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<Img
img="/uploads/trends_in_cdp_2024_bb8e8dcdff.png"
alt="Trends for 2024 in Customer Data Platform"
/>

In the modern world, user data lies at the core of innovative tools rapidly advancing and benefiting businesses. Guided by established customer behavior models and real-time insights, companies make strategic decisions, outpacing their competitors.

This happens for companies equipped with the right software aiding them in achieving data management goals and enhancing the customer experience. Is there a single solution for these tasks? Yes, there is - it's a specialized Customer Data Platform (CDP).

By 2026, the CDP market [**is expected to exceed $5.7 billion**](https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prAP50581323), doubling global data volumes.

As more resources flow into customer data, the demand for privacy, neural network capabilities, flexible management processes, and automation will rise.

## Five Key Trends in CDP Development

[**Data management platforms**](https://altcraft.com/en) have been rapidly evolving, particularly in recent years. As brands aim to better understand and efficiently engage with their customers, an increasing number of companies are turning to CDP technologies for data collection, integration, and management to create unified customer profiles. Such profiles are essential for personalizing marketing campaigns and enhancing the consumer experience.

CDPs enhance data structure and organization without the need for a complete overhaul of existing customer support systems. Businesses leveraging AI or machine learning in their operations require a reliable CDP for seamless functionality.

In 2024, several prevailing trends stand out in the CDP market.

### 1. CDPs leveraging neural networks

[**Artificial intelligence**](https://altcraft.com/blog/neural-networks-in-business-marketing-and-life) is transforming every industry, and the CDP industry is no exception. This trend is expected to continue in the near future, with machine learning algorithms becoming commonplace for data analysis, scenario creation, and planning that influence marketing strategies.

For instance, neural networks will be utilized to analyze human behavior and forecast future purchasing trends. This information will then be applied in targeted marketing strategies.

The Altcraft Platform's CDP includes [**an ML module**](https://altcraft.com/blog/altcraft-platform-updates-machine-learning-new-reports-whatsapp) called “Best Send Time.” This function aims to enhance customer service quality through a self-learning algorithm analyzing buyer behavior to determine the optimal time for sending an email to a specific subscriber. This increases the likelihood of the recipient opening the email. Predictive analytics significantly boosts marketing efficiency.

<Img
img="/uploads/best_send_time_altcraft_be3c6fa00e.png"
alt="Send Time within Altcraft"
src="Best Send Time within Altcraft Platform"
/>

Improving service efficiency through ML is a recent trend. For instance, in June 2023, Figma released a major software update. Alongside various enhancements, Figma introduced an artificial intelligence plugin enabling users to tackle tasks like generating icons on demand, creating diverse interface element variations, and modifying information within them.

<Img
img="/uploads/on_demand_icon_generation_281520c433.png"
alt="On-demand icon generation"
src="Example of on-demand icon generation"
/>

<Img
img="/uploads/on_demand_interface_generation_76f204bba3.jpg"
alt="On-demand interface generation"
src="Example of on-demand interface generation"
/>

### 2. Enhanced focus on user data protection

[**Data protection laws**](https://altcraft.com/blog/customer-data-privacy-issues-in-digital-marketing) are tightening, prompting audits to identify breaches in data collection, storage, and utilization by companies.

By 2024, CDPs are expected to prioritize data protection more rigorously. Platform providers must ensure compliance with legislation, and transparency regarding the collection, storage, and use of customer data is crucial.

### 3. Real-time data processing

One of the significant advantages of CDPs is aggregating customer data from various sources to create [**a unified customer profile**](https://altcraft.com/en/features/cdp). However, this process is time-consuming, and the obtained data may lag behind real-time information.

<Img
img="/uploads/customer_profile_in_altcraft_platform_d7720fb7ee.png"
alt="Profile in Altcraft Platform"
src="Unified customer profile in Altcraft Platform"
/>

This challenge is tackled through the development of CDPs that collect and process information in real-time, enabling businesses to make quicker managerial decisions based on up-to-date data. CDPs analyzing customer behavior online, like Altcraft Platform, gather and analyze data immediately upon receipt.

The CDP Altcraft Platform provides detailed analytical reports, allowing for campaign effectiveness tracking and informed decision-making. These include:

- Channel reports

- Traffic reports

- Goal reports

- Sales funnel

- Click map

- Return reports

- Undelivered message reports

- LTV (Lifetime Value) reports

- Audience growth reports

- Cohort analysis

<Img
img="/uploads/channel_report_in_altcraft_platform_9ab35b1279.png"
alt="Channel report in Altcraft Platform"
src="Example of a channel report in Altcraft Platform"
/>

<Img
img="/uploads/traffic_report_in_altcraft_b2f024a43e.png"
alt="Traffic report in Altcraft Platform"
src="Example of traffic report in Altcraft Platform"
/>

### 4. Demand for multichannel capabilities will continue to rise

Today, consumers engage with companies across multiple channels, including email, social media, and [**messengers**](https://altcraft.com/en/features/messengers). Consequently, to meet customer expectations, companies must ensure consistent interaction across all touchpoints.

This anticipates a surge in demand for CDPs with multichannel capabilities, such as [**the omnichannel CDP Altcraft Platform**](https://altcraft.com/en/features/omni-channel-marketing). It aggregates and integrates customer data from various channels to develop personalized marketing strategies and enhance customer service quality.

