CRM giant Salesforce has acquired Rebel, an interactive email services startup. Rebel provides email recipients with the ability to write reviews, shop and perform other actions all within an email, and its platform has been used by brands including HelloFresh, L'Oreal and Dollar Shave Club.

Rebel uses API and mail solutions to turn emails into an extension of a company's website or app, enabling them to both offer additional services and collect more advanced data. The company's technology will be integrated into Salesforce's Marketing Cloud, bringing this functionality to Salesforce's worldwide clientbase.

Marketing is Salesforce's smallest division, behind its Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and the Salesforce Platform, but it still brought in $452m (£346m) in revenues last quarter. The acquisition of Rebel shows that Salesforce hasn't given up on its marketing offerings, and is still seeking to compete with rivals like Adobe, Google and Microsoft in this area.

"We are excited to join Salesforce and accelerate our mission of reimagining the inbox by enabling marketers and developers to create beautiful, seamless, interactive email experiences," said a Rebel spokesperson. "We would like to thank the email community, the forward thinking brands we have worked with over the years, our partners, and everyone that has been part of Rebel's success. We are thrilled to become part of the amazing Salesforce family and continue the journey."