Cho Tot is Vietnam’s leading online classifieds marketplace, with over a million unique visitors per month buying and selling electronics, automobiles, and more. Since launching in 2012, the site and app have thrived in the face of fierce competition. Because user loyalty to any single platform is low, Cho Tot realized they needed to prioritize their customer engagement practices in order to secure their user base. With a more personalized strategy, past users could be brought back in courtesy of content identified by their previous browsing data and transactions. So they turned to Braze.

First Impressions

Onboarding was identified as a pivotal opportunity for engaging consumers. After a first initial attempt marked by low completion rates and high quit app rates, Cho Tot was very conscious with the onboarding design the second time around. Cho Tot wanted to customize the experience that users had when coming to the service, as well as communicate the value proposition of the company to different kinds of users. However, if they followed the normal process they used to launch features (design to prototype to user validation to code to release app to analyze to code to release app again), it was going to take a lot of effort and time, during which they would continue to lose users. They needed to find a better, quicker solution.

Enter in-app messages (IAM). By utilizing IAM with customized HTML, the process went from 4 weeks to 1 week, and they only needed one developer. They were also able to test 4 types of onboarding flows before launch. Ultimately, Cho Tot landed on three main types—Buyers, Sellers and Browsers. They then developed unique strategies to coax each of these types back onto their service, using a customized onboarding flow. By segmenting consumers, they could use data to provide a more valuable and sticky experience.

Additionally, Cho Tot recognized that personalized content is one of the most critical elements for building user engagement. In order to deliver that experience, the team successfully built a Machine Learning (ML) model that can provide users with highly personalized recommendations based on their behavior. Using Connected Content, the Braze platform’s dynamic content tool, they were able to connect their ML feature API to automatically create and send push notifications with advanced recommendations. The push notifications included product names, seller names, and price, and since they were connected via API, they were able to update automatically.

Cho Tot Results: The Human Touch

Braze enabled Cho Tot to leverage creativity and their knowledge of the classified marketplace to engage users through content. The segmented onboarding journeys resulted in a 30% completion rate, while the personalized push notifications had a 50% direct open rate.

“We knew we needed to revamp our app onboarding, but didn’t have the four weeks it usually takes to launch new features,” said Thuy Dong Thu, Product Manager at Cho Tot. “With Braze, we were able to set up a new onboarding campaign in under a week, and immediately saw huge improvements.”

Final Thoughts

Users are tired of being treated like interchangeable cogs in an e-commerce machine. Personalizing the way they are reached with messaging that captures their interests and subtly acknowledges their past behavior makes their experience seem more human. Cho Tot created an environment where users felt they were being connected with each other invisibly through their behavior and preferences.

Relationship building is a vital part of any service-based industry. Read our new report with Tealium on how financial service companies in the APAC region are leveraging user data to engage consumers and deliver brilliant experiences.