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Zeta Product Definitions & Modules

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The Zeta Marketing Platform (ZMP) is designed to empower marketers. Zeta's platform is adaptable and delivers ongoing innovations that allow us to stay ahead of the ever-changing marketing ecosystem.

As you begin using Zeta, familiarizing yourself with the key concepts and terms to understand the Zeta Marketing Platform will be helpful in understanding our product, documentation and engaging with Zeta service teams.  

How the Zeta Marketing Platform works:
The unified platform and modular design of the ZMP effectively cover a broad range of marketing needs by logically grouping various features and functions into layers, modules and sub-modules.

  • Layers represent a fundamental set of technologies that deliver the essential functionalities within the Zeta Marketing Platform. Layers include Identity & Data, Intelligence & Activation.

  • Products are the grouping of these features into modules and submodules. Built from components of the platform that solve a critical job/need. Able to be leveraged as an individual unit and purchased by itself.

  • Modules are combinations of features that can be added to a product to address a specific need, often unique to an industry or vertical. A module could be delivered with multiple products but is not offered/sold alone. Modules and sub-modules can be activated or deactivated based on client requirements, added to products, and augmented by services. Modules include options for external integrations to further enhance our solutions.


Layers

  • The Zeta Marketing Platform of consists of the below layers:

Layer

Definition

Identity & Data

A unified foundation that collects, resolves, and enriches customer data across channels. This layer leverages Zeta’s proprietary identity graph and first-party data ingestion to create a persistent, privacy-compliant, and scalable customer profile. It powers accurate recognition, audience building, and segmentation across marketing and advertising touchpoints.

Intelligence

AI-driven insights, analytics, and predictive modeling that optimize customer engagement. This layer applies machine learning, generative AI, and deep behavioral analysis to forecast customer intent, personalize content, and improve campaign performance. It fuels decisioning engines for real-time recommendations and automated optimizations.

Activation

A cross-channel execution engine that enables marketers to engage customers with precision. This layer supports orchestration across email, mobile, paid media, and web, ensuring personalized messaging at scale. It includes journey automation, audience syndication, messaging and real-time triggers to drive conversions, retention, and lifetime value.


Terms

Definition

Product

Built from components of the platform that solve a critical job/need. Able to be leveraged as an individual unit and purchased by itself.

Module & Submodule

Combinations of features that can be added to a product to address a specific need, often unique to an industry or vertical. A module could be delivered with multiple products but is not offered/sold alone. A module is comprised of submodule.


Identity & Data

Module

Identity Unification - delivers a single, unified 360 view of Customer, created by utilizing ZMP native functionality that takes unique identifiers, including primary identifiers (email, User ID) email, user_id or unique_client_ids (proxy profile identifiers), to create a rich global / person profile for utilization in the ZMP. Includes the native merge of profile records within ZMP.

Submodule

Definition

Deterministic Profile Merge

Merges anonymous data with known 1st party profiles using deterministic methods. Improves data accuracy by linking proxy identifiers and 1P info to actual customer profiles.

Single View of Customer

Single View of Customer unifies customer data using unique identifiers like email, user ID, and unique_client_ids within ZMP. Merge anonymous website visitors with known customer profiles once they identify themselves through logins or form submissions. Build complete customer histories by connecting all interactions to a single profile, even when customers use different devices or channels.


Module

Identity Extension - is the suite of capabilities and data that is foundational for identity resolution, enrichment, and management to happen at scale. Powered by the Zeta Identity Graph. Through this approach, 3rd party data is used to capture and link identifiers to the client’s 1st party data to produce a comprehensive view of user behavior, which can then be activated across a broad network of channels and environments. Additionally, it synchronizes customer, Zeta & external identifiers.​

Identity Extension empowers use cases like re-identification (“reunification”) as well as matching Zeta IDs to IDs like non IDs and Ramp IDs.

Submodule

Definition

Identity Graph Extension

Identity Graph Extension powers cross-channel recognition by linking your first-party identifiers to common industry identifiers. Connect the Zeta ID to IDs like non IDs, ramp IDs, mobile IDs, cookie data, and other digital identifiers to reach customers across email, display ads, and mobile channels. Expand your marketing reach and get enriched demographic, behavioral, location signals while maintaining identity accuracy using Zeta's identity resolution technology.

Re-identified customers

When visitors come to your website, they may already exist in your database but appear anonymous due to their browsing behavior. Zeta Re-identification solves this challenge by connecting these anonymous visits to known customer profiles. This identity solution is built around a first-party data set that is authenticated daily through active engagements with email newsletter and various media channels across the web. Through this activity, browser metadata is able to be connected to a hashed email address, which is then re-unified to the known profile in your database.