<Img
img="/uploads/channels_of_interaction_with_customers_81cf2f76ae.png"
alt="Channels of interaction with customers"
src="Channels of interaction with customers on Altcraft Platform"
/>

### 5. Priority on integrating CDP with various marketing services

In recent years, marketing automation platforms have rapidly advanced, aiding companies in [**automating marketing operations**](https://altcraft.com/blog/what-is-marketing-automation-and-how-it-affects-business-development) and personalizing strategies, with customer data utilization being a primary focus.

As a result, by 2024, integration between CDP and various marketing platforms will become inevitable. This will enable companies to leverage all customer data for developing more [**personalized**](https://altcraft.com/glossary/personalization-what-it-is-and-why-personalized-marketing-matters) and effective marketing campaigns.

<Img
img="/uploads/integration_with_other_services_ca6fa86a6d.png"
alt="Integration with other services"
src="Integration of CDP Altcraft Platform with other services"
/>

## Conclusion

Are you harnessing the benefits of customer data? Most modern CDPs come equipped with robust [**analytical systems**](https://altcraft.com/en/features/analytics) capable of storing, enriching, and analyzing data for profit generation. Unfortunately, many users are unaware of these capabilities. Currently, 59% of marketers primarily use CDPs as simple data collection and storage tools.

It's time to think bigger: CDPs are crucial in creating a unified data ecosystem, extracting insights, and implementing data-driven strategies.

Primary source: [**Lytics**](https://www.lytics.com/blog/privacy-agility-and-ai-emerging-cdp-trends-for-2024/)

*products of Meta, a recognised extremist organisation in the Russian Federation

CDPs evolve for better marketing strategies. Trends: AI-driven analysis, data protection, real-time processing, multichannel capabilities and more. 

medium_trends-in-cdp-2024.png

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thumbnail_trends-in-cdp-2024.png

trends-in-cdp-2024.png

In this article about what trends in the field of CDP should be paid attention to in 2024.

Trends for 2024 in Customer Data Platform Development

Key Trends in CDP Development in 2024

<Img
img="/uploads/Omnichannel_vs_Multichannel_854eb0a5f6.jpg"
alt="Omnichannel vs Multichannel"
/> 

Marketing communications in the digital age evolve by the day. Getting and retaining customers is all about providing a great customer experience from first interaction throughout the buyer's journey. Today, consumers wield all the power, and with just a quick skip, swipe, or scroll, they determine whether a brand stays relevant or not.

As marketers explore strategies to drive the right kind of engagement online, one critical discussion that always comes up is whether they should opt for multichannel or omnichannel marketing. But, there's one thing everyone can agree on: consumers expect a quick and seamless experience across all digital marketing touchpoints.

That said, let’s discuss multichannel vs. omnichannel marketing to determine which of the two can provide a better customer experience. After all, great customer experience yields a competitive advantage.

## Omnichannel vs. Multichannel – What is the Difference?

«Multi» suggests «many» while «omni» suggests «all». However, the fundamental difference between multichannel and omnichannel marketing has little to do with whether you’re engaging customers in several [**touchpoints**](marketing-attribution-models) or all touchpoints as they move down the sales funnel. Rather, it has to do with integration.

In multichannel marketing, the goal is to guide a consumer towards a particular goal. It focuses on getting them from one stage of the [**buyer's journey**](stroim-customer-journey-map) to another by sending a standard message through individual channels. Let's say you're issuing a promo discount code for new users; multichannel marketing involves you advertising the same promo code on several channels like your blog, social media pages, and email newsletter.

Multichannel marketing segments direct and indirect customer interactions. Direct communications are where the company proactively reaches out to the customer through direct mail or message. Indirect interactions include content pushed through blogs, websites, or social media.

Even though the marketing channels belong to the same entity, they’re inherently isolated from one another. Each channel works in a silo, with its own strategy and goals. As a result, brands that rely on multichannel marketing tend to run into miscommunication and style inconsistencies between channels.

For customers, multichannel marketing can create a confusing, impersonal experience that leaves them feeling frustrated.

Now, unlike multichannel marketing, omnichannel marketing has the customer at the center. It involves the seamless integration of branding and messaging across all touchpoints to create a more impactful customer experience. An omnichannel communication platform allows customers to determine how they’ll interact with your brand by offering:

- A consistent, identifiable brand voice
- [**Personalized messaging**](/features/personalization)
- Content that is informed by past interactions with the brand

In other words, marketers take a step back and let users define the journey for themselves – but the trip is tailored to their likes and preferences. For example, a user might get an email announcing a new product that goes perfectly with another they'd previously bought. Instead of relaying the same message through other channels, your strategy might involve offering them a [**promo code**](/features/loyalty-programs) for that exact product on Twitter and having them see a video of someone using the product on Facebook.

In both cases, the goal is to get customers to take a desired action (using a promo code). The difference is in the journey options you provide.

