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Lifecycle marketing: Driving engagement across the customer journey

Written by Naomi West on March 11, 2024.

Picture a typical rom-com: it starts with a meet-cute, charts a budding relationship, and ends with the happy couple strolling into the proverbial sunset. Ever wonder what happens after the credits roll? If you look at the world from a lifecycle marketing perspective, you’ve already imagined the sequel: a satisfying, enduring relationship.

That’s what you need to build with your customers. Some people want what you have to offer, and once they experience it, they’ll stick around for the long haul if you nurture a relationship with them.

Sure, lots of marketing focuses on getting customers in the door. But with a solid customer lifecycle marketing strategy, you’re not just focused on the meet-cute; you’re tailoring every step of the journey to keep customers coming back for more.

Here’s what you’ll find in this guide:

What is lifecycle marketing?
The 4 customer lifecycle stages you need to know
Lifecycle marketing best practices
4 examples of lifecycle marketing campaigns from our team
Lifecycle marketing FAQs

What is lifecycle marketing?

Lifecycle marketing is the strategic process of connecting with customers at different stages in the customer journey. It’s a marketing approach built on personalization. As the lifecycle marketer, you tailor your messages—both what you say and the channels you use—to build connections with your customers based on how much (or how little) they know about your brand.

You might compare it to how a friendship grows: you meet (awareness), you start texting (consideration), you get together for coffee (conversion), and eventually, they’re your weekly bird-watching buddy (retention).

What is the goal of lifecycle marketing?

All your lifecycle planning should support one goal: driving engagement. You want to make customers feel connected to your brand with every interaction. Whether it’s a simple act of recommending content similar to what they’ve already enjoyed or a lifecycle email about a product you know they’ll love, the goal is to build a personal experience for each customer.

The 4 lifecycle marketing stages you’ll want to memorize

The customer lifecycle is a journey, and like any journey, it has stages. At a minimum, your customer lifecycle marketing strategy should include tactics that address four key lifecycle stages: awareness, consideration, conversion, and retention.

Customer lifecycle stages
Stage	Awareness	Consideration	Conversion	Retention
Goal	Generate new leads	Educate leads about your product or service to nurture conversion	Help customers achieve their aha moment	Increase customer activity and/or repeat purchases
Common tactics	SEO web content, like blogging, PR, paid advertising, content marketing for lead generation	Behavior-triggered campaigns across SMS, push, email, and in-app messaging, email newsletters, paid retargeting	Multi-channel onboarding and welcome campaigns, in-app tutorials, feature or product announcements	Customer feedback gathering, like with in-app surveys, referral programs, cross-sell/up-sell campaigns

Here’s an overview of what’s happening at each lifecycle stage for your customer:

Awareness stage: This is when a potential customer comes in contact with your brand who has little to no knowledge (yet!) of your products or services. They’re likely just reading your informative blog posts or downloading your valuable eBooks and reports.
Consideration stage: In this stage, a potential customer is aware of your brand and actively considers it an option. They might visit your website, read your email newsletters, and check out review sites.
Conversion stage: Your customer has done the thing! Whether your conversion metric is making a purchase, downloading your app, or creating an account, this person is now your customer. Now, it’s your job to help them find value as soon as possible with welcome tutorials, educational content, etc.
Retention stage: In this stage, your goal is to keep your customers coming back for more. Hopefully, they’ll love your product so much that they’ll be happy to spread the word! Referral programs and cross-sell or upsell campaigns are common retention strategies.

Lifecycle marketing best practices

The benefits of customer lifecycle marketing are long-lasting. You’re not only more likely to move customers from early interest to conversion, but you also have a better chance of retaining them well into the future.

A few best practices to keep in mind when crafting your lifecycle marketing strategy:

Personalization is key: Whether you’re using in-app, push notifications, SMS, email (or all of the above!), personalization is essential for connecting with customers at every stage of the lifecycle. If you have access to a customer data platform (CDP), you can use past purchases, browsing behavior, and interests to tailor your messaging. What’s more? By grouping your customers based on specific user and event data, you can address their exact needs based on their lifecycle stage. Unlike static lists, segments based on behavioral data are dynamic, meaning that users automatically move in and out of them based on their actions.
Leverage first-party data as much as possible: If you want to know something about your customers, ask them! First-party data is the information you collect directly from your customers. This type of data is highly valuable for lifecycle marketing because it gives you a complete picture of your customer’s behaviors and preferences at every stage. For example, customer profiling in the awareness stage can help you define your ideal customer profile (ICP). Conversely, use first-party data in the retention phase to help uncover churn-indicating behaviors.
Use multi-channel marketing: If you want to show up for your customers, you must communicate with them on the channels they use most. This means creating a presence in their email inbox, and via SMS, push, and in-app. Every channel can serve a unique purpose for building a relationship with your audience! Bonus? Transforming a multi-channel strategy into an omnichannel experience—where every message feels part of an ongoing conversation—will build customer retention and loyalty.
Test and iterate: Track metrics, test different approaches, and continually optimize each lifecycle marketing campaign to ensure success. Some types of testing you can explore include:
- A/B testing: Where you compare two versions of a message component, like the subject line, CTA, or image, to see which performs better.
- Timing: Where you adjust the time of day, day of the week, or frequency of your messages to find the sweet spot.
- Holdout testing: Where you hold back a test group of users to better understand how your message impacted behavior.

4 real examples of lifecycle marketing campaigns from the team at Customer.io

Campaigns are the bread and butter of lifecycle marketing. At every stage, your lifecycle marketing strategy should consist of personalized messaging that nudges customers to engage deeper with your brand.

Let’s look at different lifecycle marketing campaigns for each customer journey stage, from awareness to retention. We’ll use a real example from our very own in-house lifecycle marketing team for each step. That way, you can see how we leverage different techniques and channels along the way.

Awareness stage campaign example: The State of Messaging Report

Lifecycle marketing: awareness campaign from Customer.io

After spending months analyzing data for our State of Messaging Report, it was time to share it with the world! As part of our awareness stage campaign, we crafted an SEO-driven blog post and multiple social media posts to spread the word.

Consideration stage campaign example: A live look at our customer data platform (CDP)

Lifecycle marketing: consideration campaign from Customer.io

We strive to provide as much value as possible for the folks who’ve trusted us with their contact information.

One of the ways we do this is by hosting insight-driven webinars on various topics related to personalized, data-driven marketing. For example, when we launched Data Pipelines, we sent an email to folks who previously told us what they were looking for in a customer engagement platform. We then invited them to join us for a live walk-through of our new tool. Of course, we tailored the content of the email so that they knew the webinar would be relevant.

Conversion stage campaign example: Get set up in Customer.io

Lifecycle marketing: Conversion campaign from Customer.io

Onboarding to Customer.io requires multiple steps. To ensure a seamless experience, we send a series of behavior-based emails to help new users along. For example, if we notice that an admin has invited someone to join their Customer.io account but they haven’t logged in yet, we’ll send a quick email to nudge them to move along in the process.

Retention stage campaign example: Introducing custom objects

Lifecycle marketing: Retention campaign from Customer.io

When we launched custom objects, one of our goals was to help customers grasp the value of this feature. So, we created an optional educational email series highlighting how custom objects can improve our customers’ marketing campaigns. We launched an in-app message promoting the email series and only sent those emails to folks who actually opted in.

Lifecycle marketing FAQs (and answers!)

Why is lifecycle marketing important?

When you take the long view with your marketing and focus on the entire customer journey, you’re:

Building relationships with customers that lead to long-term loyalty instead of short-term transactions.
Strategizing beyond the initial conversion moment to ensure you always have an answer to “what’s next?” for the customer.
Proactively engaging customers, even at moments of friction, so they don’t seek alternative options based on perceived value or lower pricing.

What does a lifecycle marketer do?

As a lifecycle marketer, your job is to develop the marketing strategy for different stages of the customer journey. Some of your key responsibilities might include:

Researching to understand customer behavior and preferences
Developing segmented, automated campaigns across email, push, in-app, and SMS
Analyzing the performance of your campaigns and identifying opportunities or areas for improvement
Collaborating with cross-functional teams, like product, sales, and customer success, to deliver a cohesive customer experience

It’s worth noting that lifecycle marketers typically do not work on awareness campaigns–those tend to fall to other marketing teams. Instead, a lifecycle marketer’s responsibilities will likely fall under the consideration, conversion, and retention stages of the customer journey. But, it’s still important for a lifecycle marketer to understand all stages in order to develop a well-rounded lifecycle strategy.

Lifecycle marketing vs. growth marketing

Growth marketing, broadly defined, is an approach that leverages data to optimize lead generation, customer acquisition, and retention goals. While it’s often focused on the early stages of the customer journey, it can be crucial to your overall customer lifecycle marketing strategy. A few of the tricks in the growth marketing toolbox that can help you personalize and optimize the customer lifecycle:

A/B and multivariate testing
Customer behavior analysis
Rapid experimentation and iteration
Cross-channel performance analysis

One of the most interesting parts of growth marketing is following the ongoing debate about what exactly it means. Some people see it as part of lifecycle marketing, while others view the relationship the other way around. Some even conflate the two approaches entirely! In the end, what really matters is leveraging data to personalize your communications throughout each customer’s complete journey.

B2B vs. B2C lifecycle marketing: What’s the difference?

The lifecycle marketing process is different for every industry and company, but one of the most stark differences is whether you’re marketing to businesses or individual consumers. These audiences have distinct characteristics that will inform your strategy.

B2B vs. B2C customer lifecycle
	B2B customer lifecycle	B2C customer lifecycle
Buyer intent	Long-term investment	Short-term transactional
Decision-making process	Complex: multiple stakeholders and consideration steps	Simple: usually just one or two individuals, fewer consideration steps
Sales cycle	Longer (months or years)	Shorter (days or weeks)
Marketing focus (aka your role)	Nurturing relationships, building trust	Brand awareness and driving sales or purchases

Put the principles of lifecycle marketing into practice

Lifecycle marketing automation makes it easier to segment your audience, personalize your content, and send the right message at the exact right time throughout a customer’s journey with your company.