Module

Identity Management is a suite of capabilities for clients needing Zeta to create and manage a single, universal persistent identifier (e.g. the golden record identifier) for individual and household across their 1st party data sources.​

Submodule

Definition

Configurable Source Key Rules

The process of defining the inbound source field identifiers which will be used for the Match Key logic plus any client-specific key identifiers as part of the process to establish Zeta-generated customer and household identifiers for a profile.

Standardization & Hygiene

Address Hygiene, Name Standardization and Email validation process as part of the Identity Management module.


Module

Identity (Data) Enrichment is the process of combining a company's existing customer data with Zeta Data Cloud third-party data to improve the quality and breadth of the dataset. It is an amalgamation of our private proprietary data, publicly available data and data provided by our partner ecosystem – including 2000+ attributes.​

Submodule

Definition

Access to Zeta Data for use in real-time lookup

Provides immediate access to data derived from the Data Cloud for on-the-fly queries and decision-making.

Data Append of select Zeta Data (D codes)

The ability to receive back a set of Zeta Data Cloud enrichment fields against a client's 1st Party Data from a pre-defined catalog of Data Cloud intent and demographic signals

Data Partnerships (e.g. Behavioral, Customer,  Attribute)

Zeta's Data Partnerships expand the customer recognition and enrichment capabilities of the Zeta Data Cloud. Partners contribute additional identity markers like mobile IDs and demographic data to help recognize customers across channels and devices. With better data you can build comprehensive customer profiles, identify the same user across different touchpoints, and discover new audiences by combining partner data with your first-party information.

Intender Audiences (Z Codes) 

A group of users within the Zeta Data Cloud that possess intent through signals that indicate a high likelihood to complete a particular action or step, based on information that we already know about them through behavior, demographic data, etc. (e.g. High-indexing intender audiences for home insurance correlated to those who just purchased a new home).

Unified Audience Explorer

ZMP’s Unified Audience Explorer allows for the exploration of first-party CRM customer data alongside the Zeta Data Cloud to create both Prospect and Customer audiences using enrichment from the Zeta Data Cloud. This feature combines the Audience Explorer and Segment/List building workflows into one user interface. The Unified Audience Explorer can also be used independently of the Data Cloud or first-party data if desired.


Module

Data Manager is the suite of tools and capabilities that enables marketers and advertisers to capture, process, and make use of all aspects of their customer data.​

Submodule

Definition

Clean Room Peer to Peer Collaboration

A data clean room is a secure environment that enables the connection of distributed data across multiple platforms and parties within the ZMP ecosystem

Consent Management (GDPR / CCPA)

Processes for the regulatory application of user-requested data deletes to be in compliance with GDPR and CCPA

Data Flows

Data flows are a visual tool within the Zeta Marketing Platform (ZMP) that facilitate data integration from various sources, enabling tasks like data cleansing, accuracy checks, and ETL functions through a user-friendly interface. They offer benefits such as accelerating data integration, minimizing technical intervention, harmonizing data, and simplifying data operations.

Data Ingestion of People, Event, Resources

Zeta has ability to capture and load inbound data from a variety of sources. These sources are broadly categorized into 4 areas: people, events, resources and feeds.

Data Mapping

An import mapping feature for user (people) records that allows ZMP users a different set of supported formats (.txt and .csv) and a bypass of the Data Flow framework

External Database Connection (Data In)

Zeta has ability to configure External Database Connections via Snowflake and Big Query to access via extract and load to people, event, resources or a direct UI to read from External Database thereby minimizing the data that is stored in ZMP.

Global Tag Manager

A Global Tag Manager is a solution implemented by Zeta to streamline server-side communications, optimize data collection in a "cookieless" environment, and simplify the implementation process by decoupling tags and enabling them through a lightweight tag manager. This manager allows for the configuration of global tags, replacing legacy configurations, and storing settings in the Site Configuration when enabled. It involves initializing site-specific data and external IDs for various tag types like Zeta ID Sync, Custom, and DSP tags.

Snowflake ZMP Data Warehouse Share (Data Out)

Zeta offers the ability to share user, event and resource data with clients via outgoing Snowflake Share. Most commonly this is utilized when a client desires to ingest ZMP’s engagement data (sends, opens, bounces, clicks, unsubscribes, etc.) into their Snowflake instance.