<Table>
| **Multichannel marketing** | **Omnichannel marketing** |
| ------ | ------ |
| Reach a user through a maximum number of channels | Gives users a seamless experience across every channel | 
| Brand is on every channel, but each channel may have different messaging | No matter which channel is used, the message is consistent |
| Doesn’t use the advantages of using multiple channels in tandem | Must be used with analytics to individualize experience to each user’s needs |
| Fragmented, inconsistent experience | Seamless, consistent experience |
</Table>

## So, Which Is The Better Option?

Brands that choose multichannel marketing do so for one reason; it's pretty straightforward. All you need is one main message and a call to action. However, this can be alienating to customers as it doesn't take their needs, preferences, or stage in the sales funnel into consideration.

An omnichannel customer experience could be the brand differentiator you need. An [**omnichannel marketing platform**](/features/omni-channel-marketing) nurtures leads and user engagement by offering audiences a diverse set of messages, incentives, or buying options, bringing the following benefits:

- **A better user experience** – Omnichannel communication focuses on the individual customer experience instead of the channel. It allows for a cohesive customer experience no matter how or where a customer reaches out.
- **Increased revenue** – Focusing on omnichannel customer engagement ensures a seamless experience for shoppers, making them more likely to buy from you.
- **Creates a consistent brand image** – Integration means you can create a cohesive brand strategy and identity across all channels, which leads to increased loyalty as customers will trust your brand more.
- **Better attribution data** – With omnichannel marketing automation, you'll be able to identify which channels work best for your brand and when customers are more likely to engage with you on their journey. Such data can be used to improve brand strategy and build more targeted campaigns.

<Img
img="/uploads/omnichannel_marketing_facts_6f9ee5c0d6.jpg"
alt="Omnichannel marketing facts"
/>

## Support Customer Engagement Across Every Channel That Matters

Customer experience is an asset to your brand – make it work for you. As mentioned, many brands opt for multichannel marketing because it's easier to execute. But, if you're looking to captivate and engage your customers on all channels, you have to leverage insights and create messages tailored to their interests and where they are on their journey.

The [**Altcraft**](/en) omnichannel marketing automation platform allows you to do this and more. You can create more targeted, effective campaigns and put your customers' needs front and center. Use data insights to drive campaigns and aid in journey planning, all while executing effective omnichannel communications from one place.

Altcraft also provides game-changing marketing automation workflows enabling you to take a more targeted approach towards marketing. You can implement various marketing processes like working with customer loyalty, cart abandonment reminders, and welcome emails. This way, you can easily create consistent yet personalized marketing messages across all channels.

Let’s discuss multichannel vs. omnichannel marketing to determine which of the two can provide a better customer experience.

large_Omnichannel vs Multichannel.jpg

medium_Omnichannel vs Multichannel.jpg

small_Omnichannel vs Multichannel.jpg

thumbnail_Omnichannel vs Multichannel.jpg

Omnichannel vs Multichannel.jpg

As marketers explore strategies to drive the right kind of engagement online, one critical discussion that always comes up is whether they should opt for multichannel or omnichannel marketing.

‎Omnichannel vs Multichannel: Which Is The Better Option?

Omnichannel vs Multichannel: Which One Should You Choose?

![Altkraft_Marketing_platform_updates..png](/uploads/Altkraft_Marketing_platform_updates_6a03693d26.png)

Sharing our platform updates and telling you what they are for.

## Visual editor

A built-in visual editor has appeared in our platform. Now you can make changes to existing templates in a couple of clicks. You don't need to be a layout designer to do this - the necessary tools and blocks are at hand.

![Visual_editor.gif](/uploads/Visual_editor_96859a19ed.gif)

All features of the Altcraft Marketing visual editor:

-   Creating a new template or making changes to an existing one.
-   Many typed blocks: adaptive formatting, banners, videos, headers, lists, menus, and more.
-   Block “AMP-carousel”.
-   Easy navigation through the HTML DOM tree.
-   Editing in device-specific adaptation mode.
-   Working with classes and styles.
-   Ability to save your own blocks.
-   Custom image storage with search and automatic loading from external sources.

## Relations between profiles

Profile relations reflect the interaction between subscribers as well as their value. For example, the connection between social network users and bloggers — “likes”, subscriptions to each other and reposts of one content. It helps segment profiles based on their relationships. They simplify and streamline this process.

Relations between subscribers can be expressed as numeric or logical values. They can also be added to the email template using special variables. For example, using them, you can form a list of your favorite bloggers.

## Static segmentation

Now you can capture segments in our platform. Previously, only dynamic segments were available in Altcraft Marketing. With their help, it is convenient to automatically segment the audience according to certain parameters. You couldn't manually add subscribers to them.

A static segment is a list you create yourself. You can upload data from your platform or CRM system. You can link a dynamic segment that will be used to create a permanent list of users. Alternatively, you can add data from some segments and exclude others. For example, to create a static segment with loyal customers of a company, you need to:

1.  Select a database that has the company's clients.
2.  Add a segmentation rule: "Make a purchase on the site monthly" or the other one.
3.  Create a segment.

If you have a separate file with loyal customers, for example, on your other platform, then you can add it to this static segment.

![Static_segmentation.gif](/uploads/Static_segmentation_b69be009ef.gif)

In the history of a subscriber's profile, you can see which segment corresponds to them now and which one they were in before. You can configure triggers and launch message chains based on this information.

## Auto subscription priority

It happens that one user registers on the site several times. The question arises: which email address should I send the message to? Previously, customers managed the priority of their subscriptions themselves. Now, this happens automatically in the platform — the last contact becomes the highest priority and receives your mailings.

If the subscription status has changed, the previous contact takes priority and starts receiving emails again.

## Custom pixel domain for the Сloud

If you need your own domain for storing cookies, you can now connect it to your account settings. The settings are checked automatically.

The good thing about your own domain is that you can store cookie data without involving third parties and additionally protect the personal data of users.

## Replacing links in already sent messages

If you used an incorrect link in the letter, and it has already left, then you can still replace the link. Users will not notice this and will go to the desired section of the site.

You can change the link in the "Settings", "Custom links" section. It is enough just to create a new link of the "Replaced link" type.

![Replacing_links.png](/uploads/Replacing_links_40c6a79154.png)

## In the next issue

In the second issue, we will talk about improving the client profile, new funnels, presets for report columns, and much more. If you are interested in one of the new features in our platform and would like to learn a little more about it, do not hesitate to contact **[us](mailto:sales@altkraft.com)**.



Here are some updates in Altcraft Marketing Automation Platform: visual editor for creating email templates, relations between clients, static segments, etc.

medium_Altkraft_Marketing_platform_updates..png

small_Altkraft_Marketing_platform_updates..png

thumbnail_Altkraft_Marketing_platform_updates..png

Altkraft_Marketing_platform_updates..png

Telling you about updates in the platform: a new visual editor, relations between profiles, static segments.

New Features of Altcraft Marketing Automation Platform

Altcraft Marketing Platform Updates. Vol. 1

![features_marketing_banks_blog.png](/uploads/features_marketing_banks_blog_948979b181.png)

Banking has always been a highly competitive market - making advertising costs never less. How to preserve your budgets and get great results from online marketing at the same time? Just follow this article to get insights!

## Digital marketing efficiency

Internet marketing is getting dramatically different when speaking about banking - as opposed to the retail sector. The instruments are quite the same, but the primary focus in strategy is on building trust-based customer relationships. One of the main fears now and ever is to lose money. Financial business here is the least transparent of all - save maybe stock trading. And, no trust - no deals. Thus banks have to explain their actions in greater detail and grow customers' financial literacy to be understood and trusted. Inbound marketing tools, such as email digests and whitepapers in a blog can pretty much do the trick.

<Note>
![features_marketing_banks_russian_stat (1).jpg](/uploads/features_marketing_banks_russian_stat_1_dd0066be01.jpg)
**Some statistics**: [**We Are Social и Hootsuite**](https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-global-digital-overview) reports 4,5 billion internet users by the beginning of 2020, as much as 118 million in Russia which makes 81% of the country's population. An average user spends 6 hours 43 minutes online: chatting with friends, browsing for news or other entertainment. That is more than 100 days per year! For Russians, the timing is 7 hours 17 minutes.
![features_marketing_banks_russian_stat_2 (1).png](/uploads/features_marketing_banks_russian_stat_2_1_fee0f9668e.png)
In 2019 Russian online audience above 16 years old made 94,4million people - as much as 79,8 percent. The rate for users above 65 increased from 26 to 36%. And for those between 50 and 64 - from 63 to 66%.
</Note>

People's life is now bound to the Internet: friends, education, news, online shopping, entertainment - and more. This becomes a challenge for traditional businesses to turn to network users and start communicating. For just to offer your products and services you need to engage people's attention. Where to start, you might ask. The first thing to build trustworthy communications - set your goals and define marketing tasks.

## Goals and tasks of digital bank marketing

We got used to receiving vivid selling emails from online shops, timely announcing stock sales or new product collections. We go to social media to know the latest tourism business news. Through targeted advertisements we get personalized offers, meeting our needs and desires. The meaning behind these activities is to draw, engage and retain customers - so they buy from you and not your competitors. All these are equally important for banking.

And the goals will look like:

- drawing and engaging potential customers;
- making deals - sure;
- retaining your customers.

Banking has always been something more than just sales. If a bank fails to be trusted - it loses customers forever in most cases. This is where customer loyalty management gets really crucial. Engage, mentor and nurture your audience - and only wisely specified marketing tasks will help you here. One does not simply attract customers' attention - not without analyzing your potential audience first. And it gets really tough to sell something when your audience cares not. Furthermore, only customers loyal to a bank will remain actual customers.

All the above thus underlines the top tasks for bank marketing:

- study needs, interests & priorities of your potential audience;
- draw people's interest to your bank's services;
- build and nurture customers' loyalty;
- convert potential customers into actual buyers.

We have even made a simple checklist for you to make it closer to reality:

1. First, we are getting acquainted with our future audience: running social and market studies, questionaries, polls, and quizzes for potential customers. Thus we get to know them better: the needs and desires, maybe dreams, - all by analyzing their responses and actions.
2. Then we use this data to draw customers' interest: content marketing, targeted ads and social media marketing are quite of help at this point.
3. The big fish biting? Time to focus his or her attention on a specific product or service - we are now trying to close a deal of course. Personalized emails and short messages, encouraging promotion codes - all these means are worth their salt. As soon as your customer gets what he or she wants - and you actually get a new customer - continue with retention.
4. And this is just the beginning - address your customers regularly by composing engaging loyalty programs, defining customer journey. Periodic [**inbound marketing**](inbound-marketing), [**chatbots**](the-benefits-of-chatbots-for-businesses) and [**social media**](self-marketing-how-to-promote-yourself-on-social-media) will not let you down as well.

