One of these things is not like the other: data quality vendor Validity is buying email deliverability specialist Return Path. Validity, backed by private equity investors Silversmith Capital Partners, bought email verification platform BriteVerify last June, which makes the Return Path acquisition seem a bit more logical. The company describes its goal as providing comprehensive technology solutions to target, contact, and engage customers at scale.

Sticking with the topic, a survey of small business owners by digital marketing agency HigherVisibility found that 88% believe an online presence is required for success but 42% lacked a goal for their Web site beyond general awareness. The entirely unsurprising conclusion is that small business owners “lack the expertise to make the most of their online presence.”

Salesforce kicked off its big Connections conference yesterday, and if you’re surprised the focus was on generative AI, you haven’t been paying attention.  Still, the focus this time was on marketing applications that draw on Salesforce CDP data, so it’s right up our alley.  They also announced direct access to Google BigQuery data, ticking the “zero-copy” box as well.