Inside one retailer’s journey to orchestrate real-time, cross-channel experiences with AI and data

Today’s customers don’t want spammy promos. They want personal. They want now. And they want it everywhere they interact with your brand.

Join us to discover how Trulieve, one of the nation’s largest cannabis retailers, reimagined its customer engagement, scaling from fragmented outreach to intelligent, AI-driven journeys that increase engagement, such as a ~40% open rate.

You’ll hear their story of shifting manual buyer segments to orchestrated, personalized moments across channels, with an accelerated time-to-value. This session provides a blueprint for evolving faster, engaging deeper, and building loyalty in a fast-changing world.

Overview: In this webinar, Janet Jaiswal (VP of Marketing, Blueshift) and Ryan Steele (Co-Founder, Solvenna) explore how AI is transforming customer engagement in retail. They discuss findings from Blueshift's marketer survey, showcase real-world success stories from Trulieve and Five Below, and outline a framework for achieving AI-powered personalization at scale.


AI and Retail Marketing Today

Janet Jaiswal, VP of Marketing at Blueshift: We commissioned a study surveying nearly 300 B2C marketers across industries like retail, finance, and media. One major takeaway: while cross-channel marketing is a top priority, many marketers struggle to activate offline data and personalize experiences at scale. This fragmentation prevents a complete view of the customer and limits real-time personalization.

  • 75% of marketers say they struggle with personalization at scale.
  • 62% report delayed campaigns due to siloed data and inflexible systems.
  • Only 20% are confident their tech stack supports cross-channel execution effectively.

A more customer-centric approach is needed. That means moving away from channel-led campaigns and building marketing around the customer's lifecycle and behaviors.


The Path to AI-Driven Engagement

Ryan Steele, Co-Founder at Solvenna: Most brands today face complexity. Tech stacks are messy, and marketing teams are expected to do more with less. But AI can simplify and supercharge marketing.

To succeed, you need three things:

  1. Simplicity: Don’t overcomplicate your tech. Choose platforms that combine CDP, AI, and cross-channel orchestration.
  2. Data: Build a unified customer profile using behavioral, demographic, third-party, and predictive data.
  3. Journey Framework: Automate lifecycle journeys (welcome, onboarding, win-back, etc.), apply predictive scoring, personalize content in real time, and continuously test and optimize.

AI enables marketers to:

  • Predict channel preference by individual (e.g., email vs SMS).
  • Personalize content based on behavior and preferences.
  • Automate send-time optimization and product recommendations.

Key Tip: Start with fast, high-impact campaigns like personalized subject lines or cart abandonment emails. Use AI to save time and improve engagement early.


Real-World Example: Trulieve's Transformation

Trulieve, a leading cannabis brand with 230+ retail stores and 625K+ loyalty members, moved from batch-and-blast emails to AI-powered lifecycle marketing using Blueshift.

Results:

  • Improved attribution and customer segmentation.
  • Personalized engagement by state, customer type, and buying cadence.
  • Achieved a 1,133% revenue lift from using predictive affinities.

Why Trulieve Chose Blueshift:

  • Ease of use across decentralized teams.
  • Flexible integrations for multiple data sources.
  • Built-in AI that marketers can use without technical support.

Real-World Example: Five Below's Lean Team, Scaled Impact

Five Below, a national retailer with 1,800+ stores, uses Blueshift to run 70+ monthly campaigns with fewer than two marketers.

Impact:

  • 22% increase in revenue from personalized recommendations.
  • 41% open rate on cart abandonment emails.
  • 5.3% CTR and 21% conversion on abandoned cart emails.

Their success shows that even lean teams can scale AI personalization with the right tools.


Q&A Highlights

Q: What's the best way to unify offline and online data? A: Use a platform that combines real-time event ingestion, identity resolution, and CDP capabilities to build a real-time customer profile.

Q: How do I know if my stack supports AI personalization? A: Look for two-way integration (data in and out). You don’t have to rip-and-replace—just ensure your existing tools can talk to an AI-capable platform.

Q: What can I automate first with AI? A: Subject line variations, cart abandonment flows, and send-time optimization are quick wins with high ROI.

Q: How can different teams create a consistent experience? A: Ensure that product recommendations and personalization are driven from a central profile within the CDP, not fragmented tools.


Key Takeaways:

  • AI simplifies complexity and empowers marketers to personalize at scale.
  • Cross-channel orchestration is only as good as your unified customer view.
  • Starting with the right platform unlocks faster time-to-value—even for lean teams.
  • Trulieve and Five Below prove that real-time, predictive personalization drives revenue and loyalty.

Key Discussion Topics

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Real-World Outcomes from AI in Action

How affinity modeling, churn prediction, product recommendations, and real-time triggers powered measurable business outcomes, such as an over 2% increase in revenue generated by predictive models and recommendations alone.
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Scaling Engagement Informed by Data

How Blueshift and Solvenna helped retailers harness their data and operationalize 100+ personalized campaigns weekly across millions of customers, with fewer manual touchpoints and more dynamic customer journeys.
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Lessons for the Modern Marketer

How today’s scrappy teams are navigating fewer resources, dodging digital transformation disasters, and rethinking the whole “Crawl > Walk > Run” playbook with smarter ways to unlock AI’s full potential (without the breakdowns or burnout).

What You'll Learn

  • How to move beyond channel-focused marketing to orchestrated, personalized, cross-channel customer journeys.
  • Proven tactics to operationalize predictive AI and recommendation engines without adding operational complexity.
  • Ways to build a smarter foundation for customer engagement — and accelerate success with the right strategic enhancements.
  • Lessons learned from real-world retail execution, including engagement lifts, revenue growth, and operational efficiencies.

Speakers

Ryan Steele

Co-Founder, Solvenna

Arianna Diaz

Director of Digital Marketing, Trulieve
Janet Jaiswal Blueshift

Janet Jaiswal

Global VP of Marketing, Blueshift