esbconnect launches Optivo to enable brands to retarget anonymous website visitors via email, not ads

A UK-first, the service leverages esbconnect’s GDPR-compliant database of 17m UK email addresses to identify and convert unknown website visitors through email

Customer acquisition specialist, esbconnect, has launched Optivo, its new audience retargeting tool, Optivo. In a UK first, Optivo enables brands to retarget anonymous website visitors not on their CRM system with an email. Retargeting website visitors via email has long been proven to be effective. Cart abandonment emails uplift conversions by 26% on average, but it is estimated that 90% of a brand’s website traffic are “ghosts”, who visit sites without identifying themselves or starting a purchase. esbconnect now enables brands to identify those anonymous visitors, link them to an email address, suppress any of their current customers, and retarget them by email, encouraging them to purchase or subscribe.

Using esbconnect’s GDPR-compliant database of 17 million opted-in UK email addresses, Optivo can match up to 20% of unknown visitors to real email records that are not in a brand’s CRM. Within minutes of a visit, matched users are enrolled into a compliant email journey, offering them a chance to subscribe and later to purchase. For those that choose to subscribe,  they are immediately added into the brand’s CRM to nurture towards a conversion.

esbconnect has already seen that between 40-70% of people who enter into this process convert to a subscriber, and the ROI is typically 2.6 times higher than a straight, purchase-led campaign. esbconnect estimates that Optivo will be able to match 20% of anonymous site visitors to an email address, much more efficiently and cost-effectively than retargeting ads on Meta or Google.

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This is the first GDPR-compliant service to launch in the UK. It enables brands to potentially retarget anyone who visits their site via email, not just the 10% of visitors who typically add to a cart, whether they complete the purchase or not. Email is extremely effective for retargeting, delivering the best ROI of any channel, according to the DMA. It typically delivers read rates in excess of 40% and an ROI of 4x, with some retail pilot test partners reporting 2.2x this figure.

“With customer acquisition costs growing, and retargeting becoming less effective as more stringent privacy regulations take hold, we are seeing a lot of interest in Optivo from UK brands,” said esbconnect CEO, Suzanna Chaplin. “In the US, tools like Retention.com have proven this model can work, but until now, there was no GDPR-compliant solution in the UK. Optivo changes that.”

esbconnect is currently running a pilot programme with a number of selected brands in the Fashion, Home & Garden and Travel sectors, with a full roll-out scheduled for later this month. The platform integrates quickly and easily with existing marketing tech stacks and CRM platforms like Klaviyo, Ometria, Adobe and Salesforce. Brands interested in early access can register at www.optivo.digital to start recovering lost website traffic before the peak H2 sales period.

About esbconnect

esbconnect equips brands with the tools and strategies they need to better target and connect with customers. It has a scaled, addressable and rich dataset of 17m consumers, with over 440 data points appended, including real-time information on what emails they are opening and clicking on in their inbox. Its Inbox Intelligence provides valuable insights, enabling brands to understand their customers, expand their first party data, and create personalised marketing campaigns across offline and online channels. As a strategic partner, esbconnect helps brands navigate the challenges of a changing digital landscape, unlocking new opportunities for growth and delivering exceptional results. esbconnect has helped more than 600 brands grow, including the likes of Clarks, Tails and Hello Fresh.