• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, May 1, 2007

To boost its analytics capabilities, email marketing services firm Responsys has acquired predictive analytics company Loyalty Matrix. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition will allow Responsys to expand its on-demand capabilities, allowing marketers to pinpoint profitable customer demographics and identify suitable marketing campaigns.

Also in the pursuit of analytics expertise, Responsys announced the appointment of Ed Henrich as vice president of strategic services. Henrich, the former president of Yesmail, will immediately assume leadership for Responsys' strategic services organization, including the integration of Loyalty Matrix's technology and team to optimize email, print and mobile marketing programs.

"We've got the right momentum and vision to be the dominant player in on-demand marketing," said of Responsys CEO Dan Springer. "We're committed to building a great team to serve our customers."

The moves represent an industry-wide trend of online technology vendors branching out into other areas of expertise, according to Forrester Research senior analyst Suresh Vittal.

"It's a good move, and a needed move, for Responsys to strengthen its analytics platform," said Vittal. "The big trend is integrated marketing suites, which companies are achieving through M&A."

Another example of this trend--but on a much larger scale--was Omniture's acquisition earlier this year of Touch Clarity, a provider of behavioral targeting software, for around $51.5 million.

And this is all good news for clients, added Vittal, who often have to waste their time with numerous independent vendors to execute online initiatives.

"It's very inconvenient to have to deal with separate vendors for data mining, search engine optimization, customer interaction optimization, email and Web analytics," he explained.

Responsys' existing clients include Apple, the Chicago Sun-Times and agency Draftfcb.