E-mail firm Constant Contact pays $15 million for a social marketing company

E-mail services provider Constant Contact has bought Bantam Live, a customer relationship management firm whose technology helps retailers collect data about e-mail open rates, survey responses and social media interactions. Constant Contact says it paid $15 million for Bantam Live.

Constant Contact says it serves 400,000 clients. The acquisition enables the e-mail services firm to offer its clients technology for monitoring customer engagement with e-mail and social media marketing efforts.

“Building highly engaged customer relationships is the No. 1 pain point for small organizations,” says Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact. “To do this, they need a unified view of their contacts across all channels, from e-mail addresses to social media connections, to event registrations. With the Bantam Live acquisition and our internal development initiatives, we are building a platform that delivers a targeted approach to building stronger customer relationships and cultivating new ones.”

John Rourke, CEO of Bantam Live, will join Constant Contact’s strategy and innovation team, though Constant Contact did not say what his title would be. Henry Poydar, Bantam Live’s chief technology officer, will join Constant Contact as director of engineering, and help integrate Bantam’s technology.