With Customer.io Journeys, you can trigger email, SMS, push, and in-app in real time based on who your customers are and what they do. Plus, with powerful analytics and A/B testing capabilities built-in, you can continuously refine your lifecycle strategy to drive better results. But don’t just take our word for it—try Customer.io Journeys for yourself. Start a free 14-day trial today!

Lifecycle Marketing

The developer’s guide to custom objects

Written by Cameron HayGlass on March 7, 2024.

Data-driven, personalized messaging: it’s the cornerstone of a marketing strategy that drives engagement, conversions, and long-term value. You’re already personalizing your messages with your customer data, right? (If not, get started already!) But if you’re not leveraging your business data too, you’re leaving a lot on the table.

If you want to tap into all your data, it’s time to unleash the power of custom objects. With custom objects, you can bring your many-to-many data model into Customer.io Journeys to drive personalization and segmentation in your messaging. That’s because custom objects take you beyond customer data by building relationships between people in your audience and aspects of your business.

The sky’s the limit with custom objects: you can bring in any business data that matters to you. Endless options can be overwhelming, so to help you decide what business data to use—and how you structure it in Journeys—we recommend starting with the data used for your company’s marketing and messaging campaigns.

Read on to learn how to implement custom objects in Journeys, then get step-by-step instructions for five use cases you can incorporate into your campaigns.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

How to create custom objects
SaaS use case: role-based onboarding
Fintech use case: VIP account management
Healthcare use case: appointment reminders
Marketplace use case: event promotions
Edtech use case: new-student nurture

Creating custom objects in Customer.io Journeys

First things first, let’s walk through a step-by-step for implementing custom objects.

Step 1: Create an object type

Custom objects: A look inside Customer.io's setup

Think of the object type as an umbrella category (like accounts, appointments, events, or courses) and an object as an individual aspect of your business within that category (such as specific accounts, types of appointments, individual events, etc). Every object type can have many objects (hundreds or even thousands) categorized within it.

How to create an object type:

Head to the side menu of your Customer.io workspace and select Custom Objects.
From there, click Create Custom Object; choose an object type from the list or make your own.
Give your object type a Name and choose Singular for the form.
Journeys will automatically generate a unique object_type_id that you’ll use when passing us your object’s data.

Step 2: Relate your objects to people

Custom objects: The relationship UI within Customer.io

Next, it’s time to make the magic happen: create relationships between objects and people. This is how you’ll segment people and personalize messages using your object data.

How to set relationships between objects and people:

Go to the top-right dropdown menu from the People page and select Add Relationships.
Select each person you want to relate to the object.
Choose the object type, then select each object you want to relate to the people you selected.

Step 3: Use objects in your campaigns

Now, you’re all set to leverage custom objects for data-driven personalization in your campaigns!

You can trigger campaigns based on changes to custom objects (i.e., when an account’s name is updated) or relationships (e.g. when a person becomes associated with an account).
You can create segments based on people’s relationships to custom objects (i.e., a segment of all people related to an account).
You can use objects in Liquid to trigger campaigns and personalize message content.

These instructions cover implementing custom objects using the Journeys UI—but that’s not your only option. Once you get the hang of custom objects, you’ll devise ways to harness your business data. So you can use a variety of methods to set up your objects more quickly:

Object types: Automatically create an object type with an API call.
Objects: Create new objects with a CSV import, API, reverse ETL integration, Segment group call, or Data Pipelines.
Relationships: Set relationships programmatically with our API, web SDK, reverse ETL integrations, or Segment integration.

Now that you know the nuts and bolts of custom objects, let’s explore five use cases that are especially effective for product-led companies.

SaaS use case: tailor onboarding by role

Collaboo is a subscription-based team collaboration platform. Every company has employees, some members of multiple teams, who utilize the service. Each employee is either an admin or an individual contributor (or both!), depending on the team. Collaboo wants to provide ultra-relevant onboarding for people’s different roles in their product.

Create an object type: Name the object type Companies. This will be the umbrella for all the specific companies using Collaboo.
Create objects with attributes: Three companies have just signed up for Collaboo: Acme X, Acme Y, and Acme Z, so Collaboo creates three objects (one for each company).
Relate objects to people: Now, Collaboo selects the people who work at each company and associates them with the relevant object: employees of Acme X are associated with the Acme X object, and so on.
Set relationship attributes: Collaboo creates a relationship between each person and the custom object with the attribute user_role. This describes how each person is related to each company (i.e., whether they’re an admin or an individual contributor).
Trigger onboarding campaigns: Collaboo has built separate onboarding campaigns for admins and contributors. So, they construct two segments—one for each user role—and trigger the appropriate campaign whenever a new person joins their audience.

Custom objects: SaaS onboarding message example

Fintech use case: assign account managers for VIPs

TradeUp is an online investment management service. They want to build loyalty among their biggest business customers by offering white-glove customer support, so they assign each one a dedicated account manager.

Create an object type: Name the object type Accounts—this will be the umbrella category for every business that has an account with TradeUp.
Create objects: TradeUp creates an object for each customer account they manage: Account A, Account B, Account C, and so forth. Each object is given two attributes: account_type and portfolio_amount.
Relate objects to people: Now TradeUp associates each person in their list with the appropriate Account object.
Trigger a campaign: TradeUp builds a campaign that assigns a dedicated portfolio manager to each person whose portfolio is over $10k and adds them to a monthly investment advice email tailored for their VIP customers.

Custom objects: Fintech account manager message example

Healthcare use case: automate appointment reminders

TeleWell provides virtual mental health counseling (including therapy and medication management) through a secure online platform. They need to make sure patients show up for appointments—and streamline appointment management for their doctors at the same time.

Create an object type: TeleWell names the object type Appointments—this will be the umbrella category for all types of appointments.
Create objects with attributes: TeleWell creates the appointment object and the attributes appointment_type (for therapy or medication management) and appointment_status.
Relate objects to people: TeleWell relates every patient in their audience to the appointment object and uses the attributes to differentiate between types of care.
Set relationship attributes: TeleWell outlines a relationship between each person and the custom object with the attribute user_role. This describes how each person is related to each appointment (i.e., whether they’re a patient or a doctor).
Trigger patient campaigns: Whenever a patient schedules an appointment, TeleWell triggers an appointment reminder message, personalized with the date, time, and name of the doctor—plus a link to a pre-check-in survey.
Trigger doctor campaigns: Doctors automatically get a personalized message whenever one of their patients books or cancels an appointment. TeleWell also messages a doctor when a patient completes their pre-check-in survey so the provider has all the necessary information.

Custom objects: Healthcare appointment reminder example

Marketplace use case: target event promotions

Dweller is an online marketplace for house sale listings. One of their key marketing initiatives? City tours in hot real estate markets. The next event is in Madison, WI, and Dweller needs to invite only those interested in joining that city’s tour.

Create an object type: Dweller names the object type Events—this will serve as the category for every specific event.
Create objects with attributes: Next, Dweller creates an object for the upcoming Madison tour, naming it Madison WI and giving it an event_interest attribute.
Relate objects to people: Now it’s time to relate people to the Madison WI object: customers who have added the event to their favorites or signed up to get notifications about it.
Trigger a campaign: Dweller builds a segment and triggers an event announcement in-app message to all the customers related to the Madison WI object. Because they know that highly personalized messages get the best engagement, they leverage first-party data to include a photo of a home listing in Madison that each individual has viewed on their platform.

Custon objects: Marketplace event promotion example

Edtech use case: nurture new students

CodeCamp provides live online courses for developers in a variety of programming languages. Once a student signs up for a class, CodeCamp ensures their experience is personalized and engaging. First, by stopping marketing messages that are no longer relevant, and second, by sending messages to get them ready for their first class.

Create an object type: CodeCamp names the object type Courses—this is a category for every course CodeCamp offers.
Create objects with attributes: Next, CodeCamp creates an object called Python 101, including an enrollement_status attribute.
Relate objects to people: CodeCamp will use filters to move people in and out of campaigns based on their enrollment status, associating everyone in their audience with the Python 101 object.
Trigger one campaign and stop another: Using conditional logic, CodeCamp targets students with different messages based on their enrollment status for a particular course. As soon as someone enrolls in Python 101, they’ll stop receiving promotions for it, and instead get a message containing all the course materials and instructions for joining the online class sessions. CodeCamp can also follow up with additional messages to keep students engaged as they await the first day of class! And anyone who hasn’t taken Python 101 will still be sent marketing messages for the class.

Custom objects: harness the power of relational data

These use cases should give you a solid baseline for exploring custom objects. And once you create a couple, you’ll probably come up with all kinds of ideas for bringing your business data into your campaigns. The beauty of custom objects is that they allow you to extend your messaging’s data model beyond people and into the rest of your business.

Ready to give it a try? Choose the next step in your custom objects adventure:

Customer Data

The essential guide to DMARC policies for marketers and email developers

Written by Mike Auldredge on February 27, 2024.

Email spoofing, phishing scams, and other cybercrimes are more prevalent than ever before. That’s why email authentication has become an increasingly important aspect of email marketing and communication. The Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) protocol is one of the most widely used methods for verifying the authenticity of emails. And guess what? Google and Yahoo now expect bulk email senders to have a DMARC policy.

This guide will help you understand the importance of DMARC and how to set it up. Whether you’re a seasoned email marketer or just getting started, understanding DMARC will be beneficial for ensuring your emails reach your recipients’ inboxes.

Let’s jump in!

Which DNS records relate to deliverability?

Domain-level SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records help ensure your emails reach their intended recipients by letting inbox providers know that you are who you say you are. They serve as a digital signature of sorts, proving that the sender truly owns the sending domain.

Three types of DNS records impact deliverability:

SPF (Sender Policy Framework): This record verifies which IP addresses can send emails with your domain.
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): This record adds a digital signature to your emails, guaranteeing their authenticity and ensuring that the messages you send are identical to the ones that arrive in the inbox.
DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance): This record extends SPF and DKIM, offering guidance on how to handle emails that fail authentication checks.

