The news: Omnichannel marketing platform Attentive launched general availability of AI Grow, an AI-driven tool that analyzes real-time browsing behavior to schedule email and SMS sign-up prompts for individual site visitors, per a press release.

The tool acts on anonymous, in-session data to time a single sign-up prompt—without drawing on name, purchase history, or other identifiers that make personalization feel invasive.

Brands testing AI Grow saw a median 25% increase in email and SMS sign-ups from existing website traffic and a median 35% increase in welcome series revenues, Attentive reported.

• Yankee Candle recorded a 52% combined lift in SMS and email subscribers in its first deployment.
• Clove's increased its subscriber and SMS counts 19% and welcome revenues 48%.

Why it matters: Nearly all US adults (93.6%) say personalized experiences are at least somewhat important when choosing a brand, per Amperity. More than half (56.0%) favor brands that remember their preferences and purchase history or show they know their audience (50.1%).

But there’s a limit to personalization too. More than half (57.5%) of US adults would be less likely to buy a brand if its attempts feel invasive or “creepy.” AI Grow’s design points to a moment at the top of the funnel where AI personalization may carry less risk since users haven’t yet provided personal details.

Recommendations for marketers: Treat pre-sign-up and post-sign-up personalization as different risk categories rather than one process managed the same way. Sign-up timing based on anonymous behavior can run with minimal AI guardrails and permissions, while welcome series and campaigns that draw on purchase history need human oversight, clear opt-in language, and accessible preference controls.

Track subscriber retention and unsubscribe rates alongside sign-up and revenue lifts as website visits increase going into peak holiday shopping season and AI Grow scales, since list gains mean little if identity-based personalization later drives those same subscribers away.