This post shows how Sephora, in collaboration with Optimove, strikes the balance between automation and authenticity to create marketing that performs across every stage of the customer journey. It is based on a presentation by Sephora’s Sr. Director, CRM & Personalization, Dipti Warner, and Shai Frank, SVP Product & GM Americas at Optimove.
In reading this, marketers will get top-line insights on delivering personalized experiences at scale and what it takes to get it right. This post further underscores how to drive both immediate conversions and long-term loyalty, and how to orchestrate data, content, and AI in harmony.
Key takeaways:
Personalization is not one-size-fits-all. It requires continuous calibration between data, creative, and context.
Intelligent orchestration replaces basic automation, ensuring each customer receives the most relevant message, not just the next scheduled one.
Scalability in personalization depends on strong segmentation, adaptive journeys, and dynamic content supported by real-time AI decisioning.
Stay in touch
Be the first to know all about the latest Marketing tips & tricks, Industry special insights and more
Sephora and Optimove’s presentation titled “The Beauty of Personalization: How Sephora Connects with Every Customer” shows how personalization at scale is possible, but it requires more than data and automation. It requires balance.
A question of balance
Sephora frames its entire CRM and personalization strategy around this principle. Balance between what the brand wants to say and what the customer needs to hear. Balance between centralized strategy and agile execution. Balance between short-term activations and long-term relationship building.
Example: At-risk client journeys
The team illustrated this approach through the lens of an at-risk client journey. For customers who are still active but beginning to disengage, Sephora uses a mix of predictive modeling and AI decisioning to guide the next best action. Campaigns include convenience content like restock alerts, value-driven messages to reinforce loyalty benefits, and personalized promotional offers. The targeting combines Sephora’s internal model that forecasts customer lapse risk with Optimove’s AI Decisioning Agent. This pairing allows for real-time content and offer matching that adapts to each customer’s behavior.
Marketing execution is the starting point
The rigor does not stop at execution. Sephora measures impact at both the campaign and journey level. They track incremental uplift, evaluate cumulative effects across touchpoints, and rely on automated monitoring to keep personalization performance always in view. This closed-loop approach ensures they are not simply reacting to metrics but learning from them to refine future strategy.
To end marketing chaos…don’t rely on automation without strategic orchestration
Sephora’s work with Optimove shows that automation alone isn’t enough without strategic orchestration. Marketing chaos often stems from overlapping or conflicting campaigns, which damage customer trust. For example, a customer might be told a product is available in-store only and receive an online-only offer for the same product. These contradictions are avoidable.
Solution: Optimove’s AI Decisioning Agent
Optimove’s AI Decisioning agent solves this by evaluating every possible message and campaign in context and choosing the best one based on each customer’s full journey. It’s no longer about sending more; it’s about sending smarter.
As Sephora continues to scale, it is focused on three dimensions of personalization: segmentation, orchestration, and content. It builds smart, data-informed segments rapidly. It orchestrates journeys that evolve with customer behavior. And it delivers content variations that remain on-brand but are flexible enough to adapt. AI decisioning brings all three elements together by acting as a real-time matchmaker between the customer and the experience.
The Guide to Re-Engaging Lapsed Customers
Identify at-risk and lapsed customers and bring them back with this guide.
Sephora’s strategy provides a roadmap for marketing professionals aiming to achieve more with less. Personalization that performs is not driven by volume or velocity but by the quality of decisions made at every moment. With a clear strategy, strong data, and the right orchestration platform, marketers can engage customers with the precision and relevance they expect.
To have a personal review of this presentation, or to learn more about scaling personalization and more, contact us to request a demo.
Rony Vexelman is Optimove’s VP of Marketing. Rony leads Optimove’s marketing strategy across regions and industries. Previously, Rony was Optimove's Director of Product Marketing leading product releases, customer marketing efforts and analyst relations. Rony holds a BA in Business Administration and Sociology from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management.
