Email Helps Pet Health Site Post Seven-Figure eCommerce Revenue in First 12 Months

INDIANAPOLIS--Pet health Website Petplace.com announced today that its ExactTarget email marketing campaigns have helped the company grow its top-line revenue by 50 percent and launch a new ecommerce business that went from zero to $1 million in less than 12 months.

The Florida-based firm, whose site has earned a top 10 rating from Nielsen, launched its ecommerce effort in 2008 to offer its more than 1 million monthly visitors a single Website for recommended pet products ranging from healthcare items to toys in addition to the company’s core offering of more than 10,000 veterinarian-approved pet health articles.

“Petplace.com has grown to become the leader in the online pet health industry by providing pet lovers with veterinarian-approved information and products,” said Diego Saenz, president of Petplace.com. “ExactTarget provides us a true direct marketing engine that has allowed us to build off our initial success with email and post explosive growth in our ecommerce by extending the reach of our Website via highly targeted messages and offers based on customer preferences and activities.”

Powered by ExactTarget’s Enterprise Edition, Petplace.com sends more than 10 million emails every month to subscribers featuring veterinarian commentary, product offerings, pet videos and interactive surveys. Using data from its Web analytics provider Google Analytics coupled with a customer’s identified type of pet, Petplace.com relies on ExactTarget’s automation tools to select the best content and product offers to provide to customers based on their activity on the site, recent clicks in emails and identified interests. In addition to its recurring veterinarian and product emails, the company uses ExactTarget’s triggered messaging technology to power a series of welcome emails featuring exclusive content and offers during the first 30-days a customer has subscribed to their newsletters.

The firm plans to further increase its email offerings in the next 12 months using ExactTarget’s Dynamic Content feature to build emails featuring images and content specific to a subscriber’s breed of dog or cat.

“Petplace.com is exemplary of the small and sophisticated businesses that are leveraging our platform to connect with their customers and drive increased sales,” said Tim Kopp, ExactTarget’s chief marketing officer. “ExactTarget’s easy-to-use technology provides businesses of all sizes the industry’s most flexible and scalable solution to deliver results through integrated email, text messaging, Websites, voice messaging and social media.”

The news of Petplace.com’s positive results with ExactTarget follows the launch of ExactTarget’s Dynamic Content Whitepaper. The five-page paper provides insights into how some of the world’s biggest brands are harnessing the power of ExactTarget’s technology to build and send personalized, relevant email marketing messages to customers around the globe. The ExactTarget Dynamic Content Whitepaper is available for free download here.

About Petplace.com

With over 1,000,000 visitors per month, Petplace.com is the definitive web destination for PetCrazy people. More than 85 veterinarians, including many veterinary specialists, have written for Petplace.com. With a library of over 10,000 veterinarian approved articles Petplace.com offers the largest and most complete source of pet information available anywhere. Petplace.com not only offers the most comprehensive resource for Pet Health and Wellness, but the site features over 4,000 heartwarming "Pet Stories" that will make visitors, laugh, cry and make feel good inside. For more information, visit www.petplace.com.

About ExactTarget

ExactTarget, Inc. is a leading provider of on-demand email marketing software solutions. The company’s on-demand one-to-one marketing applications enable clients to send business-critical and event triggered communications to increase sales, optimize marketing investments and strengthen customer relationships. ExactTarget offers four editions of its on-demand software application along with integrated solutions such as ExactTarget for Salesforce.com AppExchange, ExactTarget for Microsoft Dynamics CRM and ExactTarget for Omniture Genesis. ExactTarget offers a range of optimization services including support, implementation and training, integration, deliverability, account management, design and deployment and strategic consulting. ExactTarget’s software powers permission-based email communications for thousands of organizations including CareerBuilder.com, Expedia.com, Florida Power & Light, Gannett Co., Inc/USA TODAY, the Indianapolis Colts, The Home Depot, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Liberty Mutual Group, Papa John’s and Wellpoint, Inc. For more information, please visit www.exacttarget.com or call 1-866-EMAILET.