s Event-Based Mailer Technology, have significantly higher open, click and transaction rates than bulk (daily, weekly, monthly) recurrent campaigns.
Real-time welcomes with offers have more than double the transaction rates and revenue per mail compared with real-time welcomes with no offers.
Welcome emails with free shipping offers have the highest transaction rates. Other than free shipping, “15 percent off” had the highest revenue per email for both real-time and bulk welcome emails.
On average, welcome emails with links to social media have 6 percent higher click rates than welcomes without those links.

Complementing the data points, Experian CheetahMail’s report also provides a number of best practices for marketers looking to make the most of their welcome email campaigns. According to the report, marketers should make a connection to the subscriber clear by dynamically mentioning the source of acquisition, particularly if there is a delay between sign-up and the first email. Other recommendations include adding a link to a preference center and considering deploying a real-time version of welcome messages.

“Most companies understand the importance of welcome emails, but we find that many don’t prioritize optimization of these campaigns. Welcome emails should be more than an obligatory contact. They are a means to engage with prospective customers when their propensities to open, click and transact are at peak levels,” said Rachel Bergman, general manager and senior vice president, Experian CheetahMail. “Experian CheetahMail has the greatest breadth and depth of aggregated email data in the industry. Studies such as this are aimed at helping our clients prioritize their efforts on the most profitable email communications.”

About Experian CheetahMail

Experian® CheetahMail® is the trusted service provider of email marketing and customer intelligence technologies for top enterprises worldwide. With the industry’s largest client services teams, feature-rich email technology and a broad range of data management options, Experian CheetahMail enables clients to build data-driven, relevant relationships with their customers. Servicing the world’s most recognizable brands, Experian CheetahMail’s globally diverse client base includes 1800Flowers, Barclays, Borders Books, Discovery Communications, KLM, Neiman Marcus and Wyndham Hotels. Experian CheetahMail, a business unit of Experian (LSE: EXPN), was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in New York City, with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, Sydney, Auckland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Madrid, Beijing and Melbourne. For more information, please visit http://www.cheetahmail.com or email info@cheetahmail.com.