Attentive

Two‑thirds of Holiday Shoppers Use AI

A survey by marketing firm Attentive of 600 U.S. consumers found that 67% of shoppers used AI tools in the past three months to help manage purchases this holiday season, with usage rising to 80% among Gen Z. The report also found that 71% plan to start holiday shopping before Black Friday and 84% expect Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals to begin ahead of the day. Shoppers use AI to ask about products, compare options, get recommendations and find deals. Respondents prioritized incentives such as free shipping, gifts with purchase, price-match guarantees and loyalty perks when making buying decisions.

Four holiday reports reveal split on AI adoption

Four vendor reports (Basis, Salesforce, Attentive, Alchemer) agree that holiday shoppers are starting earlier, spending more deliberately, and expecting more relevant experiences. They diverge sharply on AI: Attentive reports high usage (around 70%) across the shopping journey, Basis finds only 17% expect to use AI while shopping, Alchemer measures trust in AI recommendations at 35.4%, and Salesforce frames AI agents as an emerging product-discovery channel. The differences largely reflect varying questions and measurement approaches (usage, intent, trust, or future channel readiness). The reports imply marketers should prepare product information and fundamentals (accurate product data, reviews, personalized offers) for AI-driven discovery even as consumer adoption and trust remain uneven.

Attentive Launches Brand Voice 2.0

Attentive announced Brand Voice 2.0, an upgrade to its generative content capabilities inside the Attentive Brand Kit that lets marketers define centralized brand guidance (Identity, Personality, Rules), preview AI-generated content in real time, and apply a consistent brand voice across SMS, email and RCS. The release includes shared guidance across Attentive features (AI Pro, AI Journeys, AI Campaigns) and supports human oversight and approval workflows. The article cites ILIA Beauty using Attentive AI to scale personalized messaging, reporting a 280% purchase lift and a 225x ROI from automated journeys. Attentive named planned follow-ons including improvements to AI Campaigns, Predictive Analytics, Reporting Agent, Unified Shopper Profile, and integrations via its Model Context Protocol (MCP) beta. Nakul Narayan, Attentive’s Chief Product Officer, is quoted describing the release as giving marketers more control and confidence in AI-generated communications.