Ensuring these records are in place and configured correctly is crucial to maintaining a high deliverability rate and reducing the chances of misusing your domain for fraudulent activities. If you’re sending emails from the Customer.io network, we require you to create SPF and DKIM records, and we strongly encourage implementing a DMARC policy.

Why is DMARC important?

DMARC has become increasingly essential in protecting both businesses and consumers from bad actors sending emails on behalf of their respective sending domains. At its core, a DMARC policy instructs inbox providers on what to do if they receive an unauthenticated email from your domains.

How to set up and monitor your DMARC policy

Your DMARC policy is set up in your domain name registrar. The person in your organization responsible for managing the DNS records of your sending domains will need to create your DMARC policy’s TXT record.

To satisfy Gmail and Yahoo’s requirements, you must create the minimum DMARC record: “v=DMARC1; p=none“

This record says, “We have a DMARC policy, but no further instructions are given when SPF/DKIM are not aligned.”

If you are unsure if your domain currently has a DMARC policy in place, you can quickly look that up using an online tool. MXToolbox’s DMARC Check Tool is one of many options available. If your domain is configured in Customer.io, we will also let you know if you have a DMARC policy that covers a given domain:

DMARC policy: enabling it within Customer.io

To set it up is easy. Navigate to your domain name registrar’s DNS configuration and create this record:

Type: TXT
Host: _dmarc.mydomain.com (replace mydomain.com come with your root domain)
Value: “v=DMARC1; p=none“

Important note: This policy is the bare minimum configuration. For those who wish to expand this configuration, get information on DMARC policies. A DMARC policy on your root domain will impact all email sent from this domain (including any subdomains).

For this reason, start with the none policy to monitor the impact on your legitimate email traffic. Then, gradually enforce stricter policies like quarantine or reject as you gain confidence in your email authentication setup at Customer.io and any other email-sending providers you use.

DMARC monitoring

After implementing DMARC, you can regularly monitor the reports sent to the email addresses specified in the rua and ruf tags. These reports will provide insights into the sources of email traffic using your domain and help you refine your email authentication settings. All that is needed to receive these reports is to include an email address to send your daily reports to:

v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=report@mydomain.com; ruf=report@mydomain.com

rua: Aggregate reports email address.

ruf: Forensic reports email address.

Aggregate reports provide high-level statistical data about email traffic sent from your domain, while forensic reports provide detailed information about individual emails that fail DMARC authentication.

These reports are sent daily to your policy’s specified email address in the form of an XML file. With that said, the most common means of consuming and viewing the data generated from these reports is via a DMARC monitoring platform. There are a number of these platforms, and a simple Google search will help you find one that works for you.

A robust DMARC policy is non-negotiable

Email authenticity can significantly impact your business’ reputation. By carefully setting up and monitoring your DMARC policy, you not only adhere to the requirements set by Google and Yahoo, but you also gain valuable insights into the health and deliverability of your email campaigns.

Remember, a well-maintained DMARC policy adds credibility to your emails and ensures they reach their intended recipient’s inbox. That’s great for you—and your customers.

If you want to learn more about email deliverability, sign up for our 5-part email series. You’ll learn everything you need to know to become a deliverability expert.

Deliverability

Marketing for fintech: 8 strategies to drive conversions

Written by Molly Murphy on February 22, 2024.

Striking the right balance between compliance and innovation is the foundation of fintech marketing success. Not only do US-based fintech brands need to comply with SEC regulations, but the fintech market is growing—and competition for consumer attention is expanding right along with it. A strong fintech marketing strategy focused on building customer trust is more important than ever.

Of course, determining how to market a fintech company both compliantly and effectively is no easy feat. It relies on a deep understanding of your customers and having a multitude of marketing channels at your disposal. That’s how you lay the groundwork for enhanced acquisition, growth, and retention—the key to winning consumer trust over the competition.

Here’s what we’ll be covering today:

Strategy 1: Personalized messaging at scale
Strategy 2: First-party data for paid ads
Strategy 3: Advocacy and community
Strategy 4: Security and compliance messaging
Strategy 5: Optimizing for mobile
Strategy 6: Solving KYC needs with SMS and push notifications
Strategy 7: In-app messaging for better engagement
Strategy 8: Experimentation and iteration

8 fintech marketing strategies that will help you build trust at every turn

Money is deeply personal, customers are wary of risk, and plenty of people get nervous about online security regarding their financial data. That’s why you have to both talk the talk and walk the walk in fintech marketing.

Here are eight powerful fintech marketing strategies that will help you build a foundation of trust that leads to long-term customer relationships.

Strategy #1: Personalized messaging at scale

Trust is especially important when you’re dealing with people’s money. Fintech marketing campaigns need to take every opportunity to cultivate it, and one of the most effective ways to do so is through personalization.

Individually tailored content reassures customers that you really know them and that you’re handling their finances expertly. A few key ways to implement personalization in fintech digital marketing:

Accurately reflect customer data in your messages: From their demographic details (like name and location) to their account information (like balances and activity), be sure every personalized element of your messages is accurate. There’s no quicker way to lose customer confidence than to send a message with the wrong information!
Celebrate meaningful milestones: From activation to onboarding to retention, key milestones in your customers’ lifecycles mark when you cement deeper engagement. So when people reach them, celebrate! A personalized message that reflects what they’ve done and why it benefits them can engender an appreciation for the value of your product and make people feel seen.
Tailor your messages to individuals’ locations: By personalizing messages with location-specific data, you’ll ensure your messages are accurate, relevant, and easier to engage with. Schedule messages to arrive at the ideal moment across time zones, display times and dates in each individual’s local time, and if you operate in more than one country, be sure to use the appropriate currency and language.

Personalization in action: ZEN.COM’s tailored in-app survey

ZEN.COM, an all-in-one finance and shopping app, makes customer service interactions even more effective with a personalized follow-up. When a ticket is closed, they send an in-app survey to request feedback, personalizing the message with details about the resolved issue. Learn more about ZEN.COM’s in-app survey.

Marketing for fintech: example in-app survey from Zen

Customer.io pro tip: Personalize international fintech marketing

When your audience spans across countries, you have more potential pitfalls—but also more opportunities to make every message highly personalized. Explore these four ways to tailor Journeys campaigns for customers in any location:

Customize currency: Use Liquid to customize the currency displayed in your messages based on the country where each customer lives.
Format dates: You can also use Liquid to dynamically display a date in the correct format for each individual based on location.
Tailor time zones: Set up delivery time windows to schedule messages to arrive within the specific time frame you want in customers’ local time zones.
Simplify workflows: To keep workflows clear and avoid errors, create multiple workspaces within Journeys to separate audiences from different countries or regions.
Track conversions: With conversion goals, you can measure the specific outcome you want for each campaign and compare results across international markets to better understand your audience segments.

Strategy #2: Power paid ads with first-party data

If your fintech marketing strategy includes paid advertising, you must contend with Google’s phase-out of third-party cookies for Chrome in 2024. But the cookiepocalyple doesn’t have to crumble your plans! In fact, the key to successful ad targeting is the very thing that drives personalization in your messaging campaigns: first-party data.

First-party data is the direct information you collect about your customers, such as site visits, app/platform usage, customer service requests, and other activities. Try these tips for tapping into the power of your first-party data:

Use a customer data platform (CDP): This software will help you synthesize data from every touchpoint and feed it into all the tools in your martech stack.
Understand your audiences: Dig into your analytics for a nuanced view of your ideal customer profiles and behaviors.
Target your ideal customers: Use the information you have about your best customers to create lookalike audiences within ad networks. That way, you’re more likely to reach the people engaging with your ads.

Customer.io pro tip: Create targeted advertising with first-party data

Combining Data Pipelines (our CDP) with Ad Audience Sync in Journeys lets you tap into the power of your first-party data for more powerful advertising. Here’s how to do it:

Unify your customer data with Data Pipelines and send it to Journeys in real time.
Use Ad Audience Sync to connect your Journeys segments to ad networks and create targeted campaigns for your audience.

Strategy #3: Inspire brand advocacy and community

How do prospective fintech customers know who to trust? They look to the feedback and reviews of other customers! In fact, word of mouth is one of the most powerful drivers of acquisition and loyalty for fintech platforms (source).

You need to motivate passionate advocates, but how? To market a fintech company through word of mouth, try these three tactics:

Let your product lead: When you make something that delivers genuine value, it pretty much markets itself. That’s the strategy behind product-led growth; whether you follow that specific model or not, ensuring customers love your product enough to shout it from the rooftops is fundamental to building word of mouth.
Help customers share the love: The easier it is to advocate for your brand, the more likely customers will do it. Review requests, referral programs, forward-worthy email newsletters, and educational content give your customers plenty of pathways to brag about your company.
Build and nurture community: Where is your community, and how can you nurture it? When marketing for fintech, you have an eager audience of personal finance enthusiasts—connect with them! For example, when Stripe acquired Indie Hackers, it was a win-win for everyone. Stripe tapped into the passionate Indie Hackers community, and that community got more capital and resources to grow (source).

Community-building in action: Hi.com’s onboarding strategy

Web3 neo bank Hi.com knows their customers need education and encouragement as they begin their onboarding journey. That’s why they send an in-app message inviting people to their community for advice and tips from like-minded folks. Head to minute 27 of the video to hear how they drive engagement in onboarding (and beyond).

Strategy #4: Keep security and compliance top of mind

Customers need to believe in your integrity—and assuring them of your commitment to compliance builds an unwavering foundation of trust. Make it clear how you protect personal identifiable information (PII) and financial data throughout your customer communications. Here’s how:

Highlight your practices: From data security to compliance with regulations, give customers insight into your brand’s policies and practices. And don’t bury the info in a footer link—give your security messaging pride of place, explaining how your processes benefit customers.
Educate customers: In fintech, content marketing can be particularly effective because it empowers people with the knowledge they need to feel in control of their money. Educational content gives customers the why behind the how of your security and increases your trustworthiness.
Reinforce your message regularly: Bolster trust with ongoing assurance. For example, when you require a 2FA setup, tell customers why it matters. Or, in your transactional messages, reiterate how you keep information secure. Furthermore, when you send required disclosures and policy updates, go beyond the legalese and explain what it means in plain language—and why it’s important.