Unified Data Structure (parent/child)

Unified Data Structure allows data sharing between multiple ZMP instances. Profile properties and contacts can be configured to share or isolate across the parent and child databases based on business needs. This flexible architecture supports complex organizational structures while maintaining data control.


Intelligence

Module

Opportunity Explorer - is the lens by which growth opportunities are brought forward for action in the Zeta Marketing Platform. It draws from customer and market data to synthesize insights and surface the most important opportunities to Zeta's clients.

Submodule

Definition

Customer Level Insights

  • CustomerPulse is a tool that analyzes a segment to show how that segment overlaps with various traits from Zeta’s Data Cloud. Insights provided in CustomerPulse include demographics, psychographics, behavior, transactions, visitations, financial & household, and television viewership. Location Intelligence includes a few different location-based analyses. The two metrics in Location Intelligence are “Distance to Store” and “Competitive Proximity Index”. Each of these metrics is the analysis of any segment in ZMP.

  • PersonaPulse analyzes members of Zeta’s transactional audiences to identify their psychographic attributes. Psychographic attributes are derived from online content consumption and can be used to better understand the values, goals and lifestyle choices of the customers of different brands.

  • DMAPulse is an advanced analytics tool providing insights into market trends at the DMA level. By analyzing store visits, brand purchases, census data, and online content from the last 90 days by zip code, and layering in AI, DMAPulse predicts growth and at-risk markets. Agile Intelligence is a set of custom reports that Zeta analysts create to solve specific client requests.

Market Level Insights

Market Level Insights shows you real-time shifts in consumer behavior, brand engagement, and market opportunities. Track changes in content consumption, brand loyalty, store visits, and consumer demographics through a single dashboard of continuously updated data. Plan more successful campaigns by spotting seasonal trends, measuring competitive activity, and identifying and engaging valuable audience segments at key times. Market Level insights includes:

  • Opportunity Explorer, which uncovers impactful marketing opportunities by providing insights on competitive landscape, vertical and brand-related opportunities, consumer behavior, and marketing reach.

  • MarketPulse: Provides longitudinal views of changes in content consumption and brand visitation to identify key points of consumer interest.

  • CompetitorPulse: Analyzes Zeta's transactional and visitation data to calculate brand loyalty through Industry and Brand Audience Insights.

  • AudiencePulse: Compares daily, weekly and monthly trends for online content consumption audiences and customer visit patterns to physical brand locations.

  • PeoplePulse: Provides an overview of the identity, behavior, and interests of random audience members from the Zeta Data Cloud.

  • The Opportunity Calendar: Highlights U.S. holidays, observances, and events, along with addressable audiences within Zeta's Network for immediate activation.


Module

Analytics Central - is Zeta’s diverse set of analytics tools that make it easy to plan, report, inform, and act. 

Submodule

Definition

Attribution Insights

Provides analysis on the effectiveness of various marketing channels and touchpoints. Helps in understanding which factors drive conversions and optimize budget allocation.

Embedded Reports

Allows marketers to build reports using their own tools (BI or any other web-based tool) and embed those reports directly into the Zeta Marketing Platform.

Home (Dashboard)

Zeta’s Dashboard provides real-time results by aggregating and extracting value from all the data you collect, otherwise known as your KPIs. The ZMP Dashboard will simplify your data into more manageable chunks of visual information that allows you to see what you are doing right and where you need to improve. Showcases insights in a visual, customizable, and sophisticated view that helps client reach their business goals. ZMP’s Dashboard aims to give access to relevant data in one place.

Insights Studio

A flexible, ad hoc reporting tool that allows users to build their own Customer Marketing, Prospect Marketing, Programmatic, Customer Data Management, Website - Overlay, and Website- In Page reports in the Zeta Marketing Platform as well as Content, Primetime reports.


Module

Forecasting - enables predicted quantifiable outcomes and other metrics contextually throughout Zeta's marketing toolset.

Submodule

Definition

Audience Forecasts

ZMP Forecaster allows clients to analyze and predict outcomes for audiences across a variety of Zeta Channels including email, SMS and programmatic


Module

Generative AI - leverages AI technology to enable marketers to know more, create more, automate more, and learn more to speed the path to outcomes.

Submodule

Definition

Assistants (AI Agents)

AI Assistants offer pre-built and custom AI agents to handle specific marketing tasks in ZMP. Create agents for email QA checks, custom reporting, or other repetitive marketing workflows that need consistent execution. Save time and reduce errors by letting AI handle routine tasks while your team focuses on strategy.

Generative Personas

Creates dynamic and data-driven personas that evolve based on current trends and behaviors. Assists in personalizing marketing strategies to align with audience segments.

