Why Salesforce.com Acquires ExactTarget

On June 4, 2013 Salesforce.com announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire ExactTarget.

Salesforce.com has been the dominant CRM platform for a decade. It should be the leader in all aspects of customer interaction. But in recent years, it has fallen behind in supporting marketing activities that are increasingly customer-focused, rather than segment-focused. Marketing has gone digital and targeted.

Saleforce.com’s forays into social marketing solutions only partly fill the gap. What has been missing is the tools to create and execute personalized (targeted) campaigns.

Acquiring ExactTarget is a step in closing more of the gap.