Web.com buys Acquisio for machine learning, PPC management capabilities

Acquisio, which provides SEM campaign management tools for enterprises and small businesses, was acquired by Web.com. Web.com has many thousands of small business customers, who buy web hosting and a range of digital marketing services, including search, social and e-commerce.

The terms of the transaction, announced Wednesday, were not disclosed.

Montreal-based Acquisio has invested heavily in developing machine learning and automation capabilities over the past several years. Web.com, based in Jacksonville, Florida, said in an email that it will be broadly applying those tools to its PPC, e-commerce and social media marketing over time.

Acquisio CEO Marc Poirier, who co-founded the company 10 years ago with CTO Richard Couture, said in a blog post that nothing would change for current customers of the platform.

The company has detailed how machine learning can greatly simplify campaign management, improve performance and enable greater scale with fewer people.

In a study (PDF) involving 30,000 of its customers, Acquisio said that machine-learning-managed PPC accounts saw improved metrics across the board, including lower CPCs and higher conversions:

• Conversions increased by 71 percent on average.
• CPCs decreased by 7 percent on average.
• CTR increased by 15 percent on average.
• 64 percent of accounts saw a lower CPA.

Acquisio added that machine learning-supported accounts also experienced lower churn on the platform than those not using machine learning. This was especially true for lower-budget accounts (sub $500 per month), where machine learning was able to increase lifetime value.

These outcomes are what likely got Web.com’s attention.