What is Braze used for?
Braze is a customer engagement platform used for cross-channel campaign orchestration, AI-powered journeys, and messaging across email, SMS, push, and in-app.
Distributed Marketing for Braze
A three-time Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader built for brands that want AI at every touchpoint.
Braze is a customer engagement platform for cross-channel messaging and AI-powered journey orchestration, built around BrazeAI. Native channels are Email, SMS, Push, and In-App, and Two-Way SMS conversations.
Who Is Braze?
Braze earned its seat at the table by treating customer journeys as living systems rather than static flowcharts. With BrazeAI woven through the platform, marketers combine AI agents, models, and decisioning at every touchpoint, shifting from campaigns that run on a schedule to programs that continuously decide and improve. Braze has been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Marketing Hubs three years running, and reports more than 2,600 paying customers as of early 2026.
Global names like IBM, Goldman Sachs, the NBA, Burger King, Wendy's, Popeyes, KFC UK, Dairy Queen, JetBlue, Qatar Airways, Sephora, and Instacart run their customer engagement through Braze, proof the platform scales from quick-service counters to boardrooms without missing a step.
Braze + SmarterSends
Within a SmarterSends integration, here is how Braze's channel capability breaks down:
| Channel | Availability |
|---|---|
| Native to Braze & SmarterSends | |
| SMS | Native to Braze & SmarterSends |
| 2-Way SMS | Enabled through SmarterSends |
| Push | Native to Braze & SmarterSends |
| In-App | Native to Braze & SmarterSends |
Audience & Segmentation
| Capability | Availability |
|---|---|
| Segmentation Assignment | Supported |
| Segmentation Builder | Supported, within Braze's native segmentation framework |
| List Import | Supported |
Why Braze Is a Great Choice
- AI-native journey orchestration through BrazeAI
- Three-time Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for Multichannel Marketing Hubs
- Enterprise-grade execution velocity, especially strong in digital-first, high-volume brands
- Trusted across QSR, finance, sports, travel, and retail
Where SmarterSends Fits In
Braze is built for a central marketing team moving fast. The moment that message needs to flow through hundreds of franchise locations or field offices, each with its own local voice and compliance considerations, Braze's enterprise architecture benefits from a distributed layer on top of it. SmarterSends plugs into your existing Braze instance and gives local operators, franchisees, and field marketers a simple, governed interface to personalize and send within corporate guardrails, plus native Two-Way SMS, inbound reply routing, response frameworks, and engagement scoring that Braze does not offer out of the box.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Braze have two-way SMS?
Not natively. Braze handles outbound cross-channel messaging at scale; two-way SMS conversation management is unlocked by pairing Braze with SmarterSends.
Is Braze a Gartner Leader?
Yes. Braze has been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Marketing Hubs for three consecutive years, through 2025.
Can franchise and multi-location brands use Braze safely?
Yes, when paired with SmarterSends, which adds local-operator controls, brand guardrails, and distributed sending on top of Braze's enterprise engine.
Let's Get Connected!
Whether you’re ready to dive in, have a quick question, or just want to chat about how SmarterSends can empower your local marketing - our team is here and excited to help!
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