Businesses are increasingly turning to sophisticated MarTech platforms like Braze to develop their customer engagement strategies, deliver optimised interactions, and valuable customer experiences. With its robust features spanning email, and mobile in-app, and push notifications, Braze offers a treasure trove of opportunities for personalised, multi-channel interactions. However, tapping into its full potential isn’t always easy. Many users encounter pain points along the way, from initial setup and integration to data management and personalisation.
As a Braze consultant, I’ve seen first-hand some of the pain points businesses face. This article discusses some of those common challenges as well as strategies for turning them into triumphs.
Data & Integration Challenges: Setting Up for Success
Integrating Braze with your existing datasystems can be a complex and time-consuming process. A hasty or incomplete data and integration architecture strategy often leads to problems down the line. Common issues include:
· Incorrect Data Mapping: Using custom objects incorrectly such as events properties that should have been purchase objects (to be able to fully leverage Braze’s ROI reporting and analytic features). Also, misaligning data field types such as using a free text field where a picklist should have been used can impact data quality, standardisation, inability to trigger workflows, and a list of many other negative impacts.
· Inadequate Integration Planning: Naturally, organisations often aim to get Braze up and running as quickly as possible, opting to do data and integration planning as they go. However, failing to establish a comprehensive integration plan and vision of how Braze fits in to the bigger business ecosystem as a whole (as not just a messaging tool) early on can lead to costly retrofits and workarounds down the line. For example, not having the right data points from your app or other data sources in Braze from the start can negatively impact the ability to segment audiences, accordingly, trigger certain actions, and so on.
Solution:
Start with a detailed integration plan that maps out your data architecture and ensures data quality from the beginning. Take the time to align data types and structures to Braze’s capabilities and consider the custom data that’s possible to integrate into Braze (and which data works best for each type i.e. custom attributes, custom events, purchase events, product information, etc.).
Data Management: Keeping Your Data Clean and Actionable
Effective data management is crucial for maximising the value of Braze. Without robust data hygiene practices, you may face issues like outdated information, duplicate records, and incorrect data.These problems can hinder your ability to target and personalise effectively, resulting in missed opportunities and diminished customer engagement.
Solution:
· Implement regular data audits and establish standardised fields to maintain consistency.
· Use real-time syncing with your CRM and/or data warehouse, and leverage APIs for up-to-date information.
· Establish clear data retention policies to keep your data clean and relevant.
Personalisation & Campaign Management: Mastering Liquid
Braze’s Liquid language offers valuable opportunities for personalisation. By dynamically inserting user-specific data such as names, locations, and preferences into messages and applying conditional logic such as the delivery of different content based on user behaviour, attributes, and past interactions, Liquid allows you to create highly tailored and engaging content.
However, learning Liquid and its syntax can be daunting for new users, and there is typically a significant learning curve ahead for new users.
Solution:
· Invest time in learning Liquid and how to structure and format campaigns through online resources and documentation.
· Experiment with different personalisation variables and launch test campaigns to gain hands-on experience.
· Consider hiring a Braze Liquid expert for training and onboarding and access to valuable Liquid templates and best practices. ExperiencedLiquid experts can provide quick guidance and Liquid templates and examples from their own library of templates (at Exelement, we often build and provide custom Liquid templates for our clients which can be copy/pasted and reused time and time again).
Change Management & Cross-collaboration: Breaking Down Silos
One of the most significant challenges with Braze is overcoming the perception of Braze as a marketing-only tool and not having the right internal buy-in and. This limited view can prevent your organisation from fully leveraging Braze’s capabilities across various departments, leading to missed opportunities and fragmented customer journeys.
Solution:
· Educate and Train Teams: Provide comprehensive training to ensure all teams understand and can utilise Braze’s full range of features.
· Develop a Multi-Channel Strategy: Create an integrated strategy that aligns email with other channels and departments for a seamless customer experience. The most successful operations I’ve seen are the ones with cross-collaboration between teams. Marketing, Product, Sales, Customer Support, etc. all working together on unified goals, campaigns and so on.
· Promote a Culture of Experimentation: Encourage teams to explore different features and strategies within Braze to find the most effective approaches. Braze has great experimentation and A/B testing features to continuously try new methods and strategies that will help you identify the most effective approaches for customer engagement.
By addressing these common pain points and implementing the right strategies to mitigate these challenges, you can maximise your investment in Braze and deliver exceptional customer engagement and experiences. Remember, the journey to mastering Braze is a marathon, not a sprint—embrace the learning process, and you’ll be well on your way to unlocking its full potential.
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