• by Wayne Friedman , July 15, 2011

IBM has announced a new suite of cloud-based real-time analytics for digital marketers. 

With 64% of consumers making a first purchase because of a digital experience, IBM says it is important to understand online behavior -- and help marketers refine and alter their marketing plans.

This move will be a part of IBM's Smarter Commerce efforts -- which resulted from the recent acquisition of analytic providers Coremetrics and Unica. They will build on IBM's existing digital analytics with more than 2,000 business brands.

For example, this new analytic software will allow businesses to evaluate Facebook or Twitter activity. It offers customers tailored promotions delivered to their mobile devices on the fly -- as well as letting businesses fine-tune digital-marketing programs.

"We're seeing increasing client demand for a single source of truth in understanding customer online behavior and buying trends as businesses strive to identify and seize new revenue streams," stated Yuchun Lee, vice president and general manager, IBM Enterprise Marketing Management.

The new software will enable marketers to perform advanced segmentation and automate marketing execution based on multichannel data, including offline data sources, and deliver real-time product recommendations for all online channels, including social, mobile, email and display ads.

In addition, it provides testing capabilities to help search engine marketers compare pairs of search terms to determine the most cost-effective terms and associated ads. It also incorporates best practice key performance indicators and corresponding industry-specific benchmarks.

IBM says the new tech supports deep analysis into how customers interact with a brand over time and determines when each marketing program is the most effective.