Alterian Launches Next Generation of Customer Engagement Solutions

Alterian (LSE: ALN), the leader in customer engagement technology and solutions, today announced the launch of Alterian Alchemy™, the framework that evolves Alterian’s existing Integrated Marketing Platform to the next-generation Customer Engagement Platform. Alterian Alchemy™ integrates the company’s market leading engagement management and analytics solutions across web, email, social media and traditional channels, enabling marketers to address the societal changes and demands of today’s consumer. Alterian is also announcing three new modules, operating within the Alterian Alchemy™ framework, to support marketers as they engage intelligently cross channel – Alterian Engagement Analytics, Alterian Engagement Manager and Alterian Predictive Analytics.

“Alterian is determined to change the face of marketing from mass communication to engagement with the individual, and Alterian Alchemy™ is a key part of the fulfillment of that vision,” said David Eldridge, CEO of Alterian. “We know that marketing must fundamentally change the way it functions so we developed Alterian Alchemy™ and the new modules from scratch, using the expertise we built up over the last 13 years. The result represents a real shift in how marketers can engage with – not just sell to – their customers.”

Recent research published by Alterian, “Your Brand: At Risk or Ready for Growth” , found that 62% of individuals felt that companies were only interested in selling products and services to them, not necessarily the product or service that was right for them. Only 8% of respondents trusted what companies said about themselves, yet 79% said it would have a positive impact on their experience as a customer if companies took the time to find out more about their needs.

Alterian Alchemy™ enables this fundamental shift in marketing from campaign management to engagement management, providing marketers with an integrated solution beyond multi-channel communications to true cross-channel, interactive engagement. All available customer data is now able to be accessed centrally, and marketers can easily take action based on a comprehensive customer profile and real time data. This provides marketers with a transparent record of the individual customer across multiple touch points in order to drive more effective integrated campaigns.

“This revolutionary framework, together with our new modules, provides marketers from all disciplines and channels with the tools to evolve into ‘Engagement Managers,’” added Eldridge. “Consumers have come to expect more tailored brand interaction today and seek extremely relevant, timely offers and information. Because of this shift, marketers must adapt to the way they listen to and engage with their audience. Alterian Alchemy™ is the first marketing engagement technology to address the broad range of interactive requirements, enabling brands to better coordinate one-on-one communication and engage based on customer preferences.”

Alterian Alchemy™ delivers against the requirements of a broad community of business users, puts individual-level analytics at the heart of all communications, delivers real-time interaction, and ensures consistency for inbound as well as outbound communications across multiple channels.
For instance, a customer might Tweet about a brand, receive a response in Twitter from that brand and click on a link in the Tweet, which then takes the customer to the brand’s website where they fill out a form, triggering the brand to send an email to the customer. Those three different points of customer interaction are typically difficult to connect; however, Alterian Alchemy™ allows marketers to manage how those customer interactions from separate channels come together for one-to-one engagement with individuals.

According to the April 2010 report by Forrester Research Inc., “Trends in Cross-Channel Campaign Management, 2010”, “Marketers struggle to incorporate new channels and the resulting data into their marketing programs, while CCCM applications struggle to match the pace of emerging channels and changing consumer behavior.” In the same study, Forrester reported that, “Almost half of respondents selected coordination of communications across channels (49%) and personalizing messages based on consumer behavior across channels (48%) as their top two challenges.” These are exactly the types of demands which Alterian Alchemy™ has been designed to meet.

“Our customers are clear in their requirement to move to a position where they have a holistic, analytically led view of each customer and the ability to interact appropriately across multiple communication channels based on this view” said Mark Zablan, Managing Director, Experian Marketing Services. “Alterian technology has always been recognized as leading the way in bringing analytics to outbound marketing channels. Alterian AlchemyTM is a major step forward to encompassing both inbound and outbound channels in the same, analytically driven environment. We are excited to be working with Alterian in taking Alterian AlchemyTM to market, along with Experian data and insight, to help brands engage with customers on a new level.”

In addition to the integration with web, email and social media engagement solutions and the new modules within it, Alterian will also continue to develop its existing campaign management tools as integral components of the Alterian Customer Engagement Platform to address traditional channels.

The launch follows a successful beta test program with major marketing organizations worldwide.

For more information on Alterian Alchemy™, visit www.alterian.com/alchemy .