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Below is our recent interview with Khris Thayer, CEO at OPTIZMO Technologies:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to OPTIZMO?
A: OPTIZMO is an Enterprise Class Solution for advertisers, ad agencies, performance networks, and affiliates that automates suppression list management and streamlines the collection, storage and distribution of their consumers’ Opt-Out preferences. The OPTIZMO platform automates what would otherwise be a manual and extremely time-consuming process for our clients and provides robust analytics around the entire process to support both marketing and compliance programs.
Our clients include Fortune 500 companies, widely recognized consumer brands, advertising networks and performance agencies, and SMBs – all of whom rely on OPTIZMO to optimize their email marketing programs for compliance and performance.
Q: Can you give us insights into your features?
A: We largely categorize our features into several key areas.
● Suppression List Management – enabling the collection and storage of opt-out data, and easy management of the entire process
● Compliance & Reputation – supporting our clients’ email and data compliance initiatives, while protecting their brand reputation
● Transfers & Automation – providing a state-of-the-art technology platform that includes the ability to easily transfer large data files and automate many time-consuming processes
● Alert Notifications & Analytics – empowering our clients with industry leading transparency, notifications of potential compliance issues, and detailed analytics to most effectively manage their email programs
We use industry leading technology to streamline, automate, and optimize the intricacies around collecting, storing, and distributing suppression files and consumer data throughout the entire ecosystem of channel partners and affiliates.
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Q: Tell us more about your products?
A: Our core product is called SUPPRESS, which encompasses our full suite of suppression list management capabilities. It includes an automated platform for clients to easily upload, collect, store, and distribute suppression files to all of their marketing partners, ensuring that they are all staying compliant with CAN-SPAM and other regulations. SUPPRESS also includes analytical and monitoring tools, alerting clients to potential compliance issues throughout the campaign process.
We also recently launched a product called COMPARE, which is a tool for clients to easily compare multiple files to identify overlap and produce a clean file of unique records. This product is highly valuable to many companies that need to quickly compare data sets and files for marketing, cross-departmentally, or other purposes. This year we are also launching ACCESS, which is a platform enabling email marketers to more easily use our list suppression management technology and enhance their workflows. We will also be launching INSIGHT, which is a consumer-centric recipient feedback loop enabling consumers a simple method to directly respond to advertisers of unwanted advertisements as well as providing the advertisers with a way to run compliance checks on emails that were sent out on their behalf.
Q: How will the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) impact email marketing?
A: The GDPR, which goes into effect on May 25, 2018, will have an impact on any company that collects, stores, or processes personal data from people in the EU. The regulation is designed to give people more awareness of the information that companies collect about them and more authority over how that data is stored and used for marketing or other purposes.
From an email marketing standpoint, the EU already requires that recipients must have opted in to receive email messages, so companies are already familiar with a consent requirement for email marketing. However, email marketers will need to ensure they have a record of those prior opt-ins for all email addresses on their lists and that these consent records meet GDPR requirements. If the records don’t meet the requirement, marketers will need to obtain consent in order to continue mailing to those email addresses. This will be a challenge for many marketers who haven’t maintained those opt-in records over time. In addition, the GDPR includes more requirements on how companies store and process data used in all types of marketing, that may necessitate changes to how companies manage their marketing programs, which will naturally include email marketing.
Email marketing continues to be one of the most cost effective channels for both customer acquisition and retention and that is unlikely to change under GDPR. But, companies will need to adapt to the new requirements, which will create new challenges.
Q: You’ve recently joined the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP); could you tell us something more?
A: As a company focused on supporting our clients’ compliance initiatives with CAN-SPAM, and the emergence of more data privacy regulations worldwide (like GDPR), we identified the IAPP as an organization whose mission is very much in line with our company goals. As members, we are able to stay up-to-date on data privacy trends in the US and around the world, and lend our voice to discussions about how the marketing and ad tech industry can foster better transparency, trust, and security around consumer data. The membership supports our mission to empower our clients’ marketing and compliance programs.
Recommended: Q: What can we expect from OPTIZMO in the future?
A: We are focused on delivering enhancements to our suppression list management platform (SUPPRESS), along with developing new products and capabilities for our advertiser, network, and agency clients that will enable them to optimize the performance of their marketing programs, while staying compliant with all appropriate regulation. In addition, we are expanding our platform to provide more tools for mailers to enhance their workflows and processes required to execute email campaigns (ACCESS). Lastly, slated for release in 2018, we will deploy our Consumer-Centric Recipient Feedback Loop (INSIGHT). We will also be expanding our global business, actively growing our presence in various markets outside the United States.