*The picture of a perfect customer*:

Getting to know your audience try to visualize the picture of your perfect customer - a charachter with a name, gender and a pull of interests. Painting such a portrait mind the following:

- Demographics data - it helps greatly to foresee reactions to different offers.
- Location - knowing the country and city where your customer lives will cut costs in SMM - and skyrocket your targeting efficiency.
- Psychology - helps to gather a loyal audience by lifestyle, personal qualities and preferences.
- Social and economical data - this one is crucial for banks in audience segmentation and risk management.

You can gather the information you need by running surveys for your audience. Here you can use dedicated services, your website, polls and quizzes in social networks - or questionaries in emails. As soon as this data gets analyzed - proceed with building [**omni-channel communication strategy**](omni-channel).

## Communication channels for online marketing

### Good old Email

Email messaging is a good way to personalize your offers and present them in greater detail. Thus it is one of the best channels to build trust in customer relations. The main points here are to determine a sound strategy, finely tune sending frequency - and to compose your unique offer message. Mind that network users get rapidly bored with just accounting notifications and extra services promotions. Add a bit of what our competitors can't offer - and of what your audience wants. Use transactional mailings for important and urgent information - most of all, focus on your messages being useful.

Tinkoff bank employs Email to deliver partner marketplaces promotion codes to its customers. It also organizes interactive events and sends useful information. Messages are sent once or twice a week: this way customers don't get irritated and stay retained at the same time.


### SMS and instant messengers

Both SMS and IM messaging help you get closer to your audience. Their great feat is the ease of subscription. Actually, there is no classic subscription at all. A user doesn't need to open your website or install your app to start receiving messages from you. One simply gives you a telephone number. Notify about accounting operations, plastic cards deliveries - or verify financial operations. Not only transactional messaging: flavor these channels with updates about featured products and personal offers. Not too much though - be useful, not irritating.

### Push notifications

Push notifications pop up on network users' device screens - these can be desktops or mobile phones. They are similar to short messages: you can inform customers about new services, notify them about transactions - or verify operations. Their three big advantages - compared to SMS - are:

- low or no costs at all - push notifications are mostly free to send, as opposed to SMS;
- more information - you can add images, for example, your company logo - when verifying transactions. SMS look far less attractive delivering only text data.
- higher Open Rate - users need open no extra application - be it a messenger or a native SMS app - everything is in front of their eyes.

Push messaging helps you stay in touch with your customers, increase their engagement and loyalty towards your company. Thus a chance of further deals increases as well.


### Social Media Marketing

People come to social networks mostly to relax. They look through stories and updates while having a coffee break, in public transport or going to bed. The content here has to be extremely delicate - and catchy, at the same time. One will just miss your message if it looks the same as your competitors'. One of the great examples in Russia is HTML5 game mechanics in [**Delivery Club**](https://vk.com/video_ext.php?oid=8355063&id=456239063&hash=81c578637af2d878&hd=2) VK group. It demonstrates a good example of overall marketing gamification for social networks.

## Content marketing

Content - also inbound - marketing helps in building brand awareness and loyalty. Use your company blog to tell subscribers about trending banking products, share financial news and educational content. This way your audience will be able to make decisions that are efficient and profitable for both parties. The thing to avoid here is making boring press releases or posting irrelevant rewritten articles. Storytelling will do much better: you really have a lot of interesting and useful to say about your business, don't you? A great example here would be Tinkoff Journal. Articles there tell about financial ups and downs in an entertaining way, educating Tinkoff customers on a variety of common topics as well.

### Targeted advertising

Targeted social media advertising allows you to address different groups of your audience based on their preferences, lifestyle features, demographics or behaviour. This is where you need as much information about your customers as possible. Make a segment and compose a precise offer. Say, you want to sell more automobile loans. Then you need working men and women above 25 years old, who have been interested in buying a car during the last month. These are your potential customers, now it will be easier for your bank to address them personally and thus increase conversion.

### Technological difficulties and peculiarities

After some time, banks gather even more information on their customers than other businesses. Working with modern digital communication channels requires external services to be used. The latter include email, SMS and push sending platforms. And by many banks' security regulations it is strictly prohibited to pass any customer data to 3rd parties: the risks of leaking are too high. That underlines two major show stoppers for engagement and retention strategies.

**1. Strict security requirements.** Using external services increases the probability of personal data fraud involving third parties. This is why many financial companies prohibit messaging platforms usage. Marketers thus have to go with tools developed in-home. And these solutions often lack necessary features compared with modern online marketing software. It is rarely possible to orchestrate good-looking personalized mailings at all.

**2. Irrelevant data.** Customer' personal data is typically gathered within 24 hours from all available channels (online resources, bank offices and partners). Then it is transferred into the bank's storage or a data lake. And most online marketing platforms do not support custom integrations with data lakes or ETL middleware. So marketers request information they need beforehand - and then upload it to external services or homemade tools. These extract and load operations usually take quite a time: another 24 hours or sometimes more. As a result, some of the customers' data gets irrelevant - and that dramatically limits banks to just the basic marketing scenarios like registration confirmation or statements delivery. And this content just cannot engage or retain customers.

