Today’s brands are living in an in-the-moment, technology-driven, mobile-first world—and so are all their customers. To break out of old habits and transform the way you’re speaking to your customers, you need to take a hard look at the technologies supporting your customer engagement efforts.

One key ingredient you may not be leveraging? A vertical engagement stack built on real-time, streaming data. To help you better understand what a vertical stack makes possible and how to leverage it effectively, we’ve put together a seven-part content series exploring all the ins-and-outs. Enjoy!

Imagine a world where a barbecue restaurant chain could bolster slow sales and offload excess ribs at one of its locations all by tapping into real-time data to power a hyper-local promotion. Picture self-service coffee shops leveraging buyer tweets to inform product offerings and specials up to the minute. Just think how powerful it would be for an airline company to receive real-time flyer insights and, and, in an instant, create personalized offers in response. And what if retailers could tap into timely intel about local shopper preferences to improve the in-store experience?

You can stop visualizing. These are all realities.

The value of highly relevant messages has been documented: When it comes to generating conversions, they’re 600 to 700% more effective than generic messages. And if you think customers don’t spot inconsistencies across channels, think again. A majority—70% of consumer—react negatively when they receive disjointed cross-channel communications from brands. One has to wonder, why, then, aren’t more businesses working (quickly) to fix the problem? By some measures, 74% of companies report they’re unable to take action in real-time.

Responsive, personalized experiences are now not just the gold standard for customers, they are—or should be—the norm.

So, How’s Your Brand Doing?

Brands today are living in an in-the-moment, technology-driven, mobile-first world—and so are their customers. The old ways of doing things don’t hold up anymore, and responsive, personalized, truly brilliant customer experiences are quickly becoming table stakes for marketers looking to engage and build strong relationships with their customers.

When you can take a moment to reflect upon where your marketing efforts are (and where they need to be), a big focus should be on your customer engagement tools. And two questions in particular should be going through your mind. Ask yourself: Is the technology you have in place…

1. …vertically-integrated from top to bottom?
2. …built to stream data in real time?

If the answer to both those questions is yes, dig in deeper. If the answer to either one is no, it’s time to look elsewhere. Your customers will thank you.

Next Steps

Need to rethink your technology stack? Looking for guidance on what’s possible when it comes to customer engagement—and how to make it happen? For more guidance on how to build a customer engagement stack that will meet your brand’s needs, we’ve got you covered. Head over to the Braze Product page to learn how the right technology system can help you provide your customers with the brilliant experiences they deserve.