Turn Moments into Moolah Using Braze Custom Events

Not everything important in your customer journey fits neatly into a standard box. And that’s where custom events come in.

Custom events let you track the unique actions and interactions that actually matter to your business—things like a user watching a key video, submitting a special form, or using a product filter on your site. These aren’t your platform’s built-in events. Rather, they’re the ones you define because they tie directly to your goals.

Whether you’re tracking donations, newsletter signups, or feature usage, custom events help you connect the dots between user behavior and business outcomes. And beyond tracking, they unlock more precise automation, personalization, and reporting.

“This gives you finer control over your engagement strategy,” Zenith Maclean, Braze campaign manager at Mavlers, points out.

In today’s post, you’ll learn how to use custom events in Braze. Let’s get started. 

Why use custom events?

When to use custom events?

How to use custom events in Braze

Using Braze custom events + Liquid

Examples of custom event flows

Wrapping up

Why use custom events?

In contrast to standard events, custom events allow you to capture user behavior across highly customized touchpoints.  

You can use Braze custom events to:

• Trigger automated messages (e.g., email, push, in-app)
• Analyze specific user behavior (through Braze user behavior tracking)
  
• Build audiences and segments
• Start or move users through a Canvas journey
• Apply filters or conditions in messaging

You can configure custom event properties in Braze to insert data points that provide context about the event.

For instance, a “video_played” custom event could have Braze event properties like “video_id,” “duration_watched,” or “playback_speed,” offering much richer insights than just knowing a video was played.

When to use custom events?

Custom events can be invaluable for campaigns where you need to track specific, non-standard user interactions that are directly tied to your campaign’s goals, such as:

1. Product launches

Measure engagement with new product features, gauge interest in early access, and identify early adopters for targeted follow-up.

For example, take a look at this product launch email by Fae Beauty. 

Source: Email Love

To gather granular user behavior insights, you could create Braze custom event properties such as these: 

• product_image_clicked (see Braze click tracking)
• color_swatch_hover
• search_query_after_email_click
• category_page_visits
• product_zoom_enlargement

2. Content marketing campaigns

Understand content consumption depth, qualify leads based on content engagement, and automate follow-up emails based on specific actions (e.g., sending a webinar recording only to those who registered but didn’t attend).

Here is an example of a webinar invitation email. 

Source: RGE

For such campaigns, the custom events might be these:

• webinar_registration_attempt
• webinar_attended
• ebook_download_completed
• interactive_tool_used_feature_X
• quiz_score_submitted

3. Subscription and retention 

Understand user behavior around subscription changes, identify the reasons for churn, and intervene with targeted offers. 

Source: RGE

You could create these custom events to capture user behavior data:

• subscription_upgrade_page_viewed
• cancel_flow_initiated
• downgrade_option_selected
• feedback_on_cancellation_submitted

Now, let’s find out how to create and use Braze custom events.. 

How to use custom events in Braze?

You want to start by identifying the specific user interaction you want to monitor.

This could be any meaningful action that signals engagement or intent. For instance, you might want to track when a user submits feedback, adds a product to their cart, starts a free trial, or completes a sign-up form. Clearly defining this action is the first step toward meaningful analysis and effective personalization. 

1. Send custom event to Braze

Custom event setup in Braze requires developers to send events via SDK or API.. 

Sending a custom event to Braze means programmatically notifying the Braze platform that a specific, user-defined action or interaction has occurred. This data then populates the user’s profile in Braze, enabling powerful segmentation, personalized messaging, and analytics.

2. Verify the event in Braze

Verifying an event is the process of confirming that a custom event you sent has been successfully received and recorded by Braze for a specific user. This is a crucial step for troubleshooting and ensuring your data tracking is working correctly. Follow these steps:

• Go to Braze Dashboard → User Profile.
• Search for a user who triggered the event.
• Check if the custom event is visible under “Custom Events”.

