IBM Snaps Up Unica for Marketing Analytics

The $480 million deal continues Big Blue's buying spree aimed at ramping up its business software portfolio.

Merge E-Mail Campaign Results Into Your Web Metrics

WebTrends and ExactTarget strike a deal for an integrated solution that lets merchants better understand how to tweak their e-mail efforts.

ChannelAdvisor Customization Offers Improved eBay Selling

PowerSellers using Configurator can enable shoppers to tweak and customize their wares -- potentially improving sales and satisfaction.

Add a Virtual Salesperson to eBay Listings

Oddcast's Vhost SitePal can pitch your product or answer questions -- ideally, boosting conversions.

A New Player Emerges in Chat-Based CRM

A slew of large enterprises have integrated instant messaging and chat into their CRM solutions -- but the benefits of real-time communication are increasingly moving to smaller markets.

Bigfoot Interactive, Fujitsu in CRM Deal

The arrangement could presage further alliances between CRM players and e-mail specialists.

Coremetrics Looks to Add Survey Data

The online marketing analytics provider teams with BizRate.com to beef up its data-collection products with customer service and satisfaction information.

Study: Consumer Confidence in Internet Declines

Yahoo! and ACNielsen find a slight drop in consumer confidence in online media and commerce, but point to several promising trends.

Virtumundo Sues List Sellers

The e-mail marketer and Web publisher is aiming to salvage its image by training its legal guns on the parties it blames for consumer complaints.

RedSheriff, SageMetrics Team Up

The two firms will co-market products, echoing moves by other metrics players to parlay their offerings into all-in-one solutions.

Burger King Promotes Whopper Via AOL

The nation's No. 2 fast food chain continues its online marketing efforts, in a two-day promo in conjunction with recent marketing partner America Online.

NetIQ, Quadstone Pair Offerings

The companies aim to offer a single solution for data mining and modeling.

Privacy Groups Create E-mail Seal Program

UPDATE: If successful, a self-regulatory move by the industry that aims to curb spam would have major ramifications for ISPs, consumers and online marketers.

Pepsi and M&M's Launch Web Polls

High profile efforts -- involving Britney Spears and the Super Bowl on one hand, and a 78-country advertising campaign on another -- aim to foster greater interaction between brands and consumers.

WSJ.com Explores New Products, Fees

Visitors to the revamped Wall Street Journal Online encountered a host of glitches, though executives promise new features, ad products, and subscription hikes.

Responsys Buys NetAcumen

The e-mail and Web site marketer plans to add site traffic analysis to its services, with an eye to building better profiles.

True Audience Turns to Marketing Automation

Real Media founder Dave Morgan's newly-renamed Tacoda Systems looks to grab a bigger slice of the pie while providing soup-to-nuts service for Web profiling.

NYTD Launches New Efforts to Glean Consumer Data

More stringent registration requirements and a new site are aimed at helping the New York Times better monetize its Web traffic.

Big Tobacco Looks to the Web

UPDATE: RJ Reynolds Tobacco is taking tentative steps into online marketing for its Doral cigarette brand, with a customer retention program through PeoplePC.

Survey: Consumer Confidence in Web Rises

The findings suggest the Internet is viewed as more necessary since Sept. 11, and more reliable than last year -- with more e-tailers delivering on their marketing promises.

Study: Tech Brands Failed To Build Relationships

A survey of marketing executives found technology companies spent too much time on brand awareness, and too little on CRM.

Yesmail, Others to Pick Up Netcentives Assets

CMGI's e-mail marketing company was the high bidder for Netcentives' e-mail unit, while Trilegiant and others split the bankrupt firm's other divisions.

Personify, Angara Merge, Land Funds

The two firms look to become one source for automated ad targeting.

Study: Trust Central to E-Commerce, Online Marketing

Recent figures suggest that fewer than 5 percent of online users routinely register their information at sites, largely due to concerns over privacy and trust.

Study: Web Privacy Concerns Cost $3.4 Billion

A Cyber Dialogue study suggests that e-tailers are missing a large chunk of potential revenue.

Return Path, Veripost Merge

The two will combine to tackle the nascent e-mail change of address space.

eSynergies to Acquire e2 Communications

With an offer to buy an e-mail marketer, the Dallas-based firm continues to see a lucrative market in Web services.

Netcentives Cuts Workforce

The news continues the firm's efforts at restructuring to meet the needs of a changing market.

Study: E-mail Use By Top Firms Highly Inefficient

A study by the IMT Strategies, the Direct Marketing Association and the Association for Interactive Media blasts some long-held assumptions about online direct marketing.

Valassis Cuts Off Save.com

Despite links to big-name advertisers, spokespeople say demand simply wasn't there.

Yesmail.com Making Play for CRM Clients

While increasing its competition with existing players, the CMGI-owned e-mail and list management firm hopes to leverage its prospecting technology for customer retention applications.

NeoPlanet Focuses on Marketing Applications, Inks Compaq Deal

Continuing its shift away from branded browsers, the Tempe, Az.-based firm is concentrating on licensing software for CRM.

Survey: Internet, Wireless Ads Meeting Positive Consumer Reaction

A Datamonitor poll finds more than half of European Web users made a purchase or sought more information based on an online ad.

Study: Companies Missing Out on Viral Marketing Benefits

E-commerce marketers aren't bothering to track "word-of-mouth," nor are they working to retain truly loyal customers who might serve as brand promoters, reports Jupiter Media Metrix.

Study: E-Mail Marketing to Take Off

Aberdeen Group predicts that hosted ASP solutions will continue to boom through 2002, while CRM applications will grow in prominence to threaten the market position of customer acquisition products.

AOL Promoting American Airlines Incentives

The online media giant is running a contest and special content area to support AOL AAdvantage Rewards.

Study: Consumers Will Buy CPG Online

But consumers have to be marketed to properly -- and that's not happening, because e-tailers don't understand their buyers.

Survey: Personalization Crucial to Scoring New Customers, Data

Web surfers are more likely to give up information and buy from sites that offer customized user experiences, according to the findings.

iXL Quits Web Design to Focus on CRM, Tech Clients

Recently appointed CEO Formant's new broom sweeps clean, as the Web shop taps new talent, rejiggers its operations and says it doesn't want to be considered a Web shop any more.