5 Questions to Ask Before Hiring A Braze-dedicated Team

Handing over your martech instance to someone else is hard, fraught as it is with so many security risks. 

At the same time, handling martech platforms is equally hard, especially if you’re just a pair of hands at the oar. Braze, the subject of today’s post, presents a steep learning curve, not to mention the technicalities associated with different marketing channels you definitely want to be leveraging. 

So, while outsourcing, you’re right to be hypervigilant. 

In our experience with 50+ Braze customers so far, vigilance is often reduced to vague notions about this and that, potentially compromising the position of the client. You need to be smart and informed in your vetting. Get this: sales representatives are smart and eloquent. In the wrong hands, you risk giving away too much for sweet-sounding assurances. 

You need to ask the right questions, and we have compiled a list of those to help you get started on a strong footing. 

1. What is your expertise and experience on Braze?

2. What are your creative skills?

3. What are your strategic skills?

4. How do you do Braze analytics?

5. What are your pricing models?

1. What is your expertise and experience on Braze?

Before asking Braze-specific questions, inquire about the team’s experience across platforms. Many a time, platform-agnostic experience comes in handy when the team faces a platform-specific quirk not covered in software documentation; at such moments, experience combined with intuition can resolve deadlocks. Now, as far as Braze is concerned, divide your questionnaire into two types: conceptual and technical. 

At the conceptual level, you want to ask the following questions:

• “Does the team have a rock-solid understanding of lifecycle marketing?”
  
• “Does the team have experience in lifecycle marketing in our niche? If the team hasn’t worked for a business like ours, what is their approach to studying a new niche/sector? Who leads the research initiative? What is their experience?”
  
• “Can the agency share a relevant case study with us?” (You can ask for a Braze-specific or niche-specific case study.)
  
• If you’re in healthcare, evaluate the team’s wherewithal with respect to ethics and compliance frameworks. 

On the technical front, ask these questions to begin with:

• “How does the team approach data management in Braze? How do you ensure data privacy while accessing customer data in Braze?”
  
• “Can the team handle Liquid templating?”
  
• “What’s your experience in executing multiple campaigns in Braze, from email to SMS to in-app messaging?”
  
• “How long does it usually take you to troubleshoot errors?”
  
• “What experience do you have in integrating Braze with other platforms?”
  
• “How many developers will be assigned for our project? Can we talk about their collective experience?” 

Now, of all these, the most urgent questions would be around data management and privacy. Take your time on this. You don’t want to proceed unless you’re absolutely convinced by the agency’s approach to handling customer data. If possible, include a trustworthy data privacy expert on the call. 

If you want to migrate to Braze from your current platform, you need to vet experts with equal seriousness. 

A good ESP migration expert/team will by default: 

• Analyze your existing marketing setup, and ask about your goals and expectations for the new platform.
  
• Draw up a comprehensive, future-proof migration plan with a focus on leak-less data migration and deliverability.
  
• Help with formulating an easy-to-understand taxonomical system for organizational efficiency.
  
• Educate you about the platform’s pricing models, and point out cost-effective measures where possible.
  
• Tell you the bitter truth that migrations can take long before sharing the most realistic timeline with you.
  
• Set up adequate testing mechanisms to pre-empt and resolve issues within the new platform. 

Braze migration is an intricate and sensitive task. However, our experts possess the requisite experience and expertise to deftly handle it, ensuring minimal downtime and a friction-free transition. As a leading Braze migration agency, we diligently transfer email lists, content and templates, folder structure, reports, marketing automation, integrations (including both data feeds and APIs), database, and schema.

2. What are your creative skills?

Managing a platform is one thing, but designing and developing content assets is a different ball game. 

So, as far as Braze is concerned, you’ll want to ask the following questions:

• “Does the team have a dedicated copywriter and designer?”
  
• “Who is the content marketing lead? How do they approach contact creation in email, push, and SMS?”
  
• “If the team has a dedicated copywriter and designer, to what extent, if at all, do they depend on AI tools?”
  
• “Do you have a Braze-dedicated email developer? Can they code responsive HTML emails? Handle Liquid scripting?” 

That last question would be the most critical in this round. Email development is challenging to say the least.

Coding emails that are not only responsive but client-compatible requires high-level expertise and considerable experience. Now, the bar gets higher if you need custom templates for your brand. If you have a unique brand identity, you’ll need onboard experts who can go beyond Braze’s library and builder foundation. 

