Insights from Our Recent “Favorite Marketing Channel” Survey

Why We Ran the Survey

Understanding which channels resonate most with your audience is crucial. By surveying dashboard users, we aimed to uncover favorite consumer marketing channels.

Survey Results: Top Channels

1. Email emerged as the clear favorite, with 38% of responders selecting it as their preferred channel. Notably:

- The leading industries represented were Retail, Media, and Technology.

2. Push Notifications ranked second, with 29% of total responses:

- Retail, Media, and Tech again topped the industry representation.

3. In-app messaging/in-browser messaging was the third favorite, with 19% of responses:

- The leading industries were Media, Technology, and Financial Services

Actionable Channel Insights for Customers

Below are some recommendations to get the most out of your channel mix:

• Prioritize email marketing: As the clear favorite and the most perennial marketing channel, focus on enhancing your email marketing strategies. A few ways to ensure you’re always optimizing and personalizing your email campaigns:
  • Segmentation: Go beyond basic demographic segmentation by tailoring your messages based on your users’ behaviors for campaigns that resonate.
  • Dynamic content: Take personalization a step further with customized product recommendations, special offers based on what your customers have recently engaged with on your site or app, share location-based event recommendations or regional products, and use real-time updates to share timely promotions. 
  • Testing and Experimentation: Experiment with subject lines, layouts, imagery, etc, to optimize email performance with A/B testing. Test sending emails at different times to find the optimal timing for your audience, and test different email frequencies to find the sweet spot for your audience.
  • Clear CTAs: Avoid overused CTAs like "Learn More" and stick to action-oriented, specific language in your CTAs. 
  • Monitor engagement metrics: Track your open rate, click-thru rates, and conversion rates and use insights from these metrics to refine your email strategy continuously.
• Leverage Push Notifications: Push notifications are a powerful way to reach your audience directly on their devices, delivering relevant messages that capture attention and prompt immediate action with real-time alerts on web, mobile, wearable devices, and more. Explore ways to integrate Push into your marketing mix and optimize.
  • Use contextual messaging: Send push notifications based on user context, such as location or time of day. For example, if a user is near a store location, send a notification about a special offer available only at that location.
  • Rich media notifications: Use rich media like images or videos in your push notifications to capture attention.
• Explore in-app message or in-browser message opportunities: In-app or in-browser messaging is an effective channel for engaging your users at critical, timely moments while they are in your app or on your website.
  • Guided help: Use in-app messaging to reduce friction and enhance the user experience with messages to help users navigate your app or website and discover new features, content, products and more!
  • Gamification: Use progress bars or achievement badges to encourage users to complete specific actions or engage more deeply with your platform.
  • Feedback: Use in-app message surveys to create feedback loops, asking users for their preferences on features or content. Surveys provide valuable insights and data to support future improvements – like the survey that powered this post!
  • Did you know: If your brand already has the BrazeSDK integrated into your app or website, you have access to in-app or in-browser messaging!
• Use SMS/MMS to connect with your customers: The personal nature of SMS/MMS fosters a sense of connection and urgency, enabling brands to connect with customers on a more personal level. Deliver time-sensitive information, promotions, and updates directly to your users' mobile devices to drive quick action.
  • Rich media in MMS: Use MMS to send rich media, like images, videos, or GIFs, to capture attention and drive higher engagement rates.
  • Feedback: Encourage two-way communication by allowing users to reply to your SMS messages to gather feedback, answer questions, or even conduct surveys, creating a more interactive experience.
• Don’t sleep on WhatsApp:  WhatsApp is the most popular mobile messaging app in the world, with over 2 billion monthly active users and heavy usage in Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Europe. WhatsApp is integrated into the everyday lives of consumers, making it perfect for marketers looking to connect with customers in a way that feels seamless and authentic.
  • Two-way messaging: WhatsApp's unique capability of two-way conversational messaging is an effective way to drive users back to your app, for example, to complete onboarding, update their account, or conduct promotional campaigns.
• Content Cards - Your channel for app or website banners: In a separate survey, we recently asked Content Cards customers their most frequent use case for Content Cards. The number one response: As an app or website banner. Content Cards also act as a notification center, a promotions feed, an onboarding center, and more!

To maximize engagement, leading brands use cross-channel campaigns that integrate multiple channels, especially combining in-product and out-of-product channels to reach users wherever they are! Research and experiment to find the right channel mix for your brand.

Conclusion

By understanding the channel preferences of your audience, you can create more effective and engaging campaigns that resonate.

Thank you for being part of the Braze community. We look forward to hearing how you implement these findings in your marketing efforts!