Online marketing has to be secure and its communication channels - available and easily accessible. This puts restrictions on banks and financial companies. If those are overcome, an effective content strategy becomes possible and you can start engaging and retaining your customers. And only an omnichannel (at least email, SMS and push) solution that can be deployed inside company's network can do the trick. It will not let any personal data leak out and can be easily integrated with company's data storage. One of these solutions is Altcraft Marketing. You can learn about it [**here**](https://altkraft.com/capabilities/en/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=statya&utm_campaign=osnovy_im_bank2).

### To sum it all up:

- No trust - no deals. If one does not trust a bank - one just won't use its services. So it is important not only to draw your potential customers' interest - but to constantly increase their loyalty towards your company.
- Before considering which digital communication channels to use define your goals and marketing tasks. The basics here are draw, engage, sell - and retain your customer. Get to know your potential audience first to get useful insights.
- Combine digital communication channels into effective scenarios. Draw attention through targeted ads, encourage sales by means of email and SMS, nurture loyalty with content marketing.
- Overcome technical challenges and automate communications with omnichannel on-premise marketing platforms.

Follow our blog updates - we'll keep you informed about the latest marketing news and useful features you can employ!

If our article was helpful - feel free to bookmark it and use it in your daily work, share with friends and colleagues on social media.


Internet marketing for banks has its own features. Learn how to apply internet marketing to finance.

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How to preserve your budgets and get great results from online marketing at the same time? Just follow this article to get insights.

How to Use Internet Marketing in Banking

Smart Online Marketing in Banks

![new_altkraft_gui.png](/uploads/new_altkraft_gui_fb9b909e5b.png)

The beginning of the year caught our team preparing a massive update for Altcraft Marketing Platform. And now we are glad to inform you: the new release is ready and running - as a cloud solution or as a package for on-premises deployment. Contact our team if you haven't yet received your update!

To introduce our platform's new features and improvements we are starting a series of articles. The first one - you are reading it right now - will be about the one thing, marketers face every day working with Altcraft. Just take a glance at the new Altcraft MP user interface. We have optimized it to provide you with flawless user experience - make your work more enjoyable and save your time.

## At an arm's reach

The new navigation menu will quickly take you where you need - it is placed on the left side of the screen and its child elements are available when you expand a parent category. For example, you can quickly switch from databases to different campaign types.

![dashboard_upper (1).png](/uploads/dashboard_upper_1_78f0e2d5ef.png)

Master settings are also available from the main menu - only for users with master privileges of course. Action audit tool is among these - a new feature for supervising Altcraft platform user activity.

<Note>
Prefer full-screen mode? Then you can minimize the navigation menu.
</Note>

Users can now upload custom avatars for their profiles. Clicking a userpic at the top right corner of the screen will open user profile settings. There you can set up access, language and notifications preferences. 

## A couple of clicks closer 

We have transformed the look and feel of Altcraft Platform's object browsers: databases, customer profiles, templates, campaigns, workflows and all other objects are now displayed as tiles with important information about each object. You will need to open object details less - and that will significantly save your time!

Don't search for object quick action icons - we have replaced them with a dropdown menu in object tiles. And when you are browsing templates or campaigns - just click a message thumbnail for quick preview.

![templates (1).png](/uploads/templates_1_638dee1dd2.png)

<Note>
Need to view or edit an object? Just сlick its name on a tile! The same is true for databases - you can quickly browse database profiles.
</Note>

You will find any object easier with the new search engine. It supports searches by name or ID - or by custom tags that you can assign to obects.  

## A framework for performance marketing

We value both your time and your marketing analytics precision. Thus various changes were made to improve and optimize Altcraft MP reports. It has become possible to display all performance indicators on one page in Summary reports - there are more than 70 different parameters, relative and absolute. All summary report settings are saved for a specific user - so you will always get only relative statistics.

Moreover, we added new grouping possibilities for deeper end-to end marketing analytics. Every report is supplied with an interactive graph representing customizable parameters as curves for daily, weekly and monthly visualization.  

![report (1).png](/uploads/report_1_3480459abc.png)

The new homepage dashboard design is aimed to provide you with the most important statistic for account groups. The upper part of the dashboard contains tiles with key performance indicators for deliveries, opens, clicks and reads - and an interactive graph for these parameters. 

<Note>
Each KPI tile is customizable - you can choose a parameter to be displayed, for example Push sends or SMS clicks. And when you select a tile - Alkraft will draw a corresponding graph with day, week and month curves. 
</Note>

The next part contains top charts for marketing campaigns with the highest delivery, open, click and conversion rates. Selecting a campaign will open a corresponding summary report with detailed statistics. You will easily detect and timely react to increased customers' interest towards specific campaigns in order to maximise your profit.

![dashboard_lower (1).png](/uploads/dashboard_lower_1_cd6f8aacc1.png)

The lower part of the dashboard displays negative performance indicators: undeliveries, soft and hard bounces, complaints and unsubscribes. You will now spend less time solving messaging problems - for you will know when something is just starting to get wrong. Clicking a campaign in negative top charts will also open a summary report for the campaign in question.