ZOE

The Zeta Opportunity Engine (ZOE), Zeta's Generative AI engine, enables marketers to string together complex agent workflows with intuitive, conversation-based language. ZOE goes beyond basic “machine-learning” or bolt-on AI tools—it delivers real integrated intelligence that makes marketers' lives easier. Using a chat-based interface, marketers can activate their data to create audience segments, generate custom reports and dashboards, and even build entire campaigns with a simple, spoken prompt. Just tell ZOE what you need and let AI handle the rest.


Activation

Module

Audience Explorer - enables Zeta clients and prospects to explore, segment and understand client and prospect audiences through the lens of a clients 1P data and the Zeta Data Cloud*.

Submodule

Definition

Audience Estimation

Provides predictive analytics on the size and characteristics of a target audience based on historical and current data. This helps in planning campaigns with a clearer understanding of potential reach.

Audience Insights

Delivers detailed analysis of audience behavior, preferences, and demographics to optimize targeting strategies. Useful for tailoring marketing efforts to match audience interests.

Lookalike Audience

Lookalike Audience generates groups of potential customers based on your existing customer data. Examine thousands of attributes, interests, and behaviors in Zeta's Data Cloud to find people who match your current customers' profiles. These AI-generated matches are ranked from most to least similar, letting you expand your reach to the people most likely to become customers.

Matched Lists

A matched list is a set of first-party individuals uploaded into the Zeta Marketing Platform, who are then matched to Zeta’s Data Cloud and further enriched with potential intender audience membership and other data points. This matched list can then be activated against Zeta’s omnichannel solutions or can be extended using our AI-driven lookalike modeling capabilities.

Prospect Audience and Exploration

Identify and explore potential new audiences. This feature aids in discovering untapped segments and refining prospecting strategies.

Segments and Lists​

Segments are filtered portions of your audience updated by the platform, either in real-time or periodically as well as at the campaign send time. Lists are static groups of individuals from your audience that can be used in campaigns. Lists are not updated based on the initial filter criteria used to create them. Instead, users can be added to/removed from lists via the Experience Builder.

Tracked Segments

A term typically used in conjunction with any Segment indicating that the segment is being tracked for membership changes. Such segments generate a ‘Segment Entry’ event when a person enters and a ‘Segment Exit’ event when a person exits the segment. Tracking will have limitations in association to the types of filters which can be used.


Module

Channel Activation - enables Zeta clients and prospects to distribute messages and audiences in key omnichannel marketing channels.

Submodule

Definition

Audience Connector

Audience Connector makes it fast and easy to syndicate acquisition segments to Google Ads, Facebook, and Yahoo DSP. Your audiences automatically sync and update across platforms without manual work. Launch coordinated campaigns across multiple ad platforms while saving time on creation and management

Channel Manager

Channel Manager makes it easy to add new marketing channels and vendors to your ZMP ecosystem. Set up data sharing through Webhooks or File Exports while customizing content for specific audiences. Keep your brand message consistent as you expand across new marketing channels.

First Party Direct Mail

First Party Direct Mail connects your digital marketing to the physical mailbox. Send targeted mail pieces to your customers and prospects through Zeta's network of print partners. Turn your digital campaigns into tangible touchpoints by coordinating mail delivery through Zeta Experience Builder. Direct Mail can be set up via Channel Manager and activated from a single campaign send, or via a multi-touchpoint approach via Zeta Experience Builder.

Third Party Direct Mail

Third Party Direct Mail expands your reach beyond digital channels through Zeta's Data Cloud. Match digital prospect audiences with physical mailing addresses using reverse address append technology. Convert anonymous digital profiles into targeted direct mail campaigns that reach qualified prospects at home.

Email

Delivers targeted, triggered, and batch messages to defined audiences with Zeta's ESP. Execute everything from transactional notifications to large-scale marketing campaigns in one unified platform. Create individualized communications for every customer touchpoint, from welcome series to win-back campaigns.

High Priority Messaging

High Priority Messaging delivers time-sensitive messages using a sub-second delivery system. When critical events occur, your messages move to the front of your message queue for immediate delivery. Send urgent communications like transaction confirmations or security alerts with near-instant speed.

Forms

Capture customer data through customizable forms on your website and landing pages. Streamline data collections with tools like customer surveys, preference centers, and account management portals, then automatically sync with your marketing workflows.