At Mavlers, we hand-code and integrate email templates within Braze’s platform; test templates for renderability in 40+ email clients using Braze’s testing capabilities; utilize tools like Adobe Creative Suite, Sketch, Invision, Figma, and Zaplin to create editable and dynamic email templates optimized for Braze; identify and solve complex rendering issues in email clients, leveraging Braze’s Email Markup Validation. 

3. What are your strategic skills?

Strategic skills do include technical as well as top-level campaign management expertise. While you don’t need to be over-granular in your questions, you should ask the following at least: 

• “Can you design and execute custom events and attributes within Braze?”
  
• “How do you troubleshoot data integration issues?”
  
• “Does your team have a high-level understanding of APIs?”
  
• “Can you leverage dynamic content in Braze?”
  
• “Do you have expertise in A/B testing as well as multivariate testing across marketing channels in Braze?”

Custom and attribute setup is an integral part of campaigning. 

For example, suppose you want to send out a cart abandonment email. Now, if the development team implemented a checkout event but didn’t define the event properties correctly, it could lead to a host of goof-ups, like missing product IDs, timing issues (abandonment emails going post-purchase!), missing cart value, and so on. Hence the significance of API through which events and attributes get passed into Braze. 

We at Mavlers set up, execute, and manage email automation programs using Braze’s Journey Builder and Canvas; oversee the copy, design, coding, deployment, and testing of automated emails within Braze; import, segment lists, and maintain data hygiene and validation using Braze’s Audience Segmentation tools; monitor and optimize email deliverability with Braze’s Deliverability Insights and Dashboard; manage and create multi-channel automation programs, incorporating email, SMS, push notifications, and in-app messages within Braze.

4. How do you do Braze analytics?

Analytics/reporting isn’t reading tea leaves, so you’ll want to put these questions upfront: 

• “What success metrics does the analytics team track?”
  
• “How do you measure the actual impact of Braze campaigns as opposed to surface-level perusals?”
  
• “How do you interpret and prioritize variously-active funnel stages? How do you strategize around these poles?”
  
• “Can you identify where the conversion opportunities are? If required, could you bid on low-impact maneuvers?”
  
• “Since Braze allows for advanced testing, can you set up and measure control groups to evaluate campaign lift?”
  
• “Do you provide channel-specific reporting for workflows and campaigns?”
  
• “How often will you be sharing campaign reports with us?”
  
• “Do you have experience with third-party analytics tools?”

With Mavlers, you get the benefit of Cross-channel analytics and tracking of key metrics, integrated reports in Braze for a holistic view of campaign performance, and continuous optimization for optimal results.

5. What are your pricing models?

Finally, pricing, the T-Rex in the room. Before getting down to the numbers, you’ll need to determine what type of engagement model suits you. 

To begin with, consider the following recommendations: 

• Unless you have comprehensive lifecycle/growth objectives, full-time hiring may not be an ideal solution since lifecycle projects tend to have fluctuating workloads.
  
• Hiring individual freelancers can be cost-effective, but that’s because you won’t be paying for a comprehensive skill set.
  
• An agency offers a diverse skill set. While hiring an agency is relatively expensive, if you have an in-house creative team, it can cut costs to a great extent.
  
• If you have a team of marketers and strategists, you can limit the external Braze expert to consulting only. 

Coming to the numbers, depending on whether or not there is a creative overload, campaign volume, strategic feedback, and analytics needs, an agency can cost you anywhere between $3K and $12K. 

At Mavlers, we offer two types of engagement models for Braze: one-off and retainer. Under one-off projects, we build email templates, set up automation, and manage your email campaigns. The retainer engagement is ideal when you need recurring support, month on month, to drive your marketing strategy and deliver consistent results for your campaigns. 

Get Onboard with Braze-Certified Practitioners!

Mavlers is a Braze solutions partner, demonstrating our deep expertise within the platform and the value we consistently drive for our customers. From platform evaluation to achieving expert status on Braze, we partner with marketers every step of the way—driving value and helping you do work you’re proud of with Braze. We’ll make your journey in Braze seamless through our six-tier email marketing framework. 

Our team at Mavlers has successfully helped 100+ e-commerce businesses in 2023 maximize their use of Braze for email marketing. With Mavlers handling your email marketing through Braze, you can enjoy the benefits of increased revenue and customer engagement without the hassle. Let’s talk!