Brilliant Experiences, Channel by Channel

Introduction: Providing brilliant, relevant experiences

To build strong relationships, brands need to ensure that

they’re communicating in ways that really speak to each

customer as an individual. Personalization isn’t a nice-to-have:

It’s now a must-have method to cut through the marketing noise

and drive engagement. Your customer data is the secret sauce

for personalization and for expanding campaigns effectively

to new channels. Every messaging channel (email, push

notifications, in-app messages, and more) serves a different

marketing need—and every channel has its sweet spot for

adding some of that data sauce in a way that grabs attention.

There’s a catch. Even as your customers crave relevant,

personalized communications, privacy rules are locking down

how you can use personal data. Thanks in part to the European

Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and

recent scandals about the use of personal data to influence

elections, brands have to think very carefully about where

and how they deploy personalization. Today’s forward-looking

brands view consumer consent as a big plus for marketing;

after all, every great relationship needs to be a two-sided one.

In this guide, we’ll explore how you can provide the most relevant, personalized experiences to your customers and arm you with all the Dos and Don’ts for the following channels:

—Julien Boudet, Partner, McKinsey

Source: McKinsey press release, May 2018

Personalization initiatives can deliver significant value, including on average 10-30% revenue uplift and higher customer acquisition rates and engagement. But the key is that they must be done right.

EMAIL MOBILE CHANNELS

WEB CHANNELS

OVER-THE-TOP (OT T) MESSAGING

(SUCH AS SMS, PUSH NOTIFICATIONS, AND

IN-APP MESSAGES)

(SUCH AS IN-BROWSER MESSAGES AND WEB

PUSH NOTIFICATIONS)

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Email: Create a voice in the crowd

Done right, email is a conversation—customers tell email senders

who they are and what they value through their engagement

behavior, and senders respond with increasingly relevant,

personalized campaigns. The challenge: Thanks to a plague

of spam messages in the 1990s, email providers have become

vigilant about ensuring that their users aren’t overwhelmed with

irrelevant or unwanted messages, forcing brands to be mindful

about how (and to whom) they send emails. Get it right by

prioritizing deliverability best practices like dedicated subdomains

alongside customer-first practices like message personalization.

– Andrew Barrett, Director of Email Deliverability, Braze

Not sure if your email outreach is welcome? Ask! Test your messages, and pay attention to the signals your customers give. Set clear expectations about what you’re going to send, what value you’ll provide, and how often you’re going to send.

Research by Braze

shows there’s a 45% lift

in engagement when using

email marketing compared with

a control group in which users

receive no messaging.

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SOURCE: BR A ZE PROPRIE TARY DATA

If you want to connect with customers using email, your

messages have to pop. They need to be personal and they

need to be responsive, containing content that is meaningful

to each customer. Using tools like the open-source AMP for

Email, it’s now possible to send emails that support in-message

interactions—allowing recipients to theoretically swipe through

dating profiles, complete and submit surveys, or schedule an

appointment without ever clicking through to a web page or app.

What Makes Modern Email ShineGreat email experiences don’t just happen. These tools and

tactics are just what you need to take your messaging to

the next level:

• IP warming. Win over internet service providers (ISPs)

and maximize how many emails actually get delivered by

gradually scaling up send volumes and demonstrating that

recipients are interested in hearing from you in this channel.

• Real-time personalization. Leverage tools like

Connected Content to pull of-the-moment information

about each email recipient from outside sources via

APIs and seamlessly insert it into your emails.

• Smart testing. Establishing healthy practices will help you

fine tune your messaging, subject lines, CTAs, imagery,

and more to find what works (and ditch what doesn’t).

Emails that stand out—for the right reasons

Braze Connected Content can boost email conversions by 114%

SOURCE: BR A ZE PROPRIE TARY DATA

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What’s the appeal of SMS to marketers?

• Global reach: In certain global markets like

APAC and Africa, SMS is the standard digital

communications medium, rather than email.

• Two-way interactions: Messages can kick off

conversations between customers and brands, supporting

a truly interactive back and forth between the two sides.

• Super-high open rates: Recipients rarely pass over

SMS messages, which have a 98% open rate.

Customers who give you their phone number trust you to treat it

with respect. With that number in hand, you have the opportunity

“to build an immediate, intimate connection with that user.

While consumers often associate SMS with communications

between friends and family, it can be a powerful tool for brands.

When to use SMS:

• Sharing critical info. Think delayed flights and upcoming

medical appointments—or real-time updates on when

a table at that hot new restaurant will be free

• Updating users about transactions. Think alerting

shoppers to the real-time status of an order.

• Sending mobile-only exclusives. Think sending exclusive

codes or first dibs on new products to reward customers.

• Starting a two-way convo. Think leveraging this channel’s

support for shortcodes to allow customers to reply.

Mobile channels: SMS and immediate connections

SOURCE: MOBILE MARKE TING WATCH

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That buzzing in your pocket is the versatile push notification—

whether it’s short and sweet or enriched with images, action

buttons, and other advanced functionality, push is super-helpful

at getting customers to open apps. That’s why they’re a powerful

tool for boosting revenue and re-engaging customers who haven’t

interacted with your brand lately. But push campaigns can also

scare off customers when they’re sent thoughtlessly or too often

(so don’t be that person).

Doing push properly:

• Provide a warm welcome. See stronger

engagement among new users by supplementing

in-app messages with push notifications.

• Win back old friends. Use a cross-channel

messaging campaign to reach inactive customers

with a blend of email and push notifications.

• Take advantage of timeliness. Message customers

about the weather or a big holiday sale.

What happens if you’re too pushy?

Why not push all the time? Well, plenty of people choose not to

enable push, so they won’t see your notifications. Many others

will opt out of push notifications or uninstall an app if you pester

them too much with irrelevant messages.

More on mobile channels: The big push

191% lift in engagement with push notifications versus no messages at all

SOURCE: BR A ZE PROPRIE TARY DATA

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130% lift in engagement with in-app messages versus no messages at all

In-app messages are notifications built to reach people when

they’re using your mobile app (or, in the case of the web version—

which are known as in-browser messages—your website).

In-app messages allow you to customize the experience with

GIFs, clickable buttons, and more to make messages feel more

interactive and engaging.

In-app messages: the good and the bad

When they work well• Onboarding: Test and optimize different welcome

flows without having to involve your engineering team.

• Tailor-made targeting: Personalize the app experience

for every user, instead of one-size-fits-all outreach.

• Filling engagement gaps: When paired with

push or email, in-app messages play nice with

other channels to reach a wider audience.

When they don’t

• Trying to win back customers: For reaching

a disengaged user, you need a channel that

goes beyond the app, like push and email.

• Giving gifts: To deliver coupons or loyalty rewards

that customers can use later, you’ll be better off

with a less ephemeral channel like email.

The many flavors of in-app messages

SOURCE: BR A ZE PROPRIE TARY DATA

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Ever swipe away a push notification only to search for it later?

Content Cards solve this problem. These cards serve up dynamic,

persistent content that users can find in their apps when they need

them—so no more missed promos.

Where to use Content Cards

• Notification centers: Centralize the updates that are most

important to customers and ensure they can always find them.

• Promotions feed: Motivate customers to shop with

a dynamic flow of new offers targeted to them as an

individual based on their in-app engagement.

• Onboarding and new features: Build a feed of

tips to make the new-user experience fun.

Choose your Content CardsThere are three standard types of cards that can sit in a feed:

Mobile content cards: dynamic and persistent

Banner Cards

Captioned Content Cards

Classic Content Cards

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At their most basic, web channels are designed to reach people on

the desktop or mobile web. But keep in mind that web messaging

is a category, made up of these channels:

Web push notificationsThink push notifications, but for the web. Just like messages for

mobile apps, these are built for short, urgent communications, but

support rich content like images.

In-browser messagesLike mobile in-app messages, this channel lets you create rich,

interactive messaging for people currently browsing your website.

When to use web push and in-browser messagesThese channels are built for different goals. When you need to

reach out, web push is the answer. In-browser messages, however,

allow you to nudge people already on your website to take action.

Content Cards play well with the webUse this versatile messaging channel to to customize content

for your website. Web Content Cards help you keep the

conversation going wherever customers decide to engage.

Web messaging: Connect on the desktop

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In the marketing world, OTT is a technology that goes

“over-the-top” of proprietary platforms such as messaging

services like WhatsApp, or media streaming platforms like

Roku. While each of these technologies impact different

industries, they’re major centers for high-value

consumer engagement.

OTT (Over-The-Top) Media Platforms: A cohesive, cross-device experience

If your brand has customers using OTT media platforms, it’s

essential to get a full portrait of what their engagement looks

like there. Braze does that by offering tvOS and Roku SDKs

that can seamlessly collect data from these devices to trigger

responsive second-screen messages—via push notification or

email—based on behavior.

Use this channel to…

• Make timely content recommendations. Send messages

like a push notification to extend a binge session.

• Support cross-device experiences. Avoid device-

based silos by pulling data from OTT media

platforms into a single, cohesive user profile and

leverage it to drive highly relevant messaging.

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OTT (Over-The-Top) Messaging Platforms: A huge (and growing) user base

With platforms like Facebook Messenger sporting billions

of users, OTT messaging platforms are an incredibly tempting

target. Thankfully, OTT business messaging, also known simply

as “chat,” supports automated one-to-one customer/brand

interactions, usually at a lower cost than SMS.

Use this channel to…

• Reduce friction for transactional use cases. Offer

customers who are highly engaged on messaging

platforms the ability to receive transactional

messages to give them the information they need

without forcing them to open another app.

• Reach users in particular regions. In regions outside

of North America like APAC, OTT messaging

platforms one of the best ways to reach users who

may not use email or other traditional channels

More than 80% of business owners in markets from Brazil to India use WhatsApp Business

Messaging in their customer communications

SOURCE: WHATSAPP PRESS RELE ASE

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OPTIMAL FREQUENCY VS. AVERAGE FREQUENCY, CHANNEL BY CHANNEL

Channel Average Optimal Notes

Push Notifications 3 1-4

In general, a successful push notification is a push that nudges the recipient to open your app in order to take action. Given that, Braze research has determined the optimal number of push notifications per month for brands looking to optimize their push-to-app opens.

Cross-Channel Messages 3 17-19

Because cross-channel campaigns can include a variety of different messaging channels, each with its own bespoke metrics, Braze research has simplified things in order to determine the optimal number of cross-channel messages brands looking to optimize their campaign conversion rates.

Emails 0.8 8-10

While some emails are only meant to inform, most messages are designed to drive readers to the sender’s app or website. For that reason, Braze research has determined the optimal number of email sends per month for brands looking to optimize their email open-to-click rates.

Get the most opportunity out of your messaging by setting these “just right” targets for each channel.As you take advantage of more channels, keep a close

eye on the number of messages you’re sending each

customer—both in general, but also for each channel.

The right frequency is going to vary by industry, brand,

or by user segment. But there’s an optimal messaging

frequency for your specific users and the right cross-

channel send rate will drive stronger engagement

across all channels, platforms, and devices.

MethodologyThis analysis spans approximately 151 billion users and 534 billion

messages sent over the past 2 years. These messages come from 674

companies across 20 different industries. The data were aggregated

by month to reveal the average monthly send frequency of any given

company that sent at least 1 monthly message per user within each

industry, calculated as total messages divided by total users. Industry

rates and user counts are aggregated monthly by company to create

even comparison periods.

Message frequency: All channels aren’t created equal

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Brands today are living in a cross-device, cross-platform, cross-channel world—

and so are all their customers. That means there’s no single messaging channel

that can reach everybody effectively. Each one has its own unique strengths,

but used in a vacuum, their positive impact is limited.

Interested in digging deeper into cross-channel engagement and what it can

mean for your brand? Check out the Braze Cross-Channel data report and

see what expanding the channels you’re currently leveraging could mean for

your engagement efforts.

Conclusion: Embrace Cross-Channel Messaging

Research conducted by Braze has found that while sending messages in a single channel leads to a 179% increase in engagement, compared to users who received

no messages, leveraging cross-channel messaging can lead to as much as a 844% lift.

SOURCE: BR A ZE PROPRIE TARY DATA

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