India, more than other markets, faces challenges in navigating the increasingly complex market tools that have become mainstream, Ankur Gattani, Chief Growth Officer at WebEngage, said while adding that while these tools, often offered by large international companies, still play a significant role in India, they are expensive and underutilised.
However, brands are beginning to recognise the need to optimise their use and to address this, many are turning to more agile solutions, like WebEngage, to bridge the gap, Gattani emphasised.
In a conversation with Marketing Mind, Gattani explained WebEngage’s role in simple terms, highlighting the platform’s capabilities and offerings, saying, “If you’ve taken a flight recently, perhaps booked through MakeMyTrip, you’ve likely experienced the series of upselling attempts that follow- be it offering a preferred seat, a meal, or even a cab service. The idea is simple, maximising the value derived from each customer. This core principle drives what we do.”
For an e-commerce company, it translates into improving the customer journey at every stage of the funnel. For instance, of all the visitors landing on their website, how many convert into customers? Of those making a first purchase, how many proceed to make a second, a third, and beyond? The goal is to enhance customer loyalty and maximise lifetime value.
Furthermore, he went on to say, “For companies in sectors like lending, investing, or insurance, the process involves significant performance and brand marketing across various media channels to drive traffic to their websites and landing pages. Once visitors arrive, the challenge becomes converting them into actionable leads. For instance, how many of these leads complete a form, finalise an insurance purchase, and successfully transition into policyholders?”
At every step of this journey, there are inevitable drop-offs. Out of 100 visitors, perhaps only five end up purchasing insurance. The focus of a WebEngage platform lies in orchestrating this process to optimise results- turning those five into six, seven, or more by refining each stage of the journey, he stated.
When asked about the emphasis on customer retention and omnichannel marketing at the core of WebEngage’s offerings, and how the platform empowers brands to leverage these strategies to build enduring customer relationships, Gattani elaborated that the process begins with data unification, a critical step for most brands that typically operate in silos. They often rely on disconnected systems like offline retail platforms, CRM, or POS systems, each managing its own customer data and communication stack. These silos extend further with separate transaction data for online activities, stored in CRMs or order management systems, and behavioral data collected from online interactions.
Additionally, brands utilise various tools for customer engagement, such as Mailchimp for emails, a WhatsApp messaging tool, and SMS platforms, resulting in fragmented data streams.
“Step one is to consolidate all this data into a unified platform. This brings together a customer’s profile, transaction history, purchase patterns, and browsing behavior in one place. With a unified view, WebEngage enables seamless orchestration of communication channels like SMS, email, WhatsApp, push notifications, and browser notifications from a single dashboard. This ensures that preferences, such as whether a customer engages more via email or WhatsApp, are clearly identified and optimised,” Gattani said.
“The two core elements in this approach are data unification and multi-channel engagement orchestration. With WebEngage, brands can design workflow-driven journeys tailored to individual customer behaviors. For example, a customer might first receive a WhatsApp message. If they respond, a follow-up email is sent; if not, they might receive an IVR call. Once a transaction is completed, a thank-you message is sent. These workflows can extend across 100 steps or more, allowing precise planning of the customer experience,” he added.
Furthermore, he went on to say that the third and most vital element is personalisation. It ensures that every communication is relevant and context-aware. For instance, imagine a customer has been browsing a specific piece of jewelry on an e-commerce platform like Giva for several days. WebEngage ensures that communications, whether on WhatsApp or email, reference that exact item, acknowledging the customer’s interest. This level of personalisation significantly boosts engagement compared to generic, mass communications. Each customer receives messaging tailored to their unique journey and preferences.
Gattani emphasised their commitment to helping customers achieve concrete results through effective consumer engagement strategies, explaining that over the past three quarters, they have significantly enhanced their consulting practice at WebEngage.
“Our approach goes beyond merely providing tools and platforms because the customers approaching us aren’t just looking to purchase software- they’re seeking solutions to specific problems. For example, in the e-commerce industry, key metrics often revolve around revenue contribution from first-party data. This includes data that brands directly collect from their customers through channels like emails and phone numbers,” he said.
“To put it into perspective, revenue sources for e-commerce businesses typically include Google, Facebook, brand-driven direct traffic (through TV ads and other platforms), and WebEngage, which leverages first-party data. In digital marketing, first-party data refers to information a company has about its own customers, and the goal is to effectively utilise this data to drive a meaningful share of revenue. For a pure-play e-commerce company, a good benchmark would be achieving around 20% of revenue from first-party data,” he added.
Gattani highlighted that achieving this requires deep collaboration with the customers, focusing on their key funnels- essentially the paths users take on their websites. For instance, WebEngage analyses metrics like how many visitors convert into buyers and identify opportunities for improvement. This could involve targeted messaging on specific pages, such as cart or product pages, to boost conversion rates. Segmentation plays a critical role here- distinguishing between first-time customers, repeat customers, or even segmenting based on behavior.
