Daily Research News Online no. 8173 - MarketTools Acquires CustomerSat

MarketTools Acquires CustomerSat

April 3 2008

In the US, research technology specialist MarketTools has acquired Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM) firm CustomerSat, which will form the basis of a new Customer Insight Management division.

The new business area will focus on gathering intelligence, sharing information and applying insights throughout all phases of the product and customer lifecycle - from idea generation to new product development.

CustomerSat Chairman and CEO John Chisholm has been named MarketTools EVP and General Manager of the business unit. Prior to founding CustomerSat in 1997, he set up email survey software provider Decisive Technology (now part of DoubleClick). Earlier, he served in management and marketing positions at HP, Xerox, and Grid Systems. Chisholm holds a BSc and Masters in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Chisholm says the combination of the two firms will create a 'consumer insights powerhouse', and comments: 'With product lines spanning online surveys, analytics, panels, communities, and automated actions, the expanded MarketTools offering enables customers to leverage world-class, on-demand solutions that deliver truly actionable customer and market insights.'

MarketTools CEO Amal Johnson, to whom Chisholm will now report, says the two firms share a vision to deliver fully integrated Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Customer Insight Management solutions that 'combine technology leadership with market research and EFM innovation'.

Last September, CustomerSat unveiled Version 9.0 of its SaaS solution to help employees in any area of business both understand and act upon customer feedback (www.mrweb.com/drno/news7358.htm ).

CustomerSat has offices in Mountain View, California and in the UK and is online at www.customersat.com , while San Francisco-headquartered MarketTools is on the web at www.markettools.com .