Salesforce have acquired email service provider Rebel to expand the interactive capabilities of their cloud commerce platform Marketing Cloud. With this acquisition, Salesforce will be ramping up their the direct marketing services by enabling recipients of interactive emails to easily take actions like shopping and writing reviews.
According to Salesforce, marketers are always looking for innovative ways to entice customers and acquire them. They believe that emails serve as an effective way to target customers with relevant content.
With Rebel’s acquisition, Salesforce believe that they will allow marketers to deliver messaging that encourages customers to make shopping decisions that convert into a purchase. They also say that by integrating Rebel’s API into Salesforce’s cloud commerce platform Marketing Cloud, the latter will boost their direct marketing services to customers.
Speaking about the acquisition, a spokesperson for Rebel, confirmed:
With Rebel’s Mail and API solutions, brands, including Dollar Shave Club, L’Oreal and HelloFresh, turn emails into an extension of their website or app — collecting data, removing friction from the conversion process, and enhancing the customer experience.
Rebel will enhance the power of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud and fundamentally change the way people interact with email.
Salesforce revealed that currently, Marketing Cloud is their least money-making division with USD 452 million recorded in the last quarter of 2018. However, this acquisition, they say, will see Salesforce amplifying their email products and boosting the position of Marketing Cloud as a business unit.
The cloud commerce provider says that acquisitions have always been one of their key strategies for growth and with Rebel, the urge to compete continues. They also revealed that since 2017, Salesforce have acquired more than 14 companies to continue their growth story.
As per industry patrons and analysts, in events like these, the company that has been acquired will see their entire clientele being transferred to Salesforce’s product portfolio. It will be interesting to see how the cloud commerce competition intensifies with this move, especially after the likes of Adobe acquiring Marketo for USD 4.75 billion.