Return Path buys email deliverability specialist Email Copilot

For email service providers (ESP), getting the email delivered to an inbox is the central metric.

To help boost these capabilities, New York City-based ESP Return Path announced this week it has purchased San Diego, California-based Email Copilot. Return Path sees itself as a leader in deliverability and offers a Deliverability Benchmark report.

The Copilot, founded in 2011, provides real-time monitoring, reporting and analysis of deliverability info, presented as a “dynamic visualization.” Terms of the deal were not announced. Return Path’s blog post on the announcement indicates that the Email Copilot crew will stay on board, at least for a while.

“With this new technology,” Return Path CEO Matt Blumberg said in a statement, “our clients and partners will be able to connect disparate data sources to understand when deliverability problems occur, what’s causing those problems, and how to fix them — all in real time.”

Copilot’s platform analyzes data before emails are sent to see if there are deliverability issues, and then sends alerts when delivery is not up to specs. The companies said the Copilot tech will be integrated into Return Path’s platform to improve its current deliverability reporting.

In January of 2012, Return Path bought OtherInbox, an Austin, Texas-based startup that helped users manage and organize their messages. It released a new Deliverability Wizard this past June to notify marketers about issues and possible resolutions.

In May, Return Path employed a 2.5-million opt-in user panel to analyze the email campaigns of the presidential candidates.