First-party data has become the undisputed victor for marketers in a world increasingly focused on privacy and the phasing out of third-party cookies. First-party data, collected directly from your customer interactions, is the most valuable asset for powering marketing software platforms and driving successful campaigns and journeys.
For companies seeking a versatile marketing platform, or current Braze users wanting enhanced data integration, this guide is for you. We'll explore some of the various methods available to integrate your customer data into Braze for personalized customer engagement through its Campaign or Canvas tools. These methods accommodate today's modern data sources, including leading cloud platforms.
Option 1: Web or Mobile App On
Best for: Businesses whose primary customer interactions and data reside within a custom web or mobile application.
Requirements: Configure and maintain the Braze SDK within your app.
Note: This method involves ongoing reliance on IT and/or development teams for support.
Option 2: Data Activation - Data Warehouse and App
Best for: Businesses who want to combine warehouse data with real-time events streaming from an app via the Braze SDK. Generally speaking, companies will prioritize around these goals:
IT and Data security teams who seek to minimize data replication.
Streamlining internal data management without custom development.
Complying with strict data compliance and regulations.
Marketers seeking a no-code interface to build audiences and segments.
Requirements:
A data activation/reverse ETL platform (such as Census, a Braze Alloy partner) to transfer data to Braze.
An existing data source that is supported by the data activation platform.
Advantages:
Data science- AND marketer-friendly tools for segmentation and campaign orchestration.
Potential cost savings via optimized/efficient Braze data point consumption. Only attribute deltas are sent to Braze.
Reduced integration workload for IT/development teams from pre-configured source and destination connectors.
Near real-time data population from a source of truth to Braze.
Option 3: Braze Cloud Data Ingestion (CDI)
Best for: Companies with customer data directly housed in Snowflake, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, or Databricks. The IT/development lift will vary based on data cleanliness, accessibility, and availability from a upstream data source(s) perspective.
Requirements:
Utilization of a supported platform for Braze CDI integrations: Snowflake, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, or Databricks.
Strong marketing/IT relationships to facilitate the acquisition of marketable data for Braze marketing strategies/campaigns.
Advantages:
Direct, visually configured bi-directional synchronization between your data platform and Braze.
Reduced integration workload for IT/development teams thanks to pre-configured connectors.
Option 4: CDP Connector - Braze Alloy Partner
Best for: Companies already using a Customer Data Platform (CDP) to centralize customer information. Also, research the Braze Alloy CDP partner for their specific integration functionality, not all provide the same capabilities.
Requirements: Utilization of a Braze Alloy CDP partner (e.g., mParticle, Segment, Tealium).
Advantages:
Two-way data synchronization between CDP and Braze.
Marketer-friendly tools for segmentation and campaign orchestration.
Braze campaign data can be fed back to your CDP for analysis.
Option 5: Amazon S3 Cloud Data Storage with Lambda Scripting
Best for: Companies with strong in-house technical resources, an established data warehouse, and expertise in cloud storage to create automated data cleanup process, such as Lambda function configurations, etc.
Requirements:
Amazon S3 for data storage.
Internal capabilities to design and manage custom Lambda scripts for data transfers.
Advantages:
Braze supported data storage solution provides legacy data transfer avenues for limited capability upstream systems in order to provide data to Braze.
Data governance through AWS rules for data backup and purging purposes.
Option 6: Braze Shopify Connector
Best for: Shopify users seeking streamlined customer engagement tools within Braze.
Requirements: Subscriptions to Braze and Shopify
Advantages:
Smooth integration of Shopify data.
Enhanced campaign options, including abandoned cart outreach.
In-app messaging capabilities.
As you can see, Braze offers flexible methods to address the integration needs of many different companies. The optimal solution depends on your current technology stack, data management practices, and in-house technical resources. Remember, specific integration needs might call for further customization. If you want to discuss which method is best for your organization, please contact us today.
If you’re data nerd like us, we have a number of other articles about data and Braze, check them out here.