B2C brands are dealing with the impending loss of third-party data and related issues by spending more: 96% are increasing their marketing budgets, with some of the money going into customer data platforms (CDPs), judging by 2022 Global Customer Engagement Review, a study released Thursday by Braze.  

In addition, 42% are increasing the number of channels they use, and 38% are placing added focus on zero-party data (that shared by users) and first-party (behavioral data collected with consumer consent). 

That said, 94% of brands rate their customer engagement as good to excellent, up from 88% last year. Those that combine in-app messages and out-of-product messages via email and push see an increased likelihood to buy by 3.1 times — up from 2.1 times in 2020.

Brands can see 11.2 times more sessions by leveraging email, SMS in-app messages and mobile push, the study also finds.

Of the brands that ranked their customer engagement as “excellent/good,” 98% exceeded their revenue targets, versus 65% of those that did not. In addition, the study notes that each additional channel a brand adds to the messaging mix leads to 4.3 times more purchases per user and a 2.8 times increase in likelihood to buy. 

Only 15% now use a single primary messaging channel — down from 20% in 2020. But 33% of brands have moved to using multiple channel-specific solutions such as email-service providers or mobile messaging, versus 26% in the prior year. 

“Companies that fail to provide coordinated, cross-channel customer engagement strategies risk falling behind on business outcomes and revenue goals,” states Bill Magnuson, co-founder and CEO of Braze.  

Anonymous users — those who take action on websites without logging in, choose to “continue as a guest,” or who have no official identifier — made up 57% of new users in 2021. And 80% of these users received no messages from brands. 

Engaging these shoppers in a single channel can lead to a 5.3 times increased likelihood to buy and a 64% hike in propensity to make a repeat purchase, the study adds.

Problems remain. Data management seems to be a particular challenge with companies expressing these concerns:

• Collecting, integrating and managing data — 32%
  
• Applying data to business decisions — 31%
  
• Enabling cross-team access to relevant data in a timely and productive fashion — 30%

In contrast, some of the prior year’s main concerns have faded in importance: Only 28% are concerned with standing out in a crowded marketplace, compared to 35% in 2020, and 23% are fretting about over-saturation or burning out customers, down from 30%. 

Braze surveyed 1500+ marketing decision-makers across 14 global markets from B2C companies with annual revenue of $10 million or more. Between October 27th and November 8th, 2021. 

Loss of third-party data is moving companies to put more resources into zero- and first-party data.