Global Customer Engagement Review from Braze Finds Marketers are Prioritizing Increased Investments in Customer Retention

Braze, the comprehensive customer engagement platform that powers interactions between consumers and the brands they love, revealed findings of its third annual Global Customer Engagement Review. The report examines customer engagement trends over the past year, as customer acquisition costs have soared to unsustainable highs while cost-conscious consumers are faced with more choices than ever in a volatile environment. Findings from this year’s report indicate that even more marketers are investing in tools and strategies that drive activation and loyalty to meet consumers’ demands.

“More than ever, it’s important for brands to invest in effective tools that enable teams across an organization to combine efforts to quickly reach shared goals. With the right tools, strategies, and expertise, brands can create meaningful experiences that delight consumers, drive value and loyalty, and drive long-term revenue growth.”

“Consumers today have high expectations for real-time, personalized communication, seamlessly choreographed across the channels and platforms they prefer, in a way that feels relevant and human. At the same time, marketers are under tremendous pressure to deliver greater return-on-investment, often with smaller teams,” said Bill Magnuson, Cofounder and CEO of Braze. “More than ever, it’s important for brands to invest in effective tools that enable teams across an organization to combine efforts to quickly reach shared goals. With the right tools, strategies, and expertise, brands can create meaningful experiences that delight consumers, drive value and loyalty, and drive long-term revenue growth.”

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Key findings from the report include:

The rise of retention as a strategy for marketers to defend their base

The report shows that brands are increasingly focused on defending their base, which is no surprise given the current environment. By pivoting to a retention-led strategy, marketing leaders acknowledge that delivering customer value helps build brand value and loyalty over time — and marketers are prioritizing their spend accordingly. In 2022, 45% of brands said they spent more than half of their marketing budget on retention, up from 33% in 2020. Over the past three years, Braze has seen a 36% rise in the percentage of surveyed companies that are investing the majority of their marketing budget in connection with customer retention. And overall, data shows 83% of the surveyed global companies say that their marketing budgets will actually increase in the next 12 months, suggesting a major surge in marketing spend as compared to 2020, when only 60% of surveyed companies said they planned to increase their budgets.

Leveraging personalization can help marketers break through the noise to reach consumers

One of the most impactful ways marketers can retain and defend their customer base is through personalized, relevant engagement that better meets customers’ needs and provides exceptional experiences at the right time, in the right place. As 99% of surveyed marketers say they will shift their customer engagement strategies as consumers tighten their everyday spending, brands should be well-positioned to better meet customers’ needs and provide exceptional experiences that drive growth. Additionally, brands that leverage cross-channel strategies can drive a 55% higher retention rate across a 90-day span, as compared to engaging via just one channel.

SOURCE: Businesswire