Lifestyle Fintech + CDP: Altcraft & Rocketbank Case Study

In this article, we’ll share a case study on integrating Altcraft into Rocketbank’s ecosystem and how this solution brought banking and lifestyle products together in a single window.

About Rocketbank

Rocketbank is a neobank that combines the functionality of a modern banking app with a lifestyle approach and a thoughtfully crafted brand aesthetic. Rocket positions itself as a bank for people who live life to the fullest.

Rocketbank creates products that inspire people to live, where enjoyment becomes a conscious priority. That’s why the bank’s products don’t complicate everyday routines — they fit into them naturally.

Case specifics and key challenges

The CDP had to be integrated simultaneously with the bank’s core systems (core banking, anti-fraud systems, OpenAPI, RBS) and Rocketbank’s lifestyle services — Fit (a shopping platform and guide to local brands), Out (a food-and-drink service for finding venues based on your mood), as well as an AI assistant. At the same time, the data architecture had to meet strict information security and banking compliance requirements.

An additional challenge was that, at the start, the project had no communications in place at all. Every mechanism had to be launched from scratch, laying the foundation for further growth.

Special attention also had to be given to the frequency and context of communications so that personal messages would fit naturally into different user scenarios — from financial transactions to leisure recommendations.

Choosing a marketing platform and defining project goals

The key goal of the project was to unify data from Rocketbank’s banking and lifestyle services. To implement the project, the bank needed a CDP platform capable of providing:

• Omnichannel communications via CRM channels;

• Collection and enrichment of user and behavioral data to increase personalization and offer relevance, including connectivity to internal databases;

• Loyalty mechanics with bonus point accrual;

• Telephony workflows: call initiation and callbacks via integration with Genesis;

• On-premise deployment that meets banking security requirements;

• Custom integrations across communication channels, including non-standard scenarios;

• Campaign and journey setup with flexible frequency management and Webhooks support;

• Use of the bank’s own communication channels, including the mobile banking app;

• Built-in analytics and the ability to export data to external BI systems;

• Responsive technical support and the option to customize the platform for the bank’s needs.

Altcraft Platform integration: from channel setup to launching communications

To deliver the project, a data exchange architecture was designed. From the very beginning, server environments were prepared (Dev, Test, Prod). The work progressed in stages: selecting the CDP and signing the contract took 2 months; integration preparation took 1 month; the integration itself took 2 months; and testing took about a week and a half.

Altcraft Platform was integrated with the bank’s internal systems:

• API connections were set up.

• A dedicated channel was implemented — a dedicated space on the app’s home screen where action messages are displayed. When a user taps a message, they are taken to a thread with detailed information. Users can react to these messages to indicate whether they liked them, providing an additional signal for analysis and content improvement.

• A mechanism was built to trigger outbound phone calls from journeys via Webhooks. The event is sent to the telephony system and CRM, the call is placed, and the call handling status is then returned to the CDP. Based on that status, the user is automatically routed to the next journey step—an immediate callback, a callback at a scheduled time, or a message. This logic made it possible to support users efficiently during the card issuance stage.

• Customer funnel journeys and events were configured, including the key onboarding and activation stages.

• A loyalty program was implemented: awarding “rockets” (bank bonus points) via Webhooks and platform journeys. Rockets are Rocketbank’s internal loyalty currency that users can use to increase their ruble cashback. Users can earn rockets in different ways, including by completing tasks. On the CDP side, journeys were set up to trigger when users complete actions such as finishing onboarding, setting an avatar, and other steps. The journey triggers a webhook that sends the accrual data to the processing system. After a successful accrual, the system returns a response, and the CDP sends the user a notification about the rockets they received.

The team also built proprietary microservices to:

• transfer events between the bank’s systems and the CDP in real time;

• route and orchestrate complex communication journeys;

• automatically reload telephony scenarios;

• support a custom in-app messaging channel within the Rocketbank mobile app.

Delivery required close collaboration between the bank’s product, IT, and compliance teams, as well as a new integration model between the CDP and the bank’s core systems without compromising security standards. This ensured high data processing speed and platform flexibility while maintaining system reliability.

The project was delivered from January to May 2025. More than 20 specialists were involved, including a project lead, CRM marketers, project managers, analysts, backend developers, DevOps engineers, infrastructure specialists, QA engineers, and architects. Total effort amounted to approximately 473 person-hours. The project was strategically important for the company.

After the platform integration, a series of test campaigns was run and pilot communication journeys were launched. Data accuracy and trigger performance were validated.

Business outcomes

The implemented mechanics proved highly effective:

• The launched journeys brought a significant share of users back into the active funnel and became one of the main activation tools.

• A new internal communication channel in the Rocketbank mobile app increased audience engagement and awareness of the bank’s products.

• The share of opened accounts grew as users were brought back into the funnel.

• Conversion to onboarding and user activation showed steady growth: 16% of customers were returned to the onboarding stage, and 40% were guided to their first transaction. SMS performed best for bringing users back into onboarding, while in-app action messages performed best at the activation stage, as their format supports more detailed content.

• Marketing processes were launched and campaign execution was streamlined.

• Customer trust in the brand increased thanks to transparent and relevant communications.

Summary

The Altcraft Platform integration created a unified digital environment for customer interaction, bringing Rocketbank’s banking and lifestyle services together.

The project increased the level of personalization and the precision of communications, strengthened user trust, and boosted brand loyalty. Thanks to new channels and loyalty mechanics, Rocketbank achieved sustained growth in engagement, retention, and customer lifetime value (LTV).