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Referred Customers Are Even More Valuable Than We Thought

FEBRUARY 24, 2025

Wanna know something cool? Referred customers are not only more valuable (at least 16% higher than non-referred customers) but also more likely to refer others.

New research shows that referred customers…

📈 are 36% more likely to refer others compared to non-referred customers.
🛒 make 27.65% more purchase trips.
💰 are 20-36% more valuable in the long run.

Referred customers are also more likely to…

🔄 convert from free trials to paying customers.
📊 opt for higher-tier plans.
🌐 continue the cycle of referrals.

Convinced? Here’s how to maximize your referral impact:

🔔 Remind customers they were referred with targeted messages like, “A friend brought you here—pass it on by inviting someone!”
✍️ Pre-fill referral messages so they’re easy to share.
🎁 Test messages with incentives to boost referral rates by up to 53%.
⏰ Ask for referrals after positive experiences, like completed purchases.

Check out Science Says for a breakdown of the research.

How to Have Good Taste in Ads

FEBRUARY 23, 2025

AI is here to stay, which means good taste is about to be even more of an invaluable asset.

If you want to be able to distinguish good work from derivative dribble, you’ve got to start cultivating your taste in ads. Here’s how:

Regularly watch high-quality ads. How do you find them? According to Ogilvy, good ads are:

☑️ Enviable (“Do I wish I had thought of it myself?”)
☑️ Strategic (“Does it fit the strategy to perfection?”)
☑️ Surprising (“Did it make me gasp?”)
☑️ Original (“Is it unique?”)
☑️ Timeless (“Could it be used for 30 years?”)

Next, you’ll want to practice active viewing. Analyze ads by asking:

💡 What problem does the ad solve? (Business problem + Customer behavior/belief)
💡 What’s the human insight? (Relatable truth)
💡 What’s the creative technique?
💡 What’s the hook? (Visual or verbal attention grabber)

Start an ad journal to organize your thoughts. Track insights and learnings across your favorite ads, using a structured template for consistency.

Advertising is an art! So, study like an artist.

Check out more from The Creative Marketer.

Should Re-Engagement Emails Die?

FEBRUARY 19, 2025

Re-engagement emails. You know ’em.

“Hey, FIRST NAME. Do you still want to hear from us?”

This tactic used to be smart email marketing, but it’s rapidly become outdated and ineffective. Why?

Well, open rates are irrelevant. Open rates are no longer reliable indicators of engagement, especially with Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection skewing the numbers. High open rates don’t necessarily reflect genuine interest or intent—they could simply be the result of automatic opens or image blocking. Pay more attention to clicks, site visits, and purchase history.
Your emails aren’t that important. Not every customer is waiting eagerly for your emails, and that’s okay. Customers engage when they need your product, not because of every message you send. Instead of using opens or clicks as the sole measure of engagement, brands should expand their metrics to include more reliable intent signals, like browsing behavior and purchase cycles.
But timing is important. Inactivity doesn’t equal disinterest. Sending re-engagement emails at inconvenient times—like early in the morning—won’t work. Most people aren’t ready to shop before their first cup of coffee. Worse, sending poorly timed messages risks annoying your audience, leading to unsubscribes or email fatigue.

✍️ The takeaway? Re-engagement emails should be smarter, using rich customer data and nuanced engagement metrics. If you’re still sending “Do You Want to Hear From Us?” emails, it’s time to rethink your strategy.

You Don’t Need More Content

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

Content teams are constantly bombarded with requests—demand gen wants campaign assets, sales needs case studies, customer success asks for product content.

But producing more content doesn’t always solve the problem. Instead, you need strategic content that works harder across teams.

Not all content is created equal. It typically falls into four quadrants:

Low quality, low volume: Ineffective and invisible.
Low quality, high volume: Easy to produce but lacks originality.
High quality, high volume: The dream, but rarely feasible.
High quality, low volume: A strategic approach that maximizes impact.

And high-quality content is…

Data-driven, expert-backed, and impossible to replicate.
Optimized for multiple teams and stages of the buyer journey.

So, here’s how to make it:

Focus on key audience insights.
Partner with ops to define impact.
Build content pillars on customer data.
Collaborate with GTM teams.
Avoid transactional, sales-heavy content.
Work within your constraints to maximize output.

Get the full scoop from BEAM.

People Undervalue AI-Assisted Work by Others

FEBRUARY 17, 2025

Some interesting new research suggests that people devalue work done with AI—except when it’s their own. This is called fundamental attribution error.