Media (display, ctv)

Programmatic refers to the automated buying and selling of online advertising. It involves the use of software and algorithms to purchase digital advertising space, as opposed to the traditional process that involves human negotiations and manual insertion orders. Programmatic advertising allows for more efficient and targeted ad placements, often using real-time bidding to reach specific audiences. The ZMP Programmatic Connector is used to feed audience data from ZMP into Zeta’s DSP. Zeta offers a data connector framework that enables automated synchronization of CRM audiences to trigger workflows for targeting on the Zeta Programmatic platform.

Mobile Messaging: MMS

MMS: Multimedia Messaging Service is a standard form of messaging available on all mobile phones. While SMS is text-only, MMS lets you send various kinds of media along with text. Instead of a plain message, you can include images, sounds and videos. MMS will not work without data. An internet connection is required to send and receive MMS.

Mobile Messaging: Push

Push notification is the delivery of information (a message or alert) in real-time from a software application to a computing device (e.g., iPhone) without a specific request from the client.

Mobile Messaging: SMS

SMS: Short Messaging Service is a standard way to send text messages to and from a cell phone through a cellular network. There is a maximum character count of 160, but if a message is longer, consecutive SMS messages can be sent to accommodate the length of the message. There is no need for an internet connection and messages can be sent globally to any phone with a cell signal.

Prospect Email Acquisition

Target emails within Zeta's Data Cloud Permissioned Email Universe. Refine targeting through attribute and intent-based targeting, confidence deciles & look-a-like targeting.

Website Inpage

Website-In Page campaigns enable Clients to configure placements, request recommendations filtered on resource attributes, and render the resources returned by Zeta AI. ZMP’s Website-In Page campaigns allow Clients to combine rule and model-based recommendations for onsite campaigns to help simplify the implementation of business rules for creative placements.

Website Overlay

The overlay editor lets Clients design pop-ups, banners, sliders, and embedded boxes for their website. Clients can control the look and feel of the boxes, add forms, buttons, text, images, and custom HTML.


Module

Content Optimization -  is Zeta’s real-time optimization engine that drives better outcomes while experiences are happening. 

Submodule

Definition

Content Recommendations​

The ZMP platform natively supports two types of Content Recommendations: 1) Personalized/Content Recommendations and 2) Popular Recommendations. ZMP’s native functionality for content recommendations can be delivered to users in one of two ways:

1) on the client’s website

or

2) sent to user in email campaigns. Content Recommendations for website display are configured in the Campaigns and Website In-Page section of the ZMP UI. Content Recommendations for use in email campaigns are managed within the content configuration using ZML (liquid scripting). Recommendation Engine can be used in display, email, website overlay

Creative Optimization​

Enhances marketing creative through data-driven insights and A/B testing. Improves campaign performance by refining content based on audience feedback and engagement metrics.

Media Optimization​

A comprehensive collection of Omni Channel Media Mix Tools to empower businesses to forecast and optimize their marketing efforts across multiple channels, including email, programmatic, CTV, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and many more. Reports include: Scenario Analysis Tool, Optimized Spend Tool, Margin Spend Optimizer Tool

Send Time Optimization​

ZMP's functionality to optimize the send time of the campaign for each individual member in your audience to help improve open rates.

Site Engagement Scoring

Site Engagement Scoring calculates real-time interest scores as visitors interact with your website. Track engagement with specific products, topics, or services through page views, time spent, and click patterns, then use these scores to drive personalization. Deliver targeted content, product recommendations, and overlay messages based on each visitor's interests, or trigger cross-channel campaigns when engagement reaches key thresholds.

Subject Line Optimization

AI can help guide marketers for the most effective subject line copy specific to their customers. Zeta is here to provide insights on subject lines entered by you based on our learnings of previously resonated messages. ZMP also lets marketers view the most impacting words and tweak them in the subject line for better open rates.


Module

Experience Builder - is Zeta's toolkit for creating, managing, and measuring omnichannel customer experiences.

Submodule

Definition

Automated Channel Optimization

Clients can also use Zeta’s AI to do Automated Channel Optimization to optimize for a specific conversion event. With automated channel optimization, Zeta’s AI continuously learns and adjusts the optimal channel path, based on conversion goals set and the level of engagement from your audience. With that, ZMP platform users choosing to leverage Zeta’s Channel Optimization can now select: Desired channels, define the content, and select conversion metrics.

Campaign Manager​

Campaign Manager orchestrates marketing experiences across all connected channels. Build campaigns using visual interfaces or custom HTML while managing audiences and content in one place. Monitor performance in real time as you execute complex multi-channel campaigns with ease.

Experience Analysis

Evaluates the effectiveness of customer interactions and engagement across various touchpoints. Helps in understanding customer journeys and optimizing overall experience.

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