Back in April, Experian announced it was selling a majority stake its cross-channel marketing unit to Vector Capital and Peter McCormick, co-founder of ExactTarget. The new company just announced its name will be Cheetah Digital, restoring the CheetahMail brand that was the core of the Experian unit. The new operation will offer a SaaS-based digital marketing platform that assembles customer data and executes cross-channel campaigns.

I know what you’re thinking: we haven’t mentioned artificial intelligence yet this week and it’s already Tuesday. Never fear. Start-up Quantifi has launched a tool whose AI “coaches marketers through creating a successful digital strategy by providing insights and recommending the most effective next steps.” The system recommends, runs, and evaluates tests of audience segments, creative options and channels, drawing on an ever-expanding proprietary database of past results for many companies. They have more than $2 million in seed funding.

Just over half of consumers (54%) like to receive personalized messages because they show the consumers are known to the brand, plus they can be time savers. The rest (46%) find it at best unimportant, at worst creepy. Relevance far outstrips personalization when it comes to driving email opens (54% vs. 19%). Takeaway: treat each customer the way they prefer.