Customer.io pro tip: Partner with a platform that puts security first

You’ve gone to great lengths to ensure your product meets stringent security requirements—make sure the tools in your tech stack are up to snuff as well. When you use Customer.io, you can depend on best-in-class security and compliance in both our policies and technology. Learn how we keep your data secure.

Strategy #5: Optimize messaging for mobile

Your customers will receive many fintech digital marketing messages on their phones. According to our State of Messaging Report:

66% of customers prefer to read emails on their phones or tablets.
13% of brands expect mobile messaging to have a significant impact on customer engagement in 2024.
Fintech companies allocated 34% of their messaging volume to push notifications in 2023—far more than other industries.

These trends highlight the importance of optimizing your fintech marketing strategy for an audience engaged on mobile devices. Put these two principles at the core of your campaigns:

Think mobile first: When designing fintech marketing campaigns, strategically incorporate mobile messaging from the start. Instead of wedging in SMS, push, or in-app alongside email campaigns, take an omnichannel approach to create a holistic customer experience across every customer touchpoint.
Build responsive emails: Your customers check email on their mobile devices, so your messages must perform as flawlessly there as they do on desktop. Use responsive design to optimize your fintech email marketing for the devices your customers are using.

Strategy #6: Smooth out Know Your Customer (KYC) friction with SMS and push notifications

Identity verification, income confirmation, and due diligence checks—KYC steps are crucial for compliance. Still, they also introduce friction into the activation process, increasing the risk that customers will abandon your product before they can even use it.

This is where mobile messaging can save the day. An SMS or push notification can get in front of customers fast, spurring them to take necessary action. And you can combine mobile messaging with other channels to effectively guide customers through the process.

Trigger messages based on customer actions: You have a clear set of steps that customers must complete in sequence. Move them along by triggering an SMS each time they finish an action, confirming what they’ve done and leading them to the next step.
Bolster mobile messaging with other channels: SMS and push notifications call for short content with single calls-to-action. They’re great for nudging customers along a path but lack the ability to provide additional context. Complement your mobile messages with an email overviewing the KYC and onboarding process. You can also harness push notifications to bring people into your app and then greet them with an in-app message when they get there.
Choose the right channel for each message: Don’t be the brand that cried wolf; ensure your mobile messaging is timely and important—especially since it can feel quite disruptive for customers when used too often. For example, in fintech, content marketing can be very effective, but if you distract customers with unrelated content while trying to get them to complete KYC actions, they’re more likely to leave you on read.

Strategy #7: Take conversations in-app to increase engagement

In-app messages arrive at a particularly ripe moment for conversion: when customers are already engaged with your product. So when you want to spark immediate action, meet customers where they are with in-app messages relevant to their activity.

Consider these tips for in-app messages that drive conversion:

Make it personal: Personalization is especially powerful for in-app messages. By targeting messages based on what people are doing in the app and where they are in their journey, you can make customers feel as if your product was built especially for them.
Use mobile SDKs: Personalizing messages based on customer data is faster and easier with mobile SDKs, so take advantage of them to leverage customer data more effectively.
Invite conversation with surveys: In-app surveys give customers a chance to be heard—which increases their engagement—and lets you gather valuable intel about their experience—which helps you enhance your product.

In-app messaging in action: Bamboo’s success story

Investment app Bamboo crafted a multi-channel email, SMS, and push strategy for their high-frequency messaging approach but found that push notifications weren’t performing well. So they added in-app messages to the mix—and doubled conversion rates. Get the details on Bamboo’s successful multi-channel strategies.

“Messaging frequency is key for our strategy. We can’t email our customers daily, so increasing frequency with a multi-channel strategy is how we can scale message volume. The conversion rates prove that strategy is working.”

— Ugo Iwuchukwu, Head of Marketing & Partnerships, Bamboo

Strategy #8: Experiment, iterate, improve, repeat

The messaging landscape is evolving just as quickly as the fintech industry itself—what’s working today can quickly stop producing results. Whether you’re just spinning up a multi-channel strategy or already have fintech marketing campaigns using various channels, ongoing experimentation is essential.

By building experimentation into your fintech marketing strategy, you can stay on top of emerging trends and keep up with your customers’ shifting preferences. Consider testing things like:

CTA language and placement
Content, including both copy and graphics
Different channels for specific messages
Entire campaigns and workflows

Experimentation in action: Klar’s continuous improvement process

Fintech startup Klar’s commitment to experimentation has been a cornerstone of their success. By running hundreds of A/B tests at a time, they’ve made incremental changes to continuously improve key performance metrics, including boosting new-customer activation by 14%. Dive into Klar’s innovative fintech marketing approach.

Customer.io pro-tip: Employ multiple testing techniques

Journeys is built for continuous experimentation and optimization, with multiple testing methodologies available:

A/B testing for virtually any aspect of a message
Holdout testing to compare the results of sending a message versus sending nothing
Multi-channel A/B testing for email, SMS, and push

Multi-channel, personalized marketing for fintech—at scale

Ultimately, all the fintech marketing regulations and KYC mandates you have to meet boil down to trust—and that’s a two-way street. While you’re verifying your customers’ identities, they’re evaluating your credibility too. Every message gives you a chance to show them why they should trust you with their financial lives. Make it personal, connect across multiple channels, and inspire confidence that leads to long-term loyalty. Personalized, multi-channel marketing at scale will get you there.

What better place to start establishing trust than the moment activation begins? Learn how to increase conversions with our free eBook: 5 keys to better fintech KYC and onboarding campaigns.

5 keys to better fintech KYC and onboarding campaigns

Lifecycle Marketing

ZEN.COM boosts active users by 50% through targeted user segmentation and a strong value proposition

Written by Rachel Welt on February 21, 2024.

In an era of increased mobile shopping and banking from smartphones, ZEN.COM, a global fintech company, aims to make shopping, money exchange, and daily financial management more secure by streamlining them into a single mobile app. Serving over 500,000 users, ZEN.COM has seen explosive growth in the last few years and built impressive partnerships with companies like Visa and Mastercard.

But as ZEN.COM’s mobile user base grew, so did their messaging needs—they struggled to convert and activate mobile users. They did not have a marketing platform that supported their needs for in-app messaging, push notifications, or a holistic multi-channel strategy. That’s why ZEN.COM switched from HubSpot to Customer.io. In the process, the company transformed its single-channel strategy into a hyper-personalized, multi-channel messaging powerhouse.

Struggling to educate and activate mobile users

Despite a daily influx of new users to their mobile app, the ZEN.COM team faced challenges converting them. During this time, their sole method of interacting with customers was through email, focusing primarily on transactional rather than engagement topics. Their previous marketing automation tool, HubSpot, limited the number and types of messages the team could send. The tool also limited the team’s ability to optimize campaigns. They needed a new solution.

Adding educational omnichannel messaging to drive activation

After switching to Customer.io, ZEN.COM developed a multi-channel approach by incorporating in-app messages and push notifications.

Managing finances can be daunting and confusing. Recognizing this pain point for users, ZEN.COM took action. The challenges of mastering the app’s features, understanding its functionality, and staying informed about new updates and releases—all tangled with the delicate nature of financial management—hindered users from feeling secure in utilizing the ZEN Mastercard® and ZEN.COM app. Ultimately, this affected their overall shopping experience.

Combating user hesitation with education-focused in-app messages and push notifications empowered users to navigate the app confidently and manage their finances. Messaging was tailored to evoke the app’s value proposition, and segmentation enhanced personalization. By executing an activation strategy focused on engaging and enlightening users, ZEN.COM boosted the number of active users, user loyalty, and conversion rates.

You may miss out on valuable customer interactions using only one channel. In fact, there was a 47% increase in mobile messages sent last year and a 187% increase year-over-year in the usage of in-app messages! These channels provide a unique opportunity to reach users at the right time and the right place during moments of high impact. Adding them was a game-changer for ZEN.COM and could be for you, too.

Hyper-personalizing to increase user activation

While sending educational emails and in-app messages proved helpful for many users, ZEN.COM realized they needed to go further. Highly relevant messaging inspires action, but sending generic and vague messages or promoting at the wrong time can permanently drive away customers. To connect with users individually and prevent personalization mishaps, ZEN.COM utilized Customer.io’s advanced segmentation features and value proposition design to hyper-personalize their messaging with accuracy.

Here are a few cases:

Influence user behavior: ZEN.COM analyzed user activity levels within their app to trigger unique activation campaigns and promotions based on user actions.
Trigger location-based offers: They utilized location segmentation to send local offers in the local language.
Segment based on value: ZEN.COM also implemented campaigns based on customer value, enabling them to nurture customers at different stages of their lifecycle.

ZEN.COM’s use of Customer.io for personalization and user segmentation is just a glimpse of what is possible. With the platform’s unlimited attributes and events, you have nearly limitless opportunities to segment your audiences and personalize your messaging.

Maximizing the potential of multi-channel messaging

Expanding from one channel to three may seem intimidating at first. It’s no secret that multi-channel messaging takes more orchestration than a single-channel messaging strategy, but it also creates more opportunities to reach your customers where they are and with greater accuracy. Finding the right balance between sending too many push notifications (which can lead to being muted by the user) and encouraging engagement is crucial. ZEN.COM discovered this balance through experimentation. Testing variables such as segmentation, timing, language, and creatives helped refine their strategy.

ZEN.COM hyper-personalized by sending messages in the user’s language.

Pro Tip: Even when campaigns are performing well — continue testing. Testing reveals that even small variables can significantly impact the overall campaign performance. It also helps establish the necessary frameworks to enhance tactics and achieve larger goals in the future.