Across five experiments, people believed:

Their own AI use was 12.6% more acceptable for writing a cover letter than if someone else did.
They were 38.7% more likely to use AI for inspiration rather than outsourcing a task.
Their AI contribution was 22.4% lower than others’ AI use.

When analyzing tasks completed with AI assistance, participants consistently undervalued work done by others compared to their own efforts.

This suggests a perception gap—where individuals see their own AI use as a tool for efficiency while assuming others rely on it as a crutch.

We also believe tools impact others more than they influence us—like assuming someone scrolling their phone is distracted, but excusing ourselves for the same behavior.

So, how do we respond to this cognitive bias?

Be transparent about AI’s role (e.g., “AI provided examples”). People tend to assume AI played a larger role than it actually did, which can reduce perceived value. Clarifying AI’s limited involvement can help counteract this bias. Plus, emphasizing human oversight and decision-making in AI-assisted work can improve audience trust and engagement.

Take a closer look at the write-up by Science Says.

Performance Max FAQs

FEBRUARY 16, 2025

Google has shared answers to the most frequently asked questions about its AI-powered Performance Max campaign type.

Here are some highlights:

Why doesn’t Performance Max offer channel-level reporting? Performance Max optimizes bids across channels for cost-efficient, high-ROI conversions through marginal ROI optimization. Use asset group reporting, search terms insights, and audience insights to understand your results.
How can I make sure I’m getting high-quality leads from Performance Max? Improve conversion measurement with enhanced conversions for leads, use value-based bidding for higher-quality leads, activate first-party data with Customer Match, and optimize lead forms with validation measures to drive better results.
What can I do to stop Performance Max from serving on my branded queries? Use account-level negative keywords to block them across all campaigns or campaign-level brand exclusions to exclude your own and competitors’ branded queries.
Can I use assets created using generative AI outside of my Performance Max campaign and Google Ads? Yes! Performance Max generates unique images for you, and all AI-generated images are invisibly watermarked with SynthID and include metadata for transparency.
Is Performance Max just remarketing to existing customers? Performance Max helps maximize sales and revenue, and to prioritize new customers, use the new customer acquisition goal with value-based bidding and brand exclusions to refine targeting.
Is Performance Max brand-safe? Use brand suitability controls, including content suitability settings, placement exclusions (now covering Search Partner sites), and account-level negative keywords to align ads with your brand safety requirements.
What’s the ideal campaign structure for Performance Max campaigns? Consolidate campaigns to give Google AI more data for better predictions, creating separate Performance Max campaigns only when goals, budgets, or ROAS/CPA targets differ, and use asset groups for segmentation instead.

Check out Google’s post for additional FAQs and details.

How to Kill Ambiguous Copy with 2 Questions

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

Your prospects aren’t sitting around with a red pen, ready to decipher your copy. They’re busy.

If your messaging isn’t clear, it’s getting ignored. The real enemy? Ambiguity.

Ambiguous copy leaves too much room for interpretation, which can make your brand forgettable or, worse, misleading.

Ask yourself these two questions about your copy:

1️⃣ What point am I trying to make?
2️⃣ Can I prove it?

Instead of claiming you’re “trusted and professional,” show how. Do you have stellar reviews? A 24/7 support team? A crazy-fast return policy? Specificity sells.

Next time you’re reviewing copy, put it to the test. Hand it to someone who knows nothing about your brand and ask: “What do we do? Would you want to know more?” If they hesitate, it’s back to the drawing board.

Check out Amy Harrison’s copywriting blog to learn more.

One Domain vs. Multiple?

FEBRUARY 11, 2025

When deciding between one domain or multiple, you have to consider SEO impact, audience targeting, and resource allocation.

Considerations for multiple domains:

International presence: Different country-specific domains (e.g., .uk, .de) may perform better locally.
Distinct audiences: Separate websites can cater to unique customer segments and improve conversion rates.
Multiple brands/offerings: If your brands have distinct identities, separate domains may clarify messaging.
Historical growth: Some businesses inherit multiple domains over time without reevaluating consolidation.

Considerations for a single domain:

SEO strength: Larger websites attract more links, increase Domain Authority, and rank better.
Efficiency: Managing one domain is typically cheaper and requires fewer resources.
Stronger inbound link profile: Consolidation focuses SEO equity, improving rankings and traffic.
Better team management: A single CMS is easier to maintain than multiple fragmented systems.

Still weighing your decision? Head to Moz for more resources.

Optimizing for Gmail Tab Placements

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

Gmail’s new email placement algorithms have shifted how promotional emails are delivered to prioritize user experience. More emails now land in the Promotions tab, regardless of sender reputation.

Here’s how to increase your email visibility in the Promotions tab: