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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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