“The multi-channel approach allows us to test and refine our strategies through A/B testing, helping us understand what value propositions motivate our users. It’s boosting user engagement connection in general.”

— Michał Dąbrowski, Communications & Product Growth Manager, ZEN.COM

The results: An active mobile user base and a happy customer

ZEN.COM is experiencing rapid growth through partnerships and expanding its platform’s functionality. To keep up, their customer communications needed to scale quickly. Using Customer.io, they expanded their messaging channels beyond email and saw success. They saw a 50% year-over-year increase in their active user base within their app—a direct result of adding a multi-channel strategy, user segmentation, and best-in-class content to their overall strategy. By implementing robust segmentation and personalization and utilizing advanced testing and optimization capabilities offered by Customer.io, ZEN.COM has successfully elevated its marketing efforts (and business growth goals).

Your brand can see results like ZEN.COM. Learn how Customer.io Journeys can elevate your marketing today with data-first, optimized multi-channel messaging.

Case Studies

In-app messaging examples and best practices you won’t want to miss

Written by Molly Murphy on February 15, 2024.

There are many ways to communicate with your customers, but only one channel is guaranteed to reach them while they are actively engaged: in-app messaging. That’s likely one of the main reasons it was the fastest-growing channel in Customer.io in 2023. Not only did the number of brands using in-app messaging swell, but the number of sends increased by 793%, according to our State of Messaging Report.

If you’re ready to start using this channel or simply looking for inspiration, we’ve compiled a list of in-app messaging examples to help you engage your customers. As big fans of in-app, we’ve even included a few of our own messages and highlighted tried-and-true best practices for making the most of this channel. Bonus? We’ve covered how to implement in-app messaging within Customer.io. (Hint: it’s extremely easy.)

Ready to jump in?

8 examples of in-app messages
4 in-app messaging best practices
How to implement in-app messaging

8 in-app messages that’ll inspire you

In-app messages should feel like a seamless part of the UX for mobile and web applications. But, to achieve that kind of integration, you need to have a strategy in place. Tailoring your in-app messages to your customers’ behaviors and actions can make all the difference.

Here are eight ways to use in-app messages across all customer lifecycle stages: from onboarding to activation, retention, and beyond.

In-app messaging example #1: Welcome new users with must-know information

Lifecycle stage: Onboarding
Key focus: Customer education
Example industry: SaaS

Your welcome messages will set the tone for your customer’s overall experience with your app. That’s why it’s critical these messages be informative, warm, and encouraging, prompting users to explore your product further.

For example, you work at a SaaS company that provides project management software. Your welcome message should explain how your product can help users stay organized and keep their projects on track. You could also include a short video or link to a tutorial for a more interactive experience.

In-app messaging example: welcome new users

In-app messaging example #2: Celebrate customer milestones and achievements

Lifecycle stage: Onboarding
Key focus: Customer engagement
Example industry: Fintech

Moments of celebration are a great way to make your users feel positive about your app. Pick milestones that highlight value for your customers, and send them a celebratory in-app message when they’ve reached it to reward and encourage them towards the next goal! Some of our favorite milestones include customer anniversaries, birthdays, and account activity completions.

Bamboo, an investment platform, uses in-app to celebrate each step of the onboarding process while gently nudging their customers to move on to the next milestone. This helps the customer feel like they’re making progress—and gives them a clear idea of what they should do next.

In-app messaging example: Celebrating customer milestones

Pro tip: Personalize your message content using customer data in Liquid, like Bamboo.

In-app messaging example #3: Drive account activity when customers need to take immediate action on their account

Lifecycle stage: Activation
Key focus: Customer engagement
Example industry: Edtech

Need help getting customers to update their expired credit cards or finish uploading important information to their accounts? An in-app message can fix that. By sending a timely and personalized in-app message, you can nudge customers to take necessary actions without disrupting their user experience.

For instance, imagine you are an employee at an Edtech company that offers online coding courses. If a customer’s credit card payment fails, you can send them an in-app message with a reminder to update their payment information. By including an image of a course they’re currently enrolled in, you can subtly remind them what they’ll be missing if they don’t take action soon.

In-app messaging example: drive account activity

In-app messaging example #4: Create multi-language product messages for your global audience

Lifecycle stage: Activation
Key focus: Customer education
Example industry: E-commerce

Providing in-app tutorials in multiple languages can significantly improve user adoption and expansion for companies with an international customer base. By delivering messages in the language your customers prefer, you build trust and increase the chances of customers successfully using your product.

For example, LikeCard, a platform based in the MENA region with a catalog of 3000+ pre-paid gift and game cards, has a customer base spread across multiple countries. The company crafts its in-app messages in multiple languages to provide a seamless experience for everyone, regardless of location.

in-app messaging example: multi-language

In-app messaging example #5: Introduce or highlight features and updates

Lifecycle stage: Activation
Key focus: Feature adoption
Example industry: SaaS

Context is key to introducing or highlighting updates to new product features. Launching in-app messages on specific screens within your app—instead of blanketing them everywhere—helps customers better understand the value of the feature.

For example, at Customer.io, we recently changed the campaign triggers screen within our platform. We also added a new option for triggering campaigns based on the relationships between people and custom objects.

Notifying customers about the changes was important, but we didn’t want to interrupt anyone who was busy doing other things within our tool. That’s why we set an in-app message live exclusively on the new campaign triggers page. That way, customers would see it only in context while building their campaigns:

In-app messaging example: feature announcement

In-app messaging example #6: Announce limited-time access to exclusive promotions

Lifecycle stage: Activation
Key focus: Customer expansion
Example industry: SaaS

Looking to drive immediate action from your customers? Creating a sense of urgency can be a powerful motivator. By using in-app messaging to announce limited-time access to exclusive promotions or discounts, you can incentivize customers to take advantage of an offer before it expires.

At Customer.io, we launched Data Pipelines, a customer data platform (CDP) in 2023. As part of the launch, we offered customers the opportunity to send unlimited API calls for the rest of the year if they gave our CDP a try before the end of September. Over the year, we sent gentle reminders about the promotion to customers who hadn’t switched to Data Pipelines yet.

Here’s an example in-app message that we sent as the deadline was approaching:

in-app messaging example: exclusive promotion

In-app messaging example #7: Ask for feedback on your products and features

Lifecycle stage: Retention
Key focus: Customer satisfaction
Example industry: Marketplaces

Receiving 5-star reviews is great, but getting a 1-star review? Not so much. And what’s worse? When that 1-star lives permanently in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Instead, create an in-app survey to request customer feedback that can be leveraged internally, like Pet Media Group. The company launched a short in-app survey asking for feedback on the advertising feature within their tool. This helped them gauge customer sentiment while gathering actionable feedback on a key feature of their platform:

Pro tips:

Only ask customers who gave you a high score to leave an app store review. Better yet, create a segment of your super users and only send the in-app message requesting an app store review to that group.
Of course, you don’t want to ignore your 1-star reviews. Add your contact information to your in-app message so unsatisfied customers can share additional feedback with your customer service team. This information can be hugely valuable to your product team and can even help inform product changes.

In-app messaging example #8: Nudge customers about time-sensitive updates they shouldn’t miss

Lifecycle stage: Retention
Key focus: Customer satisfaction
Example industry: SaaS

Maybe you have an upcoming app outage, or there are legal billing changes that all of your customers in Denmark need to know about. Trigger messages to specific screens within your app to let people know important changes are coming. An email can be ignored, but an in-app message becomes part of the UI. Sending a pop-up they can’t miss will also preempt friction points and reduce inquiries to customer support.

For example, we recently sent a note to customers that our technical support would be reduced on January 1st in observance of New Year’s Day. While we would be back in full swing the following day, we wanted our customers to know that their questions were important to us and that we would get back to them as soon as possible:

In-app messaging example: time-sensitive update

4 in-app notification best practices to guide your strategy

Now that you’ve seen how in-app notifications can be used throughout the entire customer lifecycle, let’s dive into some best practices to help you plan and execute a winning in-app strategy.

Here are four key tips that our Customer Success team has down as non-negotiables for creating in-app messages:

In-app messaging works best when interwoven with other channels. In fact, our platform data shows that mixing in-app messaging with push notifications yielded a 417% higher ROI than in-app messaging alone in 2023. Translation? Cleverly folding in-app messaging into a cohesive omnichannel strategy is the best way to drive engagement.
Choose an in-app tool with modular SDKs. Installing an SDK directly into your app will allow you to control your messaging in one central place and ensure that your integration is always up to date. Of course, be mindful of how your app is built, and choose an in-app tool that offers the relevant SDK. Some of the most common are iOS, Android, React Native, and Flutter.
Be thoughtful about each message. When done well, in-app pop-ups fit seamlessly into the product experience. When done poorly, they can seem like a series of annoying nudges that slow a user’s momentum. So, use expiration dates to ensure your messages are always relevant. Include the option to close the message if customers prefer not to engage. And finally, choose your message type carefully. In-app isn’t just pop-ups; try an inline in-app message to ensure it blends seamlessly with your app.
In-app, like your other channels, is an incredible testing tool. By comparing two message versions in an A/B test, you can assess which elements resonate most strongly with your audience. You can also use multi-split branching for more complex experimentation, like testing multiple variables simultaneously to understand their combined effects on user engagement. This methodical approach to testing helps ensure that only the most impactful messages reach your customers.

How to implement in-app messaging within Customer.io

Customers are most engaged with your mobile or web app when they’re in it—so come out and meet them where they are. To implement in-app messaging within Customer.io Journeys, you’ll simply follow these five steps:

Turn on in-app messaging in your Journeys workspace.
Set up your branding so your in-app pop-ups reflect your company’s tone and style.
Begin using your messages in campaigns or broadcasts (remember: multi-channel messaging > single-channel messaging).
Connect your app and/or website with an in-app SDK and our Javascript snippet.
Launch!

For more details on what to do at each step of the way, check out our handy Getting Started guide.

Ready to take in-app for a spin? Start your free 14-day trial of Journeys now!

Behavioral Messaging, Message Composing

Advertising without cookies: How to survive the cookiepocalypse

Written by Matt Johnson on February 1, 2024.

By the end of 2024, third-party cookies will be blocked by default on all major browsers, including Chrome. That’s a victory for consumer privacy, as privacy advocates have been pressing Google to phase out third-party cookies for years. But advertising without cookies will also force brands to pivot away from a key information source at a time when data-driven personalization is crucial.

To stay competitive in a cookieless world, brands must adopt an integrated strategy that relies on first-party data. The great news is that first-party data is more reliable, meaningful, and ethical than third-party data and is often more cost-effective.

This guide will help you understand the changes and create a winning cookieless ad strategy.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Google’s phase-out of third-party cookies: what you need to know
4 challenges of advertising without cookies
5 opportunities of advertising without cookies

Google’s phase-out of third-party cookies: what you need to know

Google is deprecating the use of third-party cookies—aka the data advertisers use to monitor online activities and display targeted advertisements—in its Chrome browser. This process has already begun, and Google will roll it out in stages throughout 2024, with the goal of completing the depreciation for all Chrome users by the end of the year.

While Safari and Firefox have already done away with third-party cookies, Chrome’s massive market share—63.56% as of August 2023 (source)—makes Google’s phase-out of third-party cookies a true cookiepocalypse for digital advertisers.

What cookieless marketing means for brands

Marketing without cookies will reshape the advertising landscape. Brands that rely heavily on third-party cookies must make major shifts in their strategy, particularly for targeting Google ads. Using customer-provided first-party data is the way forward.

What cookieless marketing means for customers

Phasing out cookies is the logical next step in protecting consumer privacy. People want to control how brands use their personal information, and ensuring advertisers can only use the data they’ve willingly consented to share puts customers in the driver’s seat. Marketing without third-party cookies is an opportunity for brands to rewrite their relationships with customers by focusing on transparency.

Advertising without cookies: 4 challenges to be aware of

Third-party cookies will no longer give brands a window into people’s behavior across the open web. That makes it much harder to deliver personalized ads and track conversions. Customer authentication, like Google sign in, might be a solution in some situations. But it’s unlikely to be a universal fix.

To successfully respond to the cookiepocalypse, brands must make the following changes:

Challenge 1: Workflows. Marketing strategies must accommodate customers who can be individually identified through authentication—and those who cannot.
Challenge 2: Budgeting. Brands must invest in first-party data, which may mean adding new tools to their tech stack.
Challenge 3: Reporting. Brands must reevaluate which metrics to measure and how they’re calculated, including customer acquisition cost (CAC) and return on ad spend (ROAS).
Challenge 4: Conversion tracking. Enhanced attribution modeling will become more critical without third-party cookies as a data source. Brands will rely more heavily on customer engagement platforms, like Customer.io, to attribute conversions.

Advertising without cookies: 5 opportunities to take advantage of

Cookieless marketing invites brands to lean into the key drivers of long-term, profitable customer relationships: trust and choice. By aligning with efforts to increase online privacy and investing in marketing strategies that leverage first-party data, brands can realize significant gains in every part of the customer lifecycle.

Opportunity #1: Make the most of your first-party data

With first-party data, you no longer need to rely on ad networks and third-party audiences to find your target audience. Instead, you can create more personalized and relevant advertising by using the data you’ve collected from your customers.

First-party data is superior to third-party data in almost every way:

It’s the most reliable data because it results from real people interacting with your products and services.
Because you choose what to collect, you get data that’s actually meaningful to your brand.
You own your data with no ongoing fees (although you do have to invest in and maintain a system for collecting, analyzing, and using first-party data).
Customers must consent to how you use their data, so there are no privacy concerns.

You can create a nuanced understanding of your ideal customers’ needs by delving into first-party data like website analytics, app usage, purchase histories, email engagement, and other customer behaviors. Then, you can use that data to build lookalike audiences within ad networks and serve up highly relevant, targeted ads without cookie data from a third-party source.

Opportunity #2: Tap into the power of a customer data platform (CDP)

Consider adding a customer data platform (CDP) to your tech stack to get the most out of your first-party data.

With a CDP, you can collect first-party data from all customer touchpoints with your brand, including your website, apps, social media, and customer support. This data can then be organized and used to craft personalized ads that resonate.

Example: Using a CDP for targeted advertising

Imagine a healthcare app called GlucoGuide that is dedicated to diabetes management and has a wealth of first-party data from user interactions. By analyzing health log data and customer preferences, GlucoGuide knows that meal planning, progress tracking, and professional support are three features customers love about their app. Most importantly, they can see that customers leverage each feature differently, depending on their unique health goals.

GlucoGuide can then customize its ads with this valuable information to appeal to lookalike audiences. For example, they might create an ad that reads:

advertising without cookies: example ad using first-party data

Opportunity #3: Use an engagement platform that connects to ad networks

Once cookies are no longer available as a conversion tracking tool, brands must change how they track conversions. In particular, advertisers must learn how to set up conversion tracking in Google Ads (and other networks) under the new regime.

The great news is that best practices for conversion tracking using first-party data already exist. And in some cases, they’re more accurate and meaningful than traditional practices.

Customer.io pro tip:

Customer.io incorporates hyper-personalized tracking via first-party data, providing multiple tools at no extra cost:

Ad Audience Sync within Journeys uses your segments to create ad audiences on Facebook and Google. Targeted ads automatically stay current because audiences are updated every 60 minutes as people move in and out of segments. You can use it for retargeting as well.
You can use the Facebook Conversions API and Google Ad Conversions within Data Pipelines to measure, report on, and optimize conversion tracking without compromising privacy.
You can use webhooks in Journeys and Data Pipelines to pass data to or return data from virtually any public API for conversion tracking.

Opportunity #4: Try alternative options for ad targeting without cookies

Remember to experiment when considering targeting Facebook and Google ads without cookies. You can use what you know about your customers to target ads in many ways, like:

Using contextual targeting, in which you place ads where your customers already spend time, like buying ad space on a popular blog that you know your customers frequent
Using dynamic creative optimization, which creates custom ads on the fly with lookalike audiences or using first-party data
Shifting from a wide-net approach to precision targeting, where first-party data is far more effective than third-party

Opportunity #5: Rethink your performance metrics

In the absence of third-party cookies, many brands will have to recalibrate the way they measure success. Currently, it’s common to use cookie-based attribution for nearly every KPI.

Brands will need to develop new ways of tracking performance, such as:

Cohort-based measurement. A type of analysis that groups users with similar characteristics or experiences within a defined period. This approach helps understand the behaviors and performance of specific segments over time rather than viewing all users as a homogeneous group.
Incremental lift studies. This is done by comparing the behavior of a group exposed to an ad campaign against a control group that hasn’t. This approach helps measure the true impact of your ads by isolating and measuring only people they influenced.
Correlative attribution for brand awareness. By looking at the relationship between changes in ad spend and brand awareness (or other top-of-funnel metrics), you’ll be better prepared to measure how your advertising efforts impact your overall brand health.

Custom acquisition cost (CAC) and retention costs are unlikely to change, and you should actually see an improved return on ad spend (ROAS) as you transition away from third-party audiences. That’s because the fidelity of those audiences will degrade as cookies deprecate.

Embrace advertising without cookies

The cookiepocalypse doesn’t have to spell disaster for your advertising strategy. In fact, cookieless marketing can lead to a better customer experience and even more relevant, targeted ads for prospects eager to engage with your brand.

Ready to begin your new advertising journey backed by first-party data? Start your free 14-day trial of Customer.io today!

Customer Data

10 Objects Uses Cases to Leverage All of Your Data

10 incredibly powerful marketing use cases for custom objects

Written by Cameron HayGlass on January 29, 2024.

When it comes to connecting with your customers, data unlocks the kind of personalization that drives meaningful engagement. And as a marketer, you know that better engagement equals more conversions, higher revenue, and (kudos to you!) marketing success.

Enter custom objects, a powerful feature for any marketer looking to craft data-backed messages that are personalized for their audience. That’s because custom objects help you personalize messages for your audience based on relationships.

Wait what? Yes! Custom objects go beyond the usual profile data you collect about your customers—like their first name or address. Instead, custom objects let you group and categorize people based on how they relate to areas of your business. From Companies and Accounts to Appointments, Events, and Courses (and anything else you can dream up!), you can create a custom object for any data that’s meaningful to your business.

Is your business a mobile app for pet parents? Go ahead and create the custom object type Pets. Then craft a personalized marketing email for accounts where the custom object attribute is exclusively dog. You can share must-know canine content without worrying it might accidentally end up in the inbox of a cat owner (oops!).

The possibilities with custom objects are nearly endless.

We’ve compiled a list of our top 10 use cases for leveraging custom objects in your personalized marketing campaigns. We’ve organized them based on custom object type and industry so you can easily scroll to the one(s) that are most relevant to your business:

Use case	Custom object type	Example industry
Streamline onboarding	Companies	SaaS
Encourage subscription upgrades	Companies	SaaS
Drive more account investment activity	Accounts	Fintech
Assign a dedicated portfolio manager	Accounts	Fintech
Automate reminders of upcoming appointments	Appointments	Healthcare
Engaging follow-ups based on listing views	Appointments	Marketplaces
Send targeted promotions based on segments	Events	Marketplaces
Enable efficient registration and ticketing for attendees	Events	Media
Introduce students to relevant courses	Courses	Edtech
Improve progress tracking for students	Courses	Edtech

Use case #1: Streamline onboarding

Custom object type: Companies
Attribute(s) associated with the custom object: user roles
Example industry: SaaS

Custom objects use case: streamline onboarding

Imagine you have a team collaboration platform that people pay for as a monthly subscription. When a company first signs up for your service, you’ll want to send an onboarding campaign to get them set up and seeing value quickly. You can create Companies as a custom object type, then a custom object for each company that uses your platform.

Associate each individual person with the relevant company custom object, and you can trigger an onboarding campaign to reach them all! You can get even more personal by segmenting users based on attribute data like user role to customize the campaign for people with an admin attribute. For example, you might send admin users exclusive content about managing user permissions or how to access their billing information.

If your onboarding requires several steps or paperwork, you can use custom objects to easily track which companies have successfully completed each step—and nurture them with reminders as needed through the process.

Use case #2: Encourage subscription upgrades

Custom object type: Companies
Attribute(s) associated with the custom object: renewal date, user roles, plan type
Example industry: SaaS

Custom objects use case: encourage subscription upgrades

Using the same team collaboration platform example as above, let’s pretend you’re looking to create targeted campaigns that help encourage subscription upgrades.

With the custom object company filtered by the attributes renewal date, user role, and plan type, you can target admin decision-makers when their plan renewal date is coming up. To drive upgrades, you might include information about features only available on a higher tier plan—and a special offer to drive conversions.

Use case #3: Drive more account investment activity

Custom object type: Accounts
Attribute(s) associated with the custom object: account type, last investment date
Example industry: Fintech

Custom objects use case: drive account investment activity

Fintech is a perfect industry for leveraging custom objects.

Say you’re working for an online investment management service and want to encourage more regular deposits from your business customers. Create the custom object type Accounts and associate individuals to the relevant account custom object.

From there, you’ll want to create the attributes account type and last investment date. For accounts where the account type is business, you can create a targeted campaign for all individuals associated with the account based on their last investment date.

If it’s been over a month since an investment was made, you can send them a series of re-engagement emails highlighting all the benefits of regular deposits.

Use case #4: Assign a dedicated account manager

Custom object type: Accounts
Attribute(s) associated with the custom object: portfolio amount
Example industry: Fintech

Custom objects use case: assign a dedicated account manager

Using the same online investment management service as an example, you can use the account custom object to provide white glove customer support to your biggest business customers.

With the associated attribute portfolio amount you can set up a campaign to assign a dedicated account manager for any account that meets a specific investment threshold.

That account manager can add these accounts to an exclusive subscriber list for VIP investment advice and market information access.

Use case #5: Automated reminders of upcoming appointments

Custom object type: Appointments
Attribute(s) associated with the custom object: user role, appointment status
Example industry: Healthcare

Custom objects use case: automated reminders of appointments

Providing exceptional patient care is a surefire way to retain customers for any healthcare-based app. And custom objects can help you personalize the patient experience to drive engagement.

Assume you have an online healthcare app that connects individuals with care providers. You can create the custom object type Appointments and associate both patients and care providers to specific appointments once they are booked.

Further segmenting by the attributes user role and appointment status, you can create a campaign with automated reminders for patients with the time and location of their appointments.

For the care providers, you might instead send them a customized message with information shared by the patient in a pre-appointment survey. Or, you might notify the care provider if an appointment status moves from booked to canceled.

Use case #6: Engaging follow-ups based on listing views

Custom object type: Appointments, Listings
Attribute(s) associated with the custom object: appointment status, listing status
Example industry: Marketplaces

Custom objects use case: engaging follow-ups in real estate

Marketplace businesses are yet another prime example of the usefulness of custom objects.

For this example, put yourself in the shoes of an online home listing marketplace. You can create a custom object for each listing on your platform and a custom object for appointments. You then associate individuals to each specific listing and appointment whenever they book a home viewing.

From there, you can get super segmented with your marketing by using the attributes appointment status and listing status. Anytime the listing status changes from active to pending, you can immediately message individuals who’ve viewed the listing to notify them about the change.

Use case #7: Targeted event promotions

Custom object type: Events
Attribute(s) associated with the custom object: event interest
Example industry: Marketplaces

Custom objects use case: targeted event promotions

Meticulously organizing events is no easy feat. It often requires hours of planning and prep to pull off. So, you want to ensure your event marketing is just as buttoned up as the event you host. That’s where custom objects can help.

Let’s use the same home listing marketplace example as above. As a value-add to your customers, your business regularly hosts city tours in hot real estate markets across the US. The next one is in Madison, Wisconsin, and you want to invite customers who’ve shown interest in joining the next tour in this area.

With the custom object type Events, you can create a custom object for the Madison city tour. You can then relate customers to this custom object whose event interest is added to favorites or send notification. Then, you can send targeted promotions to those customers, encouraging them to join you for the city tour.

Use case #8: Efficient registration and ticketing for attendees

Custom object type: Events
Attribute(s) associated with the custom object: Event registration status, event type
Example industry: Media

Custom objects use case: ticketing and registration

The back-end operations of your events can be streamlined with custom objects. This will improve your life and your customer’s event experience.

Let’s say you work for a media streaming service that is just about to launch a new show. You’re hosting a launch party to celebrate the achievement and have invited a select group of customers to join.

With a custom object for the launch party, you can associate customers to the event based on the attribute event registration status. If a customer has the status active, for example, you can send them automated communications with information about the event, like the time, place, and what to wear.

If you’re offering both a live stream of the event and an in-person option, you can filter attendees even further to customize ticketing. For example, for those who register exclusively for the live stream, you can automatically send them a link for how to join and watch on launch day. For those whose event type is in-person, you can explain their options for print-at-home ticketing or will call.

Use case #9: Introduce students to relevant courses

Custom object type: Courses
Attribute(s) associated with the custom object: enrollment status
Example industry: Edtech

Custom objects use case: introduce students to courses

Say you have an online education platform for people to learn different coding languages. You can create custom objects for all your courses and associate people with the ones they’ve completed so far.

When you open registration for the next “Python 101” course, you can easily set up a marketing campaign to nurture anyone who hasn’t taken that class. By adding a filter to your campaign using the attribute enrollment status, you can ensure anyone whose status changes to enrolled stops receiving your marketing messages. Instead, they can move into a new campaign with course information, recommended pre-readings, and instructions for how to join online.

Use case #10: Better progress tracking for students

Custom object type: Courses
Attribute(s) associated with the custom object: assignment, submission state
Example industry: Edtech

Custom objects use case: progress tracking for students

With the same online education platform in mind, you can offer students helpful communications for continuing their course progress.

Let’s say your “Python 101” course has three assignments that a student must complete along the way: Python Basics, Python Comprehensions, and Python Debugging. You can create an attribute for each and an attribute to track its submission state. From there, you can send targeted communications based on how far along a student is with their coursework.

For example, for students with the assignment Python Basics whose submission state is pending, you can send weekly reminders to turn it in before the deadline.

Get started with custom objects

Custom objects allow you to pull in the full breadth of your business data and model it in so many different ways. If you’re wondering, “Can I use a custom object for X?”—the answer is nearly always going to be yes.

Remember that you can use custom objects for campaigns in any messaging channel (including multi-channel campaigns). So, you can use a combination of email, SMS, push notifications, and in-app messages for any use case. This opens up even more possibilities for your engagement strategy!

Bonus? You don’t need a developer to start exploring how to use custom objects in Customer.io Journeys; this documentation can get you going. Try adding a couple of custom objects and see what you can do with them today.

Not yet using Customer.io Journeys? We’d love to show you what you could do with your data—book a demo today.

Customer Data

The marketer’s guide to custom objects

Written by Cameron HayGlass on January 29, 2024.

Data is the cornerstone of personalized messaging. The more effectively you can capture data about who your customers are and what they do, the more you can engage them with targeted messages. That’s where custom objects can make all the difference.

Custom objects allow you to orchestrate your data to reach the right audience at the right time with contextual messaging. They’re a game-changer for marketers looking to deepen relationships with their customers and deliver personalized experiences at scale.

Sound enticing? Let’s explore how custom objects can elevate your marketing strategies.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

What exactly are custom objects, and how do they work?

Custom objects are versatile tools for grouping customers in meaningful ways to your business. A custom object might be an account that customers belong to, an online course they’ve enrolled in, or a recreational league they’ve joined.

What’s the difference between custom objects, attributes, and events?

You might wonder, “Aren’t custom objects just another name for attribute and event data?” Well, not exactly.

Think of attributes as individual information about a customer, like their name, age, or favorite color. Events are the actions your customers take, like clicking links, making purchases, or downloading content. Both attributes and events are valuable, but they don’t always tell you enough about your customer’s behavior or how they interact with your business for truly personalized messaging.

On the other hand, custom objects can represent anything your customers create, buy, schedule, or interact with. The result is more powerful, nuanced, and targeted messaging. You’re not just basing your messages on attributes or events but on how someone relates to the specific content of the custom object.

For example, if you work at a SaaS company, a custom object could be the account a customer is associated with, or if you work at a fintech company, a custom object could be someone’s investment type. These custom objects—each with their own unique attributes—empower you to create rich, ultra-personalized messaging for your customers.

Pro tip: Check out our introduction to Customer.io Journeys to learn more about how we delineate between different types of data.

When it comes to custom objects, it’s all about relationships

Relationships power custom objects; a customer is associated with a custom object once there’s an established relationship. For example, if a user joins an account, and the account is a custom object, then the customer is now connected to that account custom object. Make sense?

Going even deeper, if the account custom object has attributes like role type, subscription tier, or account status, you can use those attributes to create truly custom messaging experiences. We call these relationship campaigns—and they’re a game-changer for data-driven marketers.

Example use case: Meet Alice, a multi-account user who wears many hats

Let’s pretend you run a digital collaboration software business, and Alice is a customer. Behind the scenes, Alice belongs to three different accounts that she jumps between as part of her daily workflow. But, her role within each account is different: she’s the admin for one and a viewer for the other two.

In the account where Alice is an admin, you might send her messages about managing her account settings, overseeing user activities, or pricing updates. But in the accounts where Alice only holds viewer roles, you might send her messages encouraging more active engagement or highlighting features she might not be using.

Recognizing Alice’s roles in each of these accounts allows you to custom-fit messages to her interactions with each account. That’s the real power of relationship campaigns.

