Pluris Launches Multichannel Product Recommendation Engine

Pluris, a provider of multichannel marketing applications, has added a fourth product to its lineup with the release of its Marketing Optimization and Recommendation Engine (MORE).

MORE packages advanced analytics, a recommendation engine and an optimization engine that allows users to make tailored product recommendations, optimized offers -- a price that is not too high or too low, for instance -- as well as messaging directives. The outsourced offering can be used at the point of sale in a retail outlet, a call center operation or over the Internet.

Point of Sale

The common denominator is the point of sale, where MORE applies analytics, econometric models and optimization algorithms to identify the best offer in addition to providing a tailored product recommendation, Michael Caccavale, CEO of Pluris, told CRM Buyer.

Its latest addition, he said, maps what is happening in the market. Companies want to leverage all the pieces of data they have on their customers into one product offer, marketing message combination, he said. "They want to optimize not only the product but also the message."

Incremental Unit Growth

Price and marketing optimization is one of the few categories within CRM that has remained best of breed given the complexities of the analytics-intensive software design. The latest offerings, like Pluris' MORE, are emphasizing the multichannel approach.

One strength of this software genre is that it can deliver new growth opportunities from existing clients, while minimizing the blowback -- either in the form of increased call center costs or irate customers -- typically associated with inbound marketing. That's what Adelphia found with its deployment of the application, according to John Pitek, vice president of marketing for the firm.

"It ... [provides] meaningful offers that generate trust and loyalty between company and consumer with minimal impact to either call handle time or Web site bounce rate. The MORE solution was exactly what our organization needed to help us realize incremental unit growth opportunities," he stated.

One broadband services company that tested the MORE solution improved its order rate by more than 50 percent, resulting in incremental annual revenues of US$2.5 million, Pluris said. Of that total, 60 percent of the sales were at standard retail pricing, resulting in an additional annual incremental margin of about $1.1 million.