## Inside out: features driving design

Rest assured, Altcraft MP's new graphical interface is much more than a mere face-lift. It has appeared to make our awesome new digital marketing tools easy and enjoyable to use. We have developed brand new platform modules, rebuilt and improved the existing ones, optimized internal processes and applied necessary fixes. 

![workflow (1).png](/uploads/workflow_1_5d93b12dc5.png)

One of the main features to be introduced is AK Pixel, a technology stack for tracking your customers' online behavior. You can use action tracking data for precise behavioral targeting, customer scoring, sales gamification and ROI analytics with Altcraft pixel and goals reports.

However, the most significant changes happened to the customer data management system. We have replaced multiple subscribers lists with customer profile databases. One profile now contains all the necessary customer data: demographics, action history, loyalty programs and multiple omnichannel subscriptions organized into publishing resources.

Read about these and other new features in the following articles!


Read about changes in the Altcraft Marketing automation platform: web pixels to track customers' behavior on your website, performance indicators in the summary reports and much more.

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Now we are glad to inform you: the new release is ready and running - as a cloud solution or as a package for on-premises deployment!

Updated UI for Altcraft Marketing Automation Platform

Meet the New Altсraft User Interface

![ak-case-omni-channel.png](/uploads/ak_case_omni_channel_982624d298.png)

We’ve already told you about an omni-channel approach to marketing in [**our previous article**](omni-channel) our previous article</a>. Now let’s talk about how global companies put it into practice. 

Remember we’ve told you about Bank of America who closed hundreds of its branch offices in 2016. So on the next stage they launched the project “Wells Fargo”. It was a new way for their clients to withdraw cash from ATMs. Near Field Communication Technology (NFC) is built in a mobile application and enables clients to withdraw money from an ATM by using their mobile phones during a transaction. Launch an application on your smartphone near an ATM with NFC and enter your PIN-code for transaction. 

![ak-primer-ispolzovania-NFС.png](/uploads/ak_primer_ispolzovania_NFS_07a79c1d2c.png)

BankOn Mobile Video is a company that creates interactive video solutions for banks. The developers consider this technology as revolutionary in interactive services. ITM gives an opportunity to interact with a bank via video.

![ak-primer-ispolzovania-mobile_video.png](/uploads/ak_primer_ispolzovania_mobile_video_247e293f83.png)

Citi Quick Lock service enables clients to block and unblock their cards right from a mobile application without waiting and filling in additional documents. What’s more it can be done from anywhere in the world. One more technology for investment banking is a robo-advisor. It is an automated algorithmic financial planner, that increases functionality of digital channels that are available to a client. This technology analyses client’s financial situation and uses this data for valuation of client’s assets, for receiving future services and financial planning. 

## The entertainment industry. Disney as an example of customer-oriented service

*The source - [**blog.hubspot.com**](https://blog.hubspot.com/)*

![ak-interfeis-saita-disney (1).png](/uploads/ak_interfeis_saita_disney_1_e57818d3f6.png)

Disney has planned its omni-channel approach down to the last detail. Its web-site is filled up with entertainments. Besides, Disney has a special web-resource for trip planning. It is available on a web browser and mobile application. After the booking this resource helps to plan details with My Disney Experience tool. People can choose a place for lunch or can get in line for the most popular rides.
 
![ak-interfeis-saita-my-disney-experience-tool (1).png](/uploads/ak_interfeis_saita_my_disney_experience_tool_1_85df43c424.png)

Mobile application helps to find all popular sightseeings, check waiting time for rides. Another step forward is Magic Band’s release. This bracelet is a key for a hotel room, a device to store any photos with Disney heroes made by a visitor and a tool for food order. More than that, it can be integrated with Fast Pass, so you can walk freely in the park and don’t miss anything interesting.

## Augmented reality in Retail

Lego placed AR kiosks in their retail shops. So customers can scan their Lego box before buying and show their children 3D animation of their set.

![ak-lego-dopolnitelnaya-realnost.png](/uploads/ak_lego_dopolnitelnaya_realnost_bbe0e1c9fb.png)

The most important thing for any company is to give your clients what they are looking for: provide them with instant and relevant information no matter where they are and what device they use. 

Ultimately the overall objective is the same: *to attract customers offering them relevant items or services when they need them without hard selling*.



Let's talk about the successful practices of using omnichannel marketing in business by the world's leading companies.

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How global companies put omni-channel marketing into praсtice? Read more

How Global Companies Integrate Omnichannel Marketing

Omni-channel Marketing in Practice

![ak-pixel.jpg](/uploads/ak_pixel_18272726c1.jpg)

*«Who owns information owns the world».*

These words said in the 19-th century are relevant nowadays though approaches to information gathering, storage, use and protection have changed.

Amount of data about customers, its details and relevance determines the success of your communication and marketing campaign. Being a developer of an omnichannel platform for marketing automation we approach data gathering seriously. 

Altcraft platform gathers, enriches and updates information in databases by means of AK-Pixel technology. The technology is described in this article.

