Attentive has launched AI Grow, designed to increase email and SMS sign-ups from existing website traffic.
AI Grow is now generally available across Attentive's customer base after beta testing with brands including Yankee Candle, Clove and MANSCAPED. The tool uses real-time browsing and shopping behaviour to decide when a website visitor should see an invitation to sign up for email or SMS marketing, rather than relying on fixed prompts shown to all visitors in the same way.
That places the product at the earliest point of a retailer's marketing funnel, where brands try to turn anonymous site visitors into known subscribers. Marketers can use the system to adjust the timing of sign-up invitations for identified and logged-out visitors without running manual tests, while keeping their own rules and guidelines in place.
Results from beta users showed a median increase of about 25% in email and SMS sign-ups from existing website traffic and a median 35% increase in welcome-series revenue. Each deployment is measured through incremental, cohort-level A/B testing against a brand's existing setup to isolate new subscribers and revenue linked to the product.
Yankee Candle recorded a 52% combined lift in SMS and email subscribers in its first deployment of AI Grow, according to Attentive. In a more recent steady-state experiment, the brand saw a 20% lift in welcome conversion across both channels.
Clove, another customer cited by Attentive, posted a 19% incremental lift in SMS and email subscribers and a 48% increase in welcome revenue. MANSCAPED, meanwhile, captured 2,167 SMS and email opt-ins during a surge in traffic around the Super Bowl, 5.4 times the previous week's daily average, according to Attentive.
Retail focus
Attentive is positioning the product for retailers, apparel brands and eCommerce companies looking to get more from current site traffic rather than simply buying more visitors. The launch comes as marketers sharpen their focus on subscriber acquisition before key shopping periods. Attentive cited consumer research showing that 83% of shoppers begin planning holiday purchases before Black Friday, while 71% expect to start shopping before then.
The case for tools such as AI Grow is that better timing at the point of sign-up may improve not only list size but also the quality of subscribers entering a brand's email and SMS programmes. That matters because welcome messages are often among the first direct communications a consumer receives after registering, setting the tone for later conversion and repeat engagement.
AI Grow sits alongside other products in Attentive's AI offering, including AI Journeys and AI Pro. The same identity foundation used to gather visitors and subscribers through AI Grow can also support more personalised messaging later in the customer relationship.
Attentive has also recently introduced Brand Voice 2.0, intended to help marketers maintain consistency in AI-generated SMS, email and RCS content. Together, these releases show how the company is expanding AI across different stages of digital marketing, from subscriber capture to message creation and ongoing customer engagement.
Eric Miao, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Product Officer at Attentive, said the company sees the sign-up moment as a missed opportunity for many retailers still using static rules. "For decades, retailers have relied on a rules-based approach to engage website visitors, even though every shopper makes buying decisions differently," Miao said. "AI gives us the opportunity to start personalization earlier-at the moment a shopper decides whether to begin a relationship with a brand. By adapting to each shopper in real time, AI Grow brings that intelligence to the very first interaction, helping marketers turn more of the traffic they already have into valuable, long-term customer relationships."
One customer described the product as a way to refine messaging decisions across channels. "It's been super valuable, especially in how we optimize our messaging with timing, targeting, and testing. Ultimately, it [AI Grow] helps us make smarter decisions faster, which is critical for a brand like ours managing a high volume of campaigns across channels," said Deepthy Marunninal, Senior Manager, CRM, Yankee Candle. "The biggest gains come from how channels really work together. Investing in personalization early doesn't have to be super complex to be effective, but it does make a significant impact on engagement and performance."