Types of custom objects

The beauty of custom objects is in their flexibility; you can create a custom object for anything related to your business. For example, many businesses create custom objects to represent companies, accounts, appointments, events, and courses. (Those are also the options we have pre-built into Customer.io Journeys, but you can also start from scratch if you’d like.)

What kind of data can you use to create custom objects?

The possibilities are endless! Some common data points used to create custom objects include account name, feature and product usage, plan types, and more.

Here are a few examples to get your imagination going:

B2B: Create custom objects for different companies. For instance, if one customer is associated with two companies, you can track their role at each company (i.e., whether they’re simply a user or have an admin role) using custom objects.
Edtech: Represent courses. Each course could be a custom object with attributes like course name, start date, completion date, cost, and instructor.
Real Estate: Use custom objects for properties under management or for sale listings. Each property custom object might contain attributes like location, size, price, and current status (whether it’s rented, available, or under maintenance). For-sale listings might have attributes like listing price, number of bedrooms, and square footage.
Fintech: Leverage custom objects for investment or account types. Each investment type, such as stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, can be a custom object with attributes like investment name, value, risk level, and return rate. Similarly, account types—like checking, savings, or investment accounts—might have relationship attributes like the account holder’s name, balance, and opening date.

For more ideas, check out our post with 10 incredibly powerful marketing use cases for custom objects.

3 benefits of using custom objects

Custom objects offer myriad benefits for marketers looking to level up their personalization game. Here are three key advantages:

Enhanced segmentation. With custom objects, you can create highly specific segments based on your customers’ behavior and interactions with your business, allowing you to tailor your messaging accordingly.
Personalized experiences at scale. By leveraging the attributes within each custom object, you can create truly customized experiences for customers using Liquid. From your emails to your SMS, in-app messages, and push notifications, each message can be custom-tailored to include personalized content that will help drive engagement and conversion.

Nuanced segmentation. Siloed data? Not here. By grouping your audience based on what’s important to your business, you can create more segmented, data-driven marketing content that resonates.

How to create custom objects in Customer.io

In Customer.io, you can create any custom objects from right within the UI and then send them to your developer to complete the setup.

Each of your objects is assigned a unique identifier, just like individual people, and you have the freedom to choose a name for each object you create. For instance, if you wish to use data about all the accounts your business manages, you would define the object type as “accounts.” Then, you can create individual objects for each account, such as “Acme Company.” This allows for efficient organization and management of your data.

Pro tip: See our quick start guide for a step-by-step flow of creating a custom object in Customer.io.

Ready to leverage all your data with custom objects?

There’s a big difference between having data and getting value out of it.

If you’ve been looking at your marketing automation strategy exclusively through the lens of individual customer data, you’re missing the forest for the trees.

Whether you’re looking to create ultra-personalized experiences for your audience or seeking deeper insights into customer behavior, custom objects are the key to unlocking the full potential of your data.

Learn how to put custom objects to work for your business today!

Customer Data

An introduction to the Liquid template language

Written by Michael McDonnell on January 24, 2024.

According to the State of Messaging Report 2023, 81% of brands find personalization important to their messaging strategy, and 73% say they plan on increasing their use of personalization tactics in 2024.

With more ways to connect with customers than ever, it’s no surprise that brands are turning to personalization tactics to drive engagement and help them stand out from the crowd. That’s where the Liquid template language can make all the difference.

Liquid is a powerful addition to every marketer’s toolkit. With it, you can transform the data you have about your customers into content that lines up precisely with who they are and what they do. Bonus? Whether or not you have a background in coding, it’s easy enough to become a Liquid pro, and this overview will help you get started.

Here’s what we’ll be covering today:

What is Liquid?
The three components of Liquid: keys, filters, and tags
Real-life scenario: Keys, filters, and tags in action

What is Liquid?

The primary purpose of the Liquid template language, often referred to simply as Liquid, is to insert dynamic content into static templates. Liquid has three primary components: keys, filters, and tags. They work together to determine what dynamic content is displayed and how it looks upon receipt (more on that below).

Being an open-source language, anyone can modify Liquid and make new versions—and many folks have! Today, it’s widely used for web and email marketing, and many people have molded Liquid to meet their needs.

The three main components of Liquid

Keys, filters, and tags each play a distinct role in the Liquid templating language, and you’ll need to understand all three if you want to leverage the full potential of Liquid. Let’s jump into an overview of each component.

What are Liquid keys?

At their simplest, keys, also known as objects, are containers for dynamic data enclosed in double curly braces, like this: {{ key goes here }}. For example, if customer is the key and the value it refers to is a customer’s name, it would be written like this:

Hi {{customer.first_name}},

If the customer’s name were lee, it would render like this:

Hi lee,

Keys can also contain a collection of other keys. For example, the key may be customer but within that key, you might nest options for first_name and last_name. To include both names in your messaging, you’d then need to reference the primary key, customer, and both the first_name and last_name keys using dot notation to separate each one:

Hi {{customer.first_name}}{{ customer.last_name}},

Pro tips:

Keys can only contain letters and numbers. To avoid unnecessary added complexity, we strongly recommend using an underscore instead of a space when creating key names, like this: first_name. If you include spaces in key names, you must enclose the key in square brackets every time you reference it, or your code will break. Here’s how that looks: {{ customer["first name"] }}
An understanding of JSON is required for a key to reference a collection of keys. We cover that in-depth in our guide to intermediate and advanced Liquid.
Putting a space on either side of the key within its curly braces is common; it makes your code easier to read—but you can leave the spaces out without breaking anything.

What are Liquid filters?

Filters are used to modify the output of Liquid. To give you a few examples, you might use filters to:

Capitalize a word (like a person’s name)
Calculate the end date of a free trial
Convert a timestamp to a date that’s easy on the eyes

Filters always go after the key inside the double curly braces. For example, if you’d like to capitalize the person’s name, simply write capitalize after a pipe character (|) within a key’s curly braces. It would look like this:

Hi {{customer.first_name | capitalize}},

Keeping the same value of lee as the example, the output now would end up like this:

Hi Lee,

Pro tip: You can use as many filters as you like for each key. Just remember: Liquid will apply the filters from left to right. For example:

{{ key.key | filter | filter }

Sometimes, the order in which you list filters makes no difference—like when you apply the capitalize and strip filters to the same key to capitalize a name and eliminate whitespace. But other times, filters do more complex manipulations, like math calculations. In that situation, filter order matters a lot.

What are Liquid tags?

Tags allow you to level up your Liquid output with a layer of logic. They’re always enclosed in curly braces with percentage signs: {% tag goes here %}. In general, tags use true-or-false (aka, Boolean) logic to determine the output to display. They tell Liquid that if a specific condition is true, then Liquid should display a particular output. If the condition is false, Liquid should move on.

Tags can include conditional and logical operators, influencing how and what content is displayed in messaging. Here’s an overview of a few common operators you might use:

`==`	equals
`!=`	does not equal
`>`	greater than
`<`	less than
`>=`	greater than or equal to
`<=`	less than or equal to
`or`	logical or
`and`	logical and

For example, you can use tags to add conditional statements, like creating a personalized greeting when you know the customer’s name and a generic greeting when you don’t:

{% if customer.first_name != blank %}
Hi {{customer.first_name}},
{% else %}
Hi friend,
{% endif %}

If your data source has a value for the customer name, like Lee, the output is:

Hi Lee,

But if you don’t have that customer’s name, you can specify what the output should be in lieu:

Hi friend,

Pro tip:

With tags, like in the example above, you can include a “fallback statement,” which is simply a bit of code that tells Liquid what to do if the value of a key is empty (e.g., you don’t have any data for the value the key is trying to reference). There are various fallback statements you can use depending on what kind of value you’re dealing with; in this example, we’ve used the operator !=blank in the code to tell Liquid what to do if the value of the name key is blank.

Real-life scenario: keys, tags, and filters in action

Now let’s apply all three components of Liquid to a real-life scenario: a customer who’s just ordered a dog leash from your online store, Tip Top Pets.

Let’s pretend you’re preparing a confirmation email for whenever a customer makes a purchase, which will have both static (always the same) and dynamic (personalized for each email) content.

Since you sell cat and dog products, you want to say one thing if your customer owns a dog but something different if they own a cat. And if you don’t know what kind of pet they have, you need a default third option that covers all your bases (who knows, maybe they bought that leash for an unruly sea urchin!).

You have the following keys about your client. In this example, each key contains several other keys:

Liquid template language: key values about a client

So, you come up with three sentences, one for each possible scenario. In this case, Spot is a dog, so we’ll start the body copy with: “Ruff ruff! We’ve received your order!” We know Spot is a dog because dog is the value of the customer.pet.pet_type key.

Let’s see how the key, filter, and tag work together to dynamically select the right content:

{% if customer.pet.pet_type == "dog" %}
Hi {{ customer.first_name | capitalize }},
Ruff ruff! We’ve received your order! Hope {{ customer.pet.pet_name }} loves your purchase!
{% elsif customer.pet.pet_type == "cat" %}
Hi {{ customer.first_name | capitalize }},
Meow! We’ve received your order! Hope {{ customer.pet.pet_name }} loves your purchase!
{% else %}
Hooray! We’ve received your order! Hope your pet loves your purchase!
{% endif %}

The various outputs would then look like this:

Hi Lee,
Ruff ruff! We’ve received your order! Hope Spot loves your purchase!

Hi Lee,
Meow! We’ve received your order! Hope Luna loves your purchase!

Hooray! We’ve received your order! Hope your pet loves your purchase!

Liquid: a powerful tool for personalization

There’s no doubt that the Liquid template language can empower you to seamlessly transform your customer data into powerful, personalized messages. With keys, filters, and tags, you can create content that reaches your customers at the right time with the right message.

But this is only the beginning.

With intermediate and advanced Liquid techniques, you can leverage complex data structures in your messaging, implement conditional statements with finesse, and orchestrate the most nuanced content campaigns.

Ready to take up a notch? Grab our two-part guide to intermediate and advanced Liquid.

Message Composing