“We maximize return on digital marketing investment through real-time, automated personalization of email and website interactions with your customers”: 4Cite

“We also offer website activity data feeds that support cross-channel marketing and provide direct mail services.”

4Cite stands above its competitors by offering an integrated suite of solutions powered by proprietary CrossLink, a superior web visitor identification technology. Its solutions are easy to implement, up and running in a matter of days. Formed in 2010, the company’s roots date back to 2000 when its management team founded I-Centrix and later ALEXA Marketing. After selling I-Centrix, ALEXA was merged into 4Cite.

The enterprise’s integrated approach takes “triggers” to a whole new level that integrates standard triggered email, new email triggers that take place when your customers are shopping online with other retailers, triggered lightbox messaging on your website, and triggered website data feeds to inform omnichannel marketing.

In colloquy with Bob Gaito: CEO and Founder

Why was the company set up? How did you select the vertical and decide to be a part of the global platform?

The company was formed because the founders saw a need to help clients make better use of their online data. The first step (and biggest opportunity) is to increase the number of visitors identified while shopping on your site. The more information you can capture about a consumer’s website activity, the better you will be positioned to make them relevant offers – thus driving conversion. 

What surprised us initially is that most customer identification was limited to just cookie setting and URL scraping. With our enhanced identification techniques, we identify significantly more website shoppers than our clients can on their own – we find time and again that we identify at least 20% more website visitors. 

Tell us about your first product that was launched?

We tend to approach our product development with an eye towards solving specific marketing challenges. One of the challenges that we hear most often is ‘when is the best time to send an email?’ The short answer is…when your customer is currently shopping online. 

In response to this challenge, we developed an email triggering service that ‘looks’ for your customers online and then triggers an email with individualized timing for each customer when we see them demonstrating shopping behavior. 

If you have to list five factors that have been/are the biggest asset to your organization, what would they be and why? 

• Our people: We are fortunate to be able to attract and retain very talented and experienced people. Our senior management team has been servicing direct marketers for nearly 25 years. We have a rich history of experience and expertise. Our technology people are equally as skilled. Many of them have been designing and operating real-time, big data marketing systems for their entire career.
• Our focus on innovation: We pride ourselves on creating solutions that are forward thinking and provide sustainable revenue for our clients. We aim to be thought leaders in an ever changing landscape of digital marketing.
• Our data assets: We have amassed a large network of identity assets and supplemented them with ‘intent to purchase’ Few companies can boast that they have both of these dimensions.
• Our integration partners: The above mentioned data assets are hugely valuable. Something that further distinguishes us in the marketplace is our ability to directly turn that data into a marketing Our integration with multiple industry-leading partners ensures we can determine where your customers are, select the most appropriate content, and then execute via your existing vendors.
• Our no strings attached engagements: We do not believe in locking our clients into long term commitments or having them pay for services that are not inherently driving incremental revenue. Our clients enjoy a work-at-will arrangement with us. If we stop driving measurable results, they can terminate our services with only 30 days’ notice. We feel that keeps us both properly aligned. We are incented to perform at high levels and driven to keep innovating. Our clients, in turn, take comfort that they can continue to leverage our innovation with no risk.

Do you have any new products ready to be/getting ready to be rolled out into the market?

Our latest efforts have focused on our content selection engine (LiveContent). This is not an entirely new product for us, but recent enhancements are significant. All content recommendations are performed in real-time and personalized for each customer. We evaluate recent online activity, offline purchases, email engagement, and even inventory levels before making recommendations.  In addition, we now deliver this content within lightboxes as well as via email.

Where do you see you and your company a couple of years from now?

The trend in the industry is certainly leaning towards the deployment of personalized, event-based messaging. This can take the form of lightboxes, customized page content, or cadence managed email campaigns. Big bulk emails and predefined onsite messaging is losing effectiveness. Customers want to be treated as individuals and increasingly expect personalized messaging.

Meet the Chieftain

Bob Gaito, Founder and CEO: With over 25 years of experience in servicing the direct marketing community, Bob is intimately familiar with the increasing challenges faced by today’s marketers. In early 2000 Bob set out to build a better solution for meeting these challenges and founded I-Centrix, a data management solutions company focused on supporting direct marketers. In 2010, Bob helped found 4Cite Marketing, a multi-channel marketing service provider. Under his leadership, the company has shown continual growth and become recognized as a truly innovative marketing automation organization. Today Bob remains focused on ensuring that the company continues developing solutions that directly impact its clients’ bottom line. 

"Our technology is superior in the marketplace because of its cross-device and cross-email capabilities, ensuring each consumer is correctly identified."