Braze, the Customer Engagement Platform

Braze is the best tool that I have seen in the modern era of Campaign Management Solutions.  They started as an app first platform and grew into CRM with Email and SMS.  They have a lot of cool features and the platform is fairly easy to use which makes it great for non-technical Lifecycle Managers.  Braze is lacking in many many places because they are trying to do to much for Lifecycle Managers, they do not focus on the foundational needs of a Platform Architect, they are limited in many areas and have been for years, as we say, “don’t get Brazed”

I would recommend Braze to anyone who relies on non-technical Lifecycle Managers to run their Marketing Ops program.

Braze Features: Enhancing Customer Engagement with Insights and Challenges

Powerful Customer Engagement

Braze offers a comprehensive suite of tools for personalized customer engagement across multiple channels, including email, SMS, push notifications, and in-app messaging.

Advanced Segmentation and Targeting

Braze provides robust segmentation capabilities, allowing for highly targeted and personalized campaigns. However, the segmentation tool has limitations, particularly when working with dates and event properties. To overcome these challenges, I often use Hightouch, a reverse ETL tool, to enhance segmentation and manage “Marketing Events.”

Real-time Data and Analytics

Braze’s real-time data features are weak, making it difficult to track how many messages are actively sending at any given moment. The best available option is to refresh a campaign to watch the counts increase. To address this, I use DataDog for real-time sends, although the dataset provided is limited and operates just below the aggregate levels.

Omni-channel Capabilities

Braze supports seamless customer experiences across multiple channels, improving engagement and retention. However, its cross-campaign ability to trigger subsequent messages and other campaigns is lacking. To address this, I have explored Hightouch’s Journey tool and developed a workaround using Marketing Events and Braze Webhooks to trigger custom events for use in other campaigns.

A/B Testing and Optimization

Braze offers built-in A/B testing tools for continuous campaign optimization. The Experiment Path step is a valuable addition to the Canvas build, and Variant splits allow for testing different communication streams.

User-friendly Campaign Builder

The visual campaign builder is intuitive and makes it easy to design and launch campaigns. However, Braze could benefit from hiring a UI designer experienced in video game menus, as recent UI changes have introduced several usability issues. For example, notification bars often appear before the page fully loads, leading to accidental clicks on newly loaded elements when trying to close notifications.

Robust API and SDK

Braze provides strong API and SDK support for custom integrations and advanced use cases. However, there are missed opportunities for enhancements, such as new components to objects that are not immediately available in the API.

Behavioral and Lifecycle Automation

Braze enables sophisticated automation based on user behavior and lifecycle stages. This feature works well as long as data models are properly built, which is true for any campaign management platform.

Scalable and Flexible

Braze is suitable for businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises, with scalable features.

Strong Community and Resources

Braze used to have an active user community, but recent changes have reduced interaction points, limiting engagement with current clients and professionals. The learning portal is extensive but lacks depth, and support is often frustrating due to delays and repetitive requests for information already provided.

Complexity and Learning Curve

Braze can be complex and requires a significant learning period to become proficient, especially for platform architects building robust data models to support their marketing organization.

Cost

Braze is expensive, which might be prohibitive for smaller businesses or startups. For example, the cost of a data flow connector is over $6000, which seems excessive for sending a data file to S3.

Integration Challenges

Integrating Braze with other systems can be complex and may require technical expertise, particularly when dealing with unknown users and preventing duplicates.

Customization Limitations

Braze has several limitations in terms of specific use cases or unique business requirements. Customizing the platform to meet marketers’ needs can be challenging.

Data Privacy Concerns

Handling customer data involves significant responsibilities and compliance with regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Recent releases of permission sets and roles have made managing these concerns easier.

Technical Support and Documentation

I have experienced delays in responses for complex issues, and documentation often does not cover specific scenarios. It would be beneficial if Braze allowed clients to contribute examples and use cases to the documentation. Additionally, adding published and last updated dates, along with a change log, would improve transparency.

Performance Issues

Users may experience delays in message delivery or data processing during peak times or high-volume campaigns. While the API is generally quick, bulk data sends can encounter issues. The Canvas feature also has a limit on the number of steps, and inquiries about this limitation have been dismissed without providing the necessary information.