Digital Impact Launches Merchant Mail Network

Digital Impact Inc. in San Mateo, CA introduced its Merchant Mail Network, a system for highly targeted, proactive communication with existing customers via the Internet.

The company said the Merchant Mail Network already has been adopted by several online retailers including The Gap, The Sharper Image, Tower Records, WorldRes and 1-800 Batteries.

Clients have reported a doubling of online sales, an increase in ROI by over 500% and dramatically increased customer loyalty, the company said.

“Digital Impact provides the most effective solution for proactively communicating with customers online since companies can send completely personalized offers based on customer profiles and historical data to customers wishing to receive information via email,” said William C. Park, founder and president of Digital Impact.

He said the Merchant Mail Network has the ability to send electronic messages geared towards a recipient’s specific client software–whether it be text, HTML, DHTML or Java.

The Merchant Mail Network is a combination of software and services from Digital Impact that take advantage of distributed Java objects, relational databases and advances in data mining and statistical modeling to identify individual customer profiles. Customers receive offers on items that are selected specifically for them based on their individual purchase history and preferences.

The software employs “sensor” technology that determines the email capabilities of each recipient and sends the highest level of graphics and functionality that the recipient email software can read.

The network was developed using a modular architecture employing Java and relational database technologies to allow simple integration with any standard or custom e-commerce software, the company said.

Digital Impact endorses the principles of disclosure and informed consent recommended by TRUSTe. Pricing is based on a service model, with software operated at Digital Impact’s offices. Pricing is determined by the complexity of the outbound communication, both in content and format, and ranges from $0.05 to $0.15 for each email sent. There is an additional one-time system integration fee averaging $10,000 to set up the service.