Braze Launches Native WhatsApp Messaging to Help Brands Build Deeper Customer Relationships

New messaging channel allows marketers to build more personalized conversations at scale

Braze, the comprehensive customer engagement platform that powers interactions between consumers and the brands they love, announced that native support for messaging channel WhatsApp is now generally available. Through this direct integration with WhatsApp, which had more than two billion active users as of 2022, marketers will be able to create, orchestrate, and send WhatsApp campaigns directly from the Braze platform to strengthen customer relationships with context-rich conversational messaging that can drive higher conversion.

“Now more than ever, marketers must create more personalized and relevant customer experiences across multiple channels that provide value, build retention, and maximize long-term loyalty,” said Kevin Wang, Chief Product Officer for Braze. “Today’s consumers continue to gravitate toward WhatsApp to learn about products and services. As consumers rely on the channel more to interact with brands, it is imperative that marketers embrace this messaging revolution and take full advantage of this emerging marketing arena to deliver richer, conversational experiences to customers. For many brands, incorporating WhatsApp into a cross-channel customer engagement strategy may be essential to help drive business results throughout the customer lifecycle, and we’re thrilled to offer a comprehensive WhatsApp Business Integration to do just that.”

Marketing Technology News: MoEngage Named A “Strong Performer” in Cross-Channel Marketing Hub Q1 2023 Evaluation

Braze empowers brands to launch automated WhatsApp campaigns at scale and easily incorporate WhatsApp into their cross-channel marketing mix, reducing reliance on point solutions and redundant intermediary technologies. In addition, brands can deliver personalized and hyper-targeted WhatsApp messages to reach the right customer with the right message at the right time. Brands can use Braze to orchestrate mobile messaging at every stage of the customer lifecycle — from activation to monetization to retention use cases.

“Sending WhatsApp campaigns through Braze is easy, and we are already seeing strong results,” said Emma Ferran, Head of Retention for Lookiero, an online personal shopping service. “We wanted to test how adding WhatsApp to our channel mix could help us recover churned users. Our initial win-back campaign on WhatsApp saw a 28% uplift from our existing win-back campaigns on other channels. We can’t wait to continue testing and optimizing our WhatsApp strategy with Braze.”

Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview with Jason Lyman, Chief Marketing Officer at Customer.io

With the WhatsApp Business Integration in Braze, companies can:

• Engage global audiences and speed up time to value with faster WhatsApp onboarding: With native channel support, marketers can quickly create their WhatsApp Business account using the Braze platform’s embedded sign-up flow, streamlining the onboarding process. Brands can then manage the channel directly through Braze, an official Business Solution Provider, and then quickly build and launch campaigns through an intuitive WhatsApp message composer. With Braze, brands apply rich functionality to create sophisticated, interactive campaigns using images, quick reply buttons, and calls-to-action, which can increase engagement and drive conversions. And with in-dashboard reporting, they can respond to channel performance trends and optimize individual campaign performance in real-time, using in-dashboard reporting for sends, deliveries, failures, and reads.
• Build stronger customer connections with two-way conversations: Braze Canvas Flow allows brands to easily build and visualize relevant two-way WhatsApp conversations, creating reply messages and branching users into different journeys based on their real-time behaviors, preferences, and cross-channel interactions. Additionally, inbound message processing facilitates a conversational experience by allowing brands to respond to their customers’ messages, collecting and confirming opt-ins, opt-outs, and responding to quick reply selections.
• Consolidate marketing tech and optimize marketing spend: By connecting directly with WhatsApp through Braze, marketers can eliminate the need for point solutions and redundant intermediary technologies. And by incorporating WhatsApp as part of a cross-channel customer engagement strategy, marketers have the potential to reduce overall spend. First, native channel support for WhatsApp provides marketers with an additional owned marketing channel, and by leveraging WhatsApp and Braze Audience Sync, marketers may reduce paid media waste by immediately suppressing paid social ads the instant a customer converts on WhatsApp, mobile app, web, email, or any other digital touchpoint.

“When it comes to marketing messages on WhatsApp, the key is to create a valuable messaging experience that focuses on the interactions that matter most to your customers,” said Kyle Jenke, Senior Director, Partnerships at Meta. “By using WhatsApp as a staple messaging channel, brands can foster deeper relationships with their customers. Braze provides the strategic guidance and industry expertise needed to evolve confidently in this space. With their speed to market, extensive experience, and measurable results, brands can optimize their WhatsApp strategy for business growth and adhere to Meta’s best practices.”

Marketing Technology News: It’s Time to Start Thinking About Hyper-Efficient Growth