Perfect Audience

Market position

Positioned as an accessible alternative to enterprise retargeting vendors and agency-managed services, competing on self-service setup, no contracts or minimums, and transparent CPM pricing. Early access to Facebook Exchange, which was initially restricted to approved partners, provided a distribution advantage; one retrospective source notes that advantage narrowed as Facebook, Google, and other platforms built native self-service retargeting.

No managed-service requirement, no minimum campaign spend, no contract, and no setup or maintenance fees; campaign setup in minutes from a single tracking tag; transparent CPM-based pricing said to be lower than competitors; and combined reach across Facebook Exchange and open-web exchanges from one vendor.

Technology

A JavaScript site tag placed an anonymous browser cookie and segmented visitors into retargeting lists by pages viewed. Campaign management, creative upload, budget and CPM bid setting, conversion-goal tracking, and reporting were handled in a web dashboard; media was bought programmatically through Facebook Exchange, Google's DoubleClick Ad Exchange, Twitter, and networks such as OpenX, PubMatic, and Rubicon Project. Later features included a reporting API, dynamic product ads driven by Google Merchant feeds, and a Shopify feed integration.

Go-to-market

Self-service online signup with a free-trial spend credit and low minimum spend, supported by the company's own advertising bought through its platform, a two-sided referral program sharing revenue with referrers, and a public relations and thought-leadership program aimed at business, ad-tech, and vertical-industry influencers. The company was also hiring engineering, product, and sales staff in 2013 to expand into larger businesses and agencies.

SaaS companies, online retailers and e-commerce brands, small and mid-sized web businesses, startups, and digital agencies — advertisers with modest budgets that previously could not access agency-grade retargeting. Named customers included American Apparel, bebe, Eventbrite, New Relic, 99designs, and Rackspace.

Geography

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States; the platform served advertisers buying inventory across web, Facebook, and Twitter, including international publishers such as The Guardian.

History

Sources give inconsistent founding years: Y Combinator lists the company in its Summer 2011 batch, one profile and a 2013 founder pitch give 2011, while Marin Software's acquisition release and other directories state 2012 (the year the retargeting product launched). The self-service platform launched in October 2012 alongside disclosure of about $1.1 million in seed funding. By March 2013 the company reported 2,500 advertisers and 4 billion monthly impressions and shipped a reporting API; in March 2014 it launched Perfect Product Retargeting. Marin Software acquired the company on June 2, 2014 for $22.8 million plus $2.7 million in retention grants, folding it into Marin's Audience Marketing Suite in September 2014. Marin subsequently sold the business to SharpSpring for approximately $4.6 million in November 2019, and Constant Contact completed its acquisition of SharpSpring in September 2021.

Risks & controversies

Retrospective commentary notes that the company's early advantage rested on privileged access to Facebook Exchange rather than proprietary data or workflow depth; once Facebook, Google, and other platform owners offered native self-service retargeting, a third-party dashboard's differentiation eroded. The predecessor product, NowSpots, failed commercially because newspaper publishers would not sell the format. The business subsequently changed hands at a materially lower valuation ($4.6 million in 2019 versus $22.8 million in 2014). Source records also conflict on founding year (2011 vs. 2012), headcount (9, 11, or 14), the founder's first name (Jordi vs. Jordan Buller), and whether a third founder (Kurt Mackey) was involved.