*AK-pixel  can gather and enrich information about registered customers as well as about potential ones.*

This information is:

- Geodata - customer’s location and timezone. 
- Interests - information about visited website and/or mobile application pages.
- Achievement of customer’s specific goal on the website, mobile application or in a message of a communication channel (email, sms, web push, mobile push).
- Information about customer’s browser and operating system. 

## AK-pixel use cases

Each Pixel is responsible for its aim and immediately transfers information about customer action.

### Option №1

JavaScript enables the transmission of information in case of desired actions on the page.User ID gets information about their actions on the website page regardless of whether their actions would bring to page reloading or following the links.

```

<script src="https://trk.eu.altkraft.com/cdn/pixel.js" async></script>

```

*The task:*

Trace customer’s actions on the website page.

For example, a customer can choose one of several targeted actions on the website: the size of the discount or stylists’ assistance.

![AK-pixel-primer (2).png](/uploads/AK_pixel_primer_2_d645f7000d.png)

*Solution:*

By placing a pixel for each action on the site we are able to enrich customer information. AK-pixel transfers information about customer’s interests to the platform. 

### Option №2

This code helps to trace the information when the page is reloading and that gives an opportunity to learn about visited web pages or mobile application page.

```

<img src="http://trk.eu.altkraft.com/pixel?k=dg2k55uX2WEw9K6oUTxTGN9uetLKEB5VswJ5RMHozyjNbQDRBKP2hWb&s=cd736e2ecf07e697&tags=Eniki,Beniki,Eli,Vareniki" style="display: none;">

```

*The task:*

To trace interest to a certain webpage or mobile application. 

For example, we start a new promo and place its banner on the main webpage and in the mobile application. Our task is to trace interest to the promotion. 

*Solution:*

Place a pixel, which allows to trace page load and send automatically the following information to the platform:

- Information about the total number of clicks on this promo.
- Information about the number of clickthroughs from the mobile application and website.
- Enrich information in a customer’s profile about their interest to theis promo. 

### Option №3

Trace information during clickthroughs. In this case a web-developer can get information about customer’s interest to the internal website links as well as the links to the partners’ websites.

```

<a href="http://trk.eu.altkraft.com/pixel?k=dg2k55uX2WEw9K6oUTxTGN9uetLKEB5VswJ5RMHozyjNbQDRBKP2hWb&s=cd736e2ecf07e697&redirect_url=http%3A%2F%2Fgoogle.com%3Fq%3Daltkraft&tags=Eniki,Beniki,Eli,Vareniki">Click!</a>

```

*The task:*

Trace customer clicks on a link or links placed on  partner’s websites, or clicks on any messages through any communication channels (email, sms, web push, mobile push). 

For example, we work with partner’s websites and we need to track what exactly interests customers who follow the link to our site. We also an track customers interests on our partners’ sites. 

![pixel-email (2).png](/uploads/pixel_email_2_fdd0b8ae2f.png)

*Solution:*
 
Place a pixel which gathers information if a customer has followed a link or several links. Gather information about total amount of clickthroughs. 

## How AK-Pixel functions are realized in the platform

You can configure a pixel in the main menu of the platform setting appropriate parameters and choosing a list (a list of customers) for the specified condition.

![new-pixel (2).png](/uploads/new_pixel_2_d64a7f80b9.png)

It is necessary to set an aim for each AK-pixel. It will allow to segment customers in details, while planning your marketing campaign. The platform makes it possible to analyse a report for each Pixel for a definite period of time.

<Img
img="/uploads/pixel_list_report_2_4324220029.png"
alt="pixel_list_report"
src="General report on Pixels for a certain list of customers"
/>

<Img
img="/uploads/pixel_tag_report_2_bcf2c189d0.png"
alt="pixel_tag_report"
src="A report on a certain aim"
/>

### To sum up,
 
AK-pixel technology gathers information about customers’ actions and interests on your website or your partners’ site, in messages through different communication channels (email, sms, web push, mobile push). The main difference from similar solutions is that all gathered data is stored on your server without transferring it to third parties. 

To see AK-pixel from the inside and check its possibilities, leave your email.

In this article, you will find out how AK-Pixel tracks customer behavior on your website and all the cases of using it.

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ak-pixel.jpg

Who owns information owns the world». These words said an in the 19-th century are relevant nowadays though approaches to information gathering, storage, use and protection have changed.

AK-Pixel: Collect Customer Data and Track Their Behavior

AK-Pixel — a Tool to Gather and Enrich Information about Customers

All user information is systematically collected in a unified customer data platform

Distributing messages across various communication channels: email, SMS, push notifications, messengers

Promo codes, bonuses, and points for building long-term customer relationships

You can create and edit any HTML template, as well as save your own custom blocks

Personalized distribution of messages to clients through communication channels

Conducting experiments and optimizing marketing strategies

Tracking the effectiveness of marketing campaigns to make informed decisions

Connecting external systems to the platform and synchronizing data with company databases

Creating questionnaires, surveys, and feedback forms of any level of complexity

The ability to communicate with your clients anytime and anywhere

Customer Data Platform

Omnichannel Marketing

Loyalty programs

HTML Email Builder

Personalized mailings

A/B/n Testing

Real-time analytics

Integration and WebHooks

Forms and Surveys

Messenger Communication

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