CleverTap

Overview

CleverTap is an all-in-one customer engagement and retention platform designed to help digital-first brands maximize customer lifetime value. The software unifies real-time user data, advanced analytics, and cross-channel marketing automation into a single scalable dashboard. It empowers marketers to deliver hyper-personalized campaigns via push notifications, email, SMS, and in-app messages. Leading consumer brands rely on the platform to boost user retention, engagement, and conversion rates.

Founder story

CleverTap was founded in 2013 in San Francisco, California, by Sunil Thomas, Anand Jain, and Suresh Kondamudi. The founders set out to solve the challenge of fragmented mobile engagement by building a real-time platform that helps brands understand and retain users. Backed by marquee venture capital investors, the company expanded rapidly into a leading global customer engagement solution.

What it does

• Consolidates multi-source customer behavior data to build comprehensive real-time user profiles and dynamic audience segments
• Automates targeted cross-channel messaging campaigns across push notifications, email, SMS, and web channels
• Deploys AI-powered predictive analytics to anticipate user churn and recommend optimal message delivery times
• Measures campaign performance and retention metrics through robust attribution and conversion tracking dashboards.

Who it's for

• Growth Marketing Managers
• Mobile App Marketers
• Product Retention Specialists
• Digital Commerce Executives

Why it works

• Utilizes a predictable SaaS subscription business model tailored for mid-market and enterprise digital brands
• Positions as an all-in-one retention suite combining deep customer analytics with multi-channel campaign execution
• Leverages powerful real-time event processing architecture designed to scale with high-volume mobile traffic
• Expands distribution globally through strategic regional partnerships and enterprise sales channels.

Growth strategies

• Direct enterprise B2B sales targeting consumer tech, fintech, e- commerce, and media apps globally
• Strategic acquisitions such as Leanplum and Rehook to enhance mobile marketing capabilities
• Content marketing focused on mobile user retention strategies and data- driven personalization playbooks
• Ecosystem partnerships with leading customer data platforms and cloud infrastructure providers

Alternatives

• Braze
• Iterable
• Customer.io
• Klaviyo

Comparison overview

• Focuses natively on high-volume mobile app user engagement and real-time behavioral segmentation rather than standard email-only marketing.
• Combines advanced predictive churn modeling directly with multi-channel campaign execution across push, SMS, and web.