Powering Personalization: How Marketers Are Understanding Consumers Better With AI

For all the broad praise of personalization in marketing, it helps to know exactly how your fellow marketer is making their messages more personalized.

In a recent survey of 2,300 marketers across the world, Braze found that 37% personalize via send-time optimization and countdown timers, 36% with customer data and preferences, and 36% for achievements or special occasions. Connecting via personalization requires “marketers to understand digital body language,” says Braze cofounder and CEO Bill Magnuson of the user signals that AI is helping to understand.

(Source: Braze)

“When you first meet someone, the conversation is often superficial because you don’t yet know them well,” says Magnuson in Braze’s 2025 Global Customer Engagement Review. “But even small talk — when carried out by an active listener — can lead to deeper insights and more fulfilling conversations. The same is true of customer relationships. As users engage over time, they reveal their true selves to brands that pay attention, supporting enhanced relevance through individually tailored experiences. That, in turn, enables more efficient growth and stronger business outcomes.” 

The survey found that more than three-quarters (79%) of the marketing executives surveyed aren’t fully confident in understanding user preferences and sentiment. With AI there to help, 39% are using AI-powered analytics to understand their customer data in a more advanced way, with 38% using AI to better understand customer sentiment.

“AI can revolutionize customer relationships at scale, especially for brands with limited resources,” the report says. “It also helps marketers text new ideas at every stage of the customer journey, such as surfacing predictive insights at the right moments to optimize toward the highest-value experiences.”

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