You mentioned their campaigns and emails. I have noticed they claim to have a large footprint of data points due to their extensive customer data. You mentioned that sometimes people are unaware of how Zeta obtained their email. I am trying to understand how authentic these data points are, as Zeta claims. From a user perspective, when you utilize their data points for email campaigns, how valid are these emails or data points? Have you ever questioned how they collect this information, or do you have any clarity on that?

Yes, I have questioned how they collect it because there was a short report last fall claiming it was all fraudulent data. I investigated with them, and it was not fraudulent. It was collected creatively, but legally, in my opinion. The short seller was referencing less than 2% of their data as being suspicious. It was a non-issue, likely an attempt to short the stock. Zeta has acquired various data networks, making their data legitimately legal. The question is whether it is high-value data. I would say yes, especially regarding their email subscriber list, as I use it and the ROAS is very profitable.

What are some challenges you have encountered with Zeta? Could you talk a little about any challenges in targeting customers, integration, or any ongoing issues with Zeta? Have they fixed any past issues, or have you encountered anything that would be helpful to know?

Zeta marketed itself as a tool that we could self-manage with our large internal teams. However, it turned out to be a bait and switch. Zeta actually wanted to sell us managed services, which involves them leading the design of our email strategy, segmentation strategy, and building customizations and automations into our system. They even went as far as incorporating elements of our content using liquid scripting for multivariate A/B testing. We didn't want that, so it felt like a bait and switch. I would criticize them for that.

Have you considered switching to another competitor? You mentioned you have other ESPs, but what would it take for a competitor to win you over if you decided to switch?

It would require significantly better functionality and more channel orchestration. For example, Zeta's SMS tool is quite poor, whereas Attentive's is very good. Since mobile might surpass email as a channel, I might consider a conversation with Attentive. I would carefully evaluate the resources needed for implementation and the ROI it could provide beyond what Zeta offers.