3. Use the custom event in campaigns

Now, you can trigger a campaign (Canvas/Email/Push):

• Go to Canvas or Campaigns
• Choose “Trigger Campaign from Custom Event”.
• Select your custom event
• Add a message and configure targeting.

Braze event-based triggers allow you to send out personalized messages in real time. So if you need, you can segment users by custom events:

• Go to Segments → Create Segment.
• Filter: Performed Custom Event → “submitted_feedback”.
• Use this segment for any campaign.

4. Analyze performance

After the campaign is live, follow these steps:

• Go to Campaign → Analytics tab.
• Review open/click/engagement rates.
• Track Braze conversion events, if any, to understand how specific user actions lead to purchases, signups, or other business outcomes

Using Braze custom events + Liquid 

As you must know, Braze uses Liquid templating language to power dynamic content and personalization within messages.

Liquid is an open-source templating language originally developed by Shopify. In Braze, Liquid allows marketers to insert logic and dynamic variables into their email, push, in-app, or SMS messages based on real-time user data.

Now, let’s consider a few real-world use cases. 

1. Show Last Purchased Item in a Thank-You Email

After a user qualifies for a Braze purchase event, send a thank-you email that highlights the exact item they bought.

Liquid code:

{% assign purchase = custom_event['purchase_completed'] %}
{% if purchase %}
  Thank you for buying the {{ purchase.properties.items[0].name }}!
{% else %}
  Thanks for shopping with us!
{% endif %}

Next, you trigger this email from a Canvas or Campaign using the purchase_completed custom event as the entry condition.

2. Cart reminder with product info

Goal: Remind users about the item they added to the cart but didn’t purchase.

Here is the corresponding Liquid code:

{% assign cart_event = custom_event['added_to_cart'] %}
{% if cart_event %}
  You left {{ cart_event.properties.product_name }} in your cart. Ready to check out?
{% else %}
  Your favorite styles are waiting!
{% endif %}

Create a Canvas that starts with the added_to_cart event → Add a delay (e.g., 1 hour) → Check if the user has completed a purchase → If not, send the follow-up email.

3. Personalized offer if promo code was used

If a customer uses a promo code, send a follow-up with another exclusive offer.

{% assign promo = custom_event['promo_code_applied'] %}
{% if promo %}
  We noticed you used the code {{ promo.properties.promo_code }} -- here's another offer just for you!
{% endif %}

Now use this in a retargeting Canvas → Add split conditions to send different offers based on the promo code used.

Note: This type of follow-up is only possible when you’re leveraging Braze custom event properties to personalize messages based on what users actually did.

Examples of custom event flows

1. Travel booking

Goal: Send a reminder email to users who clicked “Search Flights” but didn’t book.

Custom Event: search_flight_clicked

Flow:

• Event sent from website/app when user clicks “Search Flights”.
  
• Braze receives the event.
  
• Braze Canvas triggers email after 1 hour if no booking event (flight_booked) occurs.
  
• Email contains dynamic deals or a reminder to book.

2. User adds an item to the wishlist

Goal: Send a reminder email if the item is not purchased.

Custom Event: added_to_wishlist

Flow:

• Event sent from website/app when user added item to the wishlist
  
• Braze receives the event.
  
• Braze Canvas triggers an email after 1 hour if no purchase made
  
• Email contains dynamic deals or a reminder to purchase an item.

3. User cancels subscription

Goal: Trigger a retention email or offer.

Custom Event: subscription_cancelled

Flow:

• Event sent from website/app when user cancels subscription
  
• Braze receives the event.
  
• Braze Canvas triggers an email when the user cancels the subscription

Wrapping up

Custom events give you the flexibility to act on the moments that define your customer relationships. By going beyond default tracking and tapping into the specific interactions that matter to your business, you can create deeply personalized experiences, trigger timely messages, and drive real results.

Start small, stay strategic, and let your customer interactions guide your automation. The more intentional your event setup, the more powerful your campaigns will be.

Looking to take it further with Braze in-app event tracking or more advanced workflows?

Book a free 30-min call with one of our Braze specialists!