How realtor.com Creates Robust Messaging Campaigns With A/B Testing and Personalization

With 3 billion smartphone users today around the globe, it’s no surprise that brands are focused on ensuring that they can effectively reach customers on their mobile devices. For some companies, that means doubling down on the mobile web; for others, it means launching a mobile app. One advantage of mobile apps (besides the fact that the average adult spends 90% of their mobile time using apps) is that brands can leverage mobile messaging channels like push notifications or in-app messages to drive stronger engagement.

But while these channels can be powerful, they can also be disruptive or frustrating to customers if used without care. To explore what thoughtful, effective messaging can look like (and how to make it happen), we reached out to a brand that’s made it a reality: realtor.com. A Braze customer for almost four years, realtor.com utilizes the Braze platform to build both push and in-app messaging campaigns, as well as campaigns for web push, web in-browser notifications, and email.

Reach Consumers at the Right Time With A/B Testing

For Swati Khattri, the Senior Manager of Email & Mobile Marketing at realtor.com, A/B testing has helped her team ensure that they’re delivering content to mobile users at the right time. “Braze has allowed us to step in slowly and target audiences before we reach big audiences so that we know that we’re reaching them effectively,” Khattri explains. A/B testing provides comfort that the large push and in-app messaging campaigns her team sends out add value and do not damage their product or brand.

Consumers who deem a push or in-app message too “intrusive” or “interruptive” may delete the app. Knowing when to time messaging is a major factor in having a successful campaign. Good isn’t just what time of the day or week a message is sent out. Timing also relates to what consumer behavior will trigger a message, specifically an in-app message. One realtor.com in-app message aimed to drive consumers to rate the app in app stores. By implementing A/B testing, Khattri was able to identify the realtor.com mobile audience that was most likely to rate the app. “We’ve lifted our rating almost 10x year over year, which is a pretty big deal,” she says.

Reach Consumers the Right Way With Personalization

Once your team has gathered insights from A/B testing, the next steps in building out a sophisticated messaging campaign is to use the data to segment your customers. What Khattri values about the Braze technology is having the ability to “run all these tests and finally arrive at a segment” that fits into the consumer behavior her and her team are looking for.

The eMarketer Customer Experience 2019 report describes the shift from targeting large audience segments to focusing on smaller, more specific segments as “moving toward the segment of one”. By honing in on what similar behaviors you want to segment, you’re increasing the performance of your campaign and making it more likely that your users have a relevant, valuable experience of your brand.

Final Thoughts

Khattri notes that the Braze software puts “a lot of power in the hands of the marketers” at realtor.com. Braze Canvas, our consumer lifecycle tool, allows marketers to follow along in the consumer journey in order to create personalized campaigns that can be tested. With data points across channels, our customers can properly contextualize the appropriate times to trigger push and in-app messages. For marketers who want to further carve out a robust messaging campaign, campaign testing can be optimized by incorporating AI.

To learn more about Braze and how to take advantage of it to support smarter, more effective engagement, check out our look at the Braze vertical engagement stack.

FEATURED TOPICS