StrongMail and Equifax Launch Social Media-Powered Email Solution

StrongMail Systems, Inc., a leading provider of online marketing solutions for email and social media, and Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX), a global information solutions leader, today announced Equifax Social Influencer, a social media-powered customer acquisition solution, the first initiative of a newly formed strategic partnership between the two companies.
Unique to the industry, Equifax Social Influencer combines StrongMail’s Influencer viral marketing solution and strategic services with Equifax’s data services and analytics expertise to enable email marketers to expand their reach with highly targeted referral programs based on the recipient’s social influence, demographic profile, economic status and other relevant factors.
“We know how businesses can use data to identify and motivate their best customers to become brand advocates. StrongMail’s Influencer tool offers the best direct social marketing tool we have seen,” said Michael Hall, Senior Vice President and GM of Equifax Direct Marketing Services. “By combining StrongMail’s social media marketing technology with Equifax’s extensive customer information solutions, we are able to offer Equifax and Strong mail clients a truly unique and compelling marketing application for helping leverage a marketer’s retention efforts and expand them to highly valuable acquisition programs.
Leverage Strategy, Data and the Social Web to Expand Reach with the Right Audience
With Equifax Social Influencer, email marketers now have a comprehensive solution for leveraging their most influential and qualified customers to build their list exponentially with like-minded consumers. Each engagement is designed to address a company’s unique objectives with a customized referral program that motivates a targeted audience to share their network through direct integration via email, blogs and popular social networks like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
Equifax Social Influencer is a multi-stage engagement consisting of the following components:
Strategy session to define program objectives and identify social motivators
Multiple creative treatments for testing and optimization
Target-creation based on social activity and Equifax demographic, financial, lifestyle and purchase behavior data
Advanced testing program to define the most effective creative treatment
Program deployment with real-time tracking and optimization
Analysis of program performance to determine key influencers for re-marketing purposes
Monthly summaries of campaign performance with optimization recommendations
“Equifax’s leadership in data and analytics made them a natural fit for the targeting components of Equifax Social Influencer,” said Sam Cece, CEO of StrongMail. “By using Equifax’s consumer data suites, we are able to not only identify potential influencers but to determine which of those influencers represent networks that are financially capable to convert based on a specific offer. No one else provides this level of insight.”
Proven Technology, Proven Results
StrongMail’s Influencer technology has already been proven as a highly effective customer acquisition tool, and the added targeting available with Equifax Social Influencer will only serve to make these referral programs more effective. Mint.com recently used StrongMail Influencer to socially enable an existing referral program, resulting in a 20 percent increase in program reach and 8,000 new members. Zecco, an online brokerage firm, has also reported that its Social Influencer referral program is performing 267 percent better than any other new customer acquisition channel.
Availability
The Equifax Social Influencer customer acquisition program can be purchased directly from Equifax or StrongMail.
About Equifax Inc.(www.equifax.com)
Equifax empowers businesses and consumers with information they can trust. A global leader in information solutions, we leverage one of the largest sources of consumer and commercial data, along with advanced analytics and proprietary technology, to create customized insights that enrich both the performance of businesses and the lives of consumers.
With a strong heritage of innovation and leadership, Equifax continuously delivers innovative solutions with the highest integrity and reliability. Businesses – large and small – rely on us for consumer and business credit intelligence, portfolio management, fraud detection, decisioning technology, marketing tools, and much more. We empower individual consumers to manage their personal credit information, protect their identity, and maximize their financial well-being.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax Inc. operates in the U.S. and 14 other countries throughout North America, Latin America and Europe. Equifax is a member of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500® Index. Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EFX.
About StrongMail Systems, Inc.
StrongMail’s online marketing solutions for email and social media enable businesses to reach, engage and influence their target audience using the most powerful channels available to marketers today. StrongMail gives email marketers the control and support they need to improve campaign performance, boost deliverability and lower costs, while also leveraging the power of social media to extend the reach of their campaigns and brand to new audiences. Combining an easy-to-use email marketing application, high-performance delivery system, viral-marketing tool, social media integration, and a wide range of deliverability, strategic and supporting services, StrongMail makes it possible for companies with all levels of resources and expertise to take advantage of its proven solutions. Headquartered in Redwood City, CA, StrongMail’s clients include global leaders across virtually every industry. To learn more about StrongMail, please visitwww.strongmail.comor follow us online atwww.twitter.com/StrongMailorwww.facebook.com/StrongMail.