IMN Debuts Standalone Analytics

E-mail marketing firm IMN will offer its reporting and analytics tool as a stand-alone product that plugs into third-party software.

The Newton, Mass.-based company, best known for its e-newsletter offerings, says the move to de-couple analytics from its email sending engine was sparked by client requests. The software, called Open Dynamic Learning Engine, can be plugged into third-party mailers’ distribution systems, publishing tools, content management platforms and recipient databases.

“It can be used by any e-marketer to analyze the reaction of the recipient in relationship to the content,” said Kathleen Goodwin, president and CEO at IMN (formerly iMake News).

Because of IMN’s background in e-newsletters and online content, the analytics focus is monitoring how clients’ customers and prospects interact with content. The software lets users track what recipients read first, longest and consistently from mailing-to-mailing. They can then use that information to refine and target subsequent content to recipients demonstrated preferences.

The product also offers marketers a chance to compare their reports with vertical industry benchmarks. Anonymous data are aggregated from all IMN clients by category, allowing the clients to compare themselves against others in the same industry. A financial services firm, for example, could compare its performance to others in the same industry, rather than to, say, an automotive client.

A number of other players, such as WebSideStory’s HitBox and NetIQ’s WebTrends unit, offer competing analytics products.

IMN’s list of over 900 clients includes General Electric, Shell Oil and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.