“Take Swiggy as an example. You might notice a “Try New” voucher when browsing restaurants you’ve never ordered from before. Once you order from a restaurant, that voucher disappears. Platforms like WebEngage enable this level of personalisation, which significantly improves conversion rates,” Gattani said.
He added that another key focus area is improving repeat orders, often analysed through cohorts. For instance, customers acquired in January (those who placed their first order) are tracked to see how many place a second order. Further segmentation can be applied- e.g., by product categories like shirts or shoes, or by platform usage such as mobile versus web. Based on these insights, interventions are designed to encourage higher repeat rates.
This process involves continuous campaign optimisation and identifying new problem statements. These incremental improvements, when compounded, deliver substantial long-term value for our clients.
Gattani mentioned, “We currently serve around 800 customers across India and the Middle East. Industry-wise, e-commerce leads the way, followed by travel, with these two sectors collectively accounting for approximately 40-45% of our customer base. Next, at a macro level, is the BFSI segment, encompassing banking, financial services, and insurance, with a notable focus on investing, lending, and insurance.”
“In e-commerce and retail, we are increasingly collaborating with apps that not only focus on their online presence but are also expanding their entire retail ecosystem to integrate with our solutions,” he added.
WebEngage has experienced remarkable growth in recent years, and Gattani shed light on the key factors fueling this success while offering a glimpse into the company’s future direction, stating that the realisation that brands must prioritise meaningful retention has gained significant traction, especially in the aftermath of the post-COVID boom and bust. With venture capital funding initially ramping up but later becoming scarce, questions about profitability and sustainability have emerged as critical concerns.
In this context, retention has proven to be a vital strategy for making brands more capital-efficient. By driving greater revenue from existing customers, brands can reduce their reliance on expensive acquisition channels like Google and Facebook, thus optimising their resources.
“On a broader scale, this shift towards retention has spurred growth in our category, as brands increasingly recognise the importance of solving for user engagement and retention. This trend is twofold. Firstly, there is growing awareness about the value of retention, which creates demand for our solutions. Secondly, over the past few quarters, we’ve noticed an increasing interest in not just adopting tools but also addressing the underlying challenges alongside clients. Since retention is still a relatively nascent focus for many brands, there is a limited talent pool equipped to tackle these challenges effectively,” he said.
To bridge this gap, they have invested heavily in education and community-building efforts. Through our academy, they offer online courses, offline workshops, and mixers, enabling customers to extract maximum value from our platform. These initiatives have strengthened customer confidence by ensuring they’re not just adopting tools but leveraging them effectively to address real problems, he added.
He mentioned, “Looking ahead, the complexity of mainstream market tools has posed challenges for most markets, particularly in India. While large international companies continue to play a significant role, their tools, though effective, are often expensive and underutilised. Brands are increasingly recognising the need for better utilisation and are gravitating towards more agile and adaptable solutions like ours, which offer greater efficiency and value.”
Meanwhile, Ankit Utreja, Co-founder and CTO of WebEngage, said that 2024 has been a pivotal year for the martech industry, marked by the rapid adoption of AI-powered tools that are redefining how brands interact with their customers. Industries like e-commerce, retail, ed-tech, and fintech have embraced hyper-personalisation and predictive analytics, creating a strong demand for solutions that enable meaningful, individualised customer journeys across multiple touchpoints.
“At WebEngage, we empower brands by helping them boost user engagement, optimise marketing ROAS, and significantly enhance customer lifetime value— all while upholding the highest standards of data privacy and transparency,” he said.
This year, AI transitioned from being a buzzword to becoming a critical enabler innovation in every sphere including digital marketing.
“Looking ahead, we believe AI will continue to shape the martech landscape, empowering brands to deliver hyper-personalized experiences at scale and foster lasting customer relationships. However, it’s crucial that generative AI is leveraged ethically, transparently, and with a customer-centric approach. At WebEngage, we remain committed to providing personalised, compliant solutions that not only strengthen retention strategies but also inspire trust and stability,” Utreja said.
“Our ZeroPII Customer Data Platform (CDP)(TM) is set to redefine the customer engagement landscape for enterprises by empowering hyper-personalized campaigns with a no-code solution while keeping the PII data in their own infrastructure. With ZeroPII(TM) CDP, we are committed to help enterprises be compliant with Data Privacy regulations like DPDP, establishing ourselves as a leader in customer privacy and data security compliance, all while empowering brands to deliver personalized experiences with the highest standards of data privacy. As marketing evolves to rely more on real-time insights and automation in 2025, we are excited to navigate this transformation and help brands deliver impactful, resonant experiences for their customers,” he added.
