How Wallapop Used Cross-Channel Messaging to Increase User Engagement

The resale space is booming, with the secondhand market projected to reach $64 billion by 2024. A resale report conducted by ThredUp shows that while the overall retail market has taken a hit due to COVID-19 and is expected to shrink 15% by 2021, the online reseller market is projected to grow 69% by 2021. As people globally responded to the pandemic in early spring of this year, apps like Wallapop that relied on face to face interactions had to quickly decide how to keep their customers engaged.

Based in Barcelona, Wallapop is the top marketplace app for users to buy and sell second-hand items in Spain. Since its launch in 2013, Wallapop has grown 15 million users in Spain.

Adapting to Changes in Regulations

Wallapop had to brainstorm how to keep users engaged despite the increased complications that came with exchanging goods due to the pandemic; after all, one of the main preventative measures for COVID-19 is to limit close interactions with other people. This directly inhibited the consumer behavior of Wallapop users, as buying and selling goods in person became a higher-risk activity.

With some postal offices experiencing a disruption of services and others experiencing work hour changes, it was also hard for users to ship out products they sold. To proactively prevent a dip in app usage, Wallapop launched Wallachallenge.

Using Gamification to Increase Engagement

The Wallachallenge, which leveraged gamified elements to support stronger user engagement, had one challenge for Wallapop users per week for five weeks. Users were directed to a landing page that detailed what actions—listing products, favoriting items, and opening chat messages—would warrant a prize once completed. The landing page also showed the winners from the past weeks’ challenges.

Wallapop used Braze to send out the communications about the challenge. Two forms of communication were sent weekly using the Braze Canvas customer journey orchestration feature, including one push notification and one in-app message. The first round of push notifications first communication targeted users who were active, new, or had not opened the app in the last 15 days. Users received follow-up in-app messages to nudge them to take part in the challenge; however, Wallapop used Braze target only push recipients who hadn’t participated after getting the first message.

Optimizing Cross-Channel Communications with Braze Canvas

As the pandemic began to diminish in Europe in late spring, Wallapop saw a notable increase in listings. To ensure the increasing number of people listing products felt comfortable with the entire listing process, Wallapop sent additional cross-channel campaigns educating them on how to take the best picture of the listed product, how to write the best description, and how to accurately price an item.

To optimize the Wallachallenge marketing campaigns, Wallapop tested their communications in Canvas. Using variants and a control group, the Wallapop team compared each unique group of users to see which had the highest conversion rate. This testing relied on cross-team collaboration between the marketing and business intelligence (BI) teams to assess evolving user behavior and conversion trends.

A Successful Spring of Shopping

Wallapop subsequently experienced a 31% increase in active app users between March and June. The number of shipping requests ballooned in May as shipping services became more widely available following widespread disturbances in the industry throughout the majority of the spring season.

The Wallachallenge and its related campaigns had a major impact on user engagement, driving more than 150,000 Wallapop users to participate and deepen their involvement with the app during the pandemic. Users who were targeted for the Braze-powered Wallachallenge communications carried out 235% more chats with other users and made 227% more listings on the app, compared to the control group. The Wallachallenge influenced 15% of their total chat messages during that time period and 11% of their total listings, providing key support in a challenging time.

Final Thoughts

The Wallachallenge enabled Wallapop to stand tall against the effects of COVID-19 on the retail market. By leveraging Canvas to build, test, and optimize cross-channel push and in-app messaging campaigns that informed and educated users about the five-week challenge, Wallapop was able to bolster engagement and keep customers involved even in the midst of the pandemic. Wallapop has continued ongoing testing of their campaigns following the Wallachallenge, with the goal of continuing to build on the success of their customer engagement strategies.

To learn more about how a customer engagement platform can increase your relationship with your customers and enhance your campaigns, see how Fiverr optimized their lifecycle marketing campaigns with Canvas.

FEATURED TOPICS