Targeted Email Helps American Greetings Interactive Boost Customer Engagement 13%

Online, May 27, 2010 (Newswire.com) - CLEVELAND (May 25, 2010) - Through its work with ExactTarget, American Greetings Interactive, which features greeting card sites including AmericanGreetings.com, BlueMountain.com and Egreetings.com, increased customer engagement 13 percent from October 2009 to April 2010 with a series of targeted email marketing campaigns.

Developed by Cleveland-based Metrics Marketing Group and powered by ExactTarget, the campaign boosted email clicks and opens by enabling the online card giant to build and send emails based on segmenting their customer database with more than 15 unique attributes including customers' account status and history.

"With the ability to more easily contour how we talk with our different customers in email, we increased consumer engagement and saw a steady climb in subscription rates," said Adrienne Sender, marketing specialist at American Greetings Interactive. "By using the ExactTarget platform, we increased efficiency and streamlined our email implementation process."

Using ExactTarget's segmentation and automation tools coupled with Web analytics data provided through a seamless integration with Omniture, American Greetings Interactive segmented its database of more than 5 million subscribers and built emails featuring unique content based on membership status, account type and history.

"American Greetings Interactive's email marketing serves customers needs by delivering highly relevant offers and account information that go beyond sales-focused marketing," said Jonathan Hill, partner at Metrics Marketing. "By using highly targeted and effective email campaigns, the company is able to speak to different consumers based on segmentation data like usage, history, and current status. The segmentation strategy has successfully engaged their customers to interact with their site which has provided the company with additional cross marketing opportunities."

In addition to email, American Greetings Interactive will continue to expand its online marketing efforts through social media. The company plans to grow its social media marketing this year with additional features and functionality on Facebook and Twitter to enable content sharing and increased customer interaction.

"Marketers today are managing more channels than ever before and are constantly looking for ways to increase efficiency and performance," said Tim Kopp, ExactTarget's chief marketing officer. "With ExactTarget and Metrics Marketing, American Greetings Interactive has achieved new levels of efficiency by harnessing data to better serve customers online."

The news of American Greetings Interactive's success with email marketing follows the announcement of Metrics Marketing being named a Platinum Reseller of ExactTarget's technology. As one of the company's top reseller partners, Metrics Marketing is among the highest performing marketing technology firms in ExactTarget's network of more than 500 Reseller Partners around the globe that collectively serve thousands of clients.

About Metrics Marketing
Based in Cleveland, Metrics Marketing offers comprehensive analytics-driven database and interactive marketing by providing the following services: automated/triggered marketing systems, marketing database development and hosting, email strategy and deployment, predictive modeling, segmentation analysis, search marketing, creative services, website design, development and hosting, web usability, web analytics, user research, traditional market research and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy consulting. Metrics Marketing Group is located at 905 Corporate Way in Westlake, Ohio. Additional information can be found at www.metricsmarketing.com.

About ExactTarget
ExactTarget is a leading global provider of on-demand email marketing and one-to-one marketing solutions. The company's software as a service technology provides organizations a single platform to connect with customers via triggered and transactional email, integrated text messaging, voice messaging, landing pages and social media. Supported by collaborative global services teams, ExactTarget's technology integrates with more sales and marketing information systems than any other in the industry, including Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Omniture and Webtrends among many others. ExactTarget's software powers permission-based multi-channel communications for thousands of organizations around the world including Expedia.com, Aurora Fashions, Papa John's, CareerBuilder.com, Gannett Co., Inc., The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The Home Depot and Wellpoint, Inc. For more information, visit www.exacttarget.com or call 1-866-EMAILET.

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Media Contacts:
Frank Cirillo (American Greetings) - 216-252-7300 x4806 or [email protected]
Megan Smargiasso (Metrics Marketing) - 440.471.6011 or [email protected]
Mitch Frazier (ExactTarget) - 317.275.5034 or [email protected]
Lauren Sanders (Dittoe PR for ExactTarget) - 317.202.2280 X 10 or [email protected]