Working with a marketing automation company that prioritizes continuous improvement and innovation is truly exciting. However, it can be challenging to stay updated with the ever-growing list of new capabilities and features. To alleviate any confusion, and to provide clarity on the recent developments, this post aims to highlight the key advancements Braze has made in the past few months organized into logical groupings.
Data and Audience Management
It's widely known that data lies at the core of any effective marketing automation system. It serves as the driving force behind creating targeted audience segments and delivering personalized communications. Recognizing this importance, Braze has expanded its Cloud Data Ingestion (CDI) feature beyond Snowflake to now include Amazon's Redshift and Google's BigQuery platforms. This enriched CDI ecosystem has paved the way for two new features to be deployed:
Sync the removal of customer records. If your cloud instance serves as your data system of record, you can configure your data syncs to remove (i.e. delete) any users who are no longer marketable.
Populate your Data Catalogs* from the cloud. Braze was wise enough to understand the power of this functionality and has provided each instance with 100MB of complimentary storage. Additionally, there are Pro-level options available, ranging from 5 to 15 GB, for those with larger storage needs.
*As a reminder, Data Catalogs extend your marketing data to provide additional details about non-customer centric information. For instance, you can now house information like store location, product pricing, or course catalogs for added personalization elements in your marketing communications.
Moreover, as a multichannel marketing tool, Braze understands the need to operate seamlessly across various channels and applications. Specifically, in the realm of social media and advertising, Braze has introduced a secure method to synchronize your audience's first-party data with major platforms such as Google, Facebook, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok. This integration allows for enhanced marketing outcomes and empowers you to leverage your data effectively across these platforms.
User Interface (UI) / User Experience (UX) Updates
First and foremost, the major parts of the platform went under the knife for a redesign. It now boasts a more modern and intuitive interface that aligns seamlessly with Braze’s comprehensive marketing software identity. The UI dashboard showcases the updated look and feel of the new and improved platform.
In fact, the redesign goes beyond aesthetics. Braze has also made changes to its taxonomy to better align with its overarching marketing value proposition. For instance, what used to be referred to as "App Groups" is now called "Work Spaces."
Also, the sub-menus have been reorganized and given a nice face lift. Take a look at the example where we hovered over the “messaging” item (see below):
The good news is that once you switch to the “new” navigation, you’re not locked in…yet. You can go back to the legacy layout, but only until January 2024, and then UI, the updates will be permanent.
Continuing their commitment to simplifying the lives of marketing users, Braze has introduced two additional drag-and-drop editors: one for email preference center development and another for the IAM (In App-Messaging) editor. These user-friendly interfaces enable easier development and testing, by ultimately reducing the time spent toggling between different parts of the build cycle.
Notably, in the email subscription template, Braze has incorporated a set of intuitive switches that you can leverage for enhanced convenience (see below). These switches provide a user-friendly way to manage and customize email subscriptions.
Canvas Gifts
And if that weren’t enough, Braze has gone wild with new enhancements to the canvas portion of the campaign building process. These enhancements provide even more flexibility and collaboration opportunities with these key additions:
Historical version saving: You can now create versions of a canvas as view-only references, allowing you to track and refer back to past campaign iterations more easily.
Commenting within a canvas component: To promote better collaboration among colleagues, Braze has introduced the ability to add comments to specific component boxes within a canvas. This feature promotes streamlined communication and feedback within the campaign building process.
Draft copy saving: Braze now allows you to save and work within a draft copy of a campaign. This functionality proves particularly useful for quality assurance (QA) and in-flight testing, providing a controlled environment for testing and refining campaigns before launching them.
Automated A/B testing: A/B testing has been automated to streamline the execution process. You can now programmatically send the remaining messages to the winning variant based on predetermined criteria such as Conversion Event, Opens, or Clicks. And all you need to do is flip on this switch:
Looking ahead
It's clear that Braze is on a roll with their continuous improvements and exciting new features. We look forward to seeing all the new enhancements they have coming this year before the big Forge user conference in October.
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