Hidden Science of Deliverability

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In this newsletter, you’ll find:

📩 The Hidden Science of Email Deliverability: Fix It Before It Kills Your Revenue

📉 Google’s AI Overviews Are Killing CTRs

🗞️ Ad of the Day

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📩 The Hidden Science of Email Deliverability: Fix It Before It Kills Your Revenue

DTC brands obsess over list size and email frequency but ignore the one metric that actually determines revenue per send—deliverability. If your emails land in promotions or spam, your revenue tanks. The problem? Most brands use outdated tactics that inbox providers have already neutralized.

Here’s how to engineer inbox placement with precision—no guesswork, just science.

1️⃣ Reset Your Sender Reputation Intelligently

Inbox providers score your domain based on historical engagement, and a bad score locks you in promotions. To fix this:

• Use a secondary sending domain to rebuild engagement before switching back to your primary domain.
• Embed marketing inside transactional emails (like order confirmations) to “train” ISPs that your emails are valuable.
• Monitor your domain health with Google Postmaster Tools. If your domain reputation is low, pause campaigns for 3–5 days and restart with engaged subscribers only.

2️⃣ Stop Relying on Open Rates—Track Deeper Engagement

Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection skews open rates, making them unreliable. Instead, optimize for:

• Click Heatmaps & Scroll Depth—track where subscribers drop off. If clicks cluster at the bottom, move key content up.
• Reply Signals—Emails with responses get inbox priority. Ask lightweight questions like, “Thoughts?” or “Reply and let us know.”

3️⃣ ISP-Specific Sending: Treat Gmail, Outlook & Yahoo Differently

Each inbox provider has different filtering rules. If your deliverability tanks, segment by ISP:

• Gmail favors consistent sending (3x per week), while Outlook penalizes frequency. Adjust accordingly.
• Seed test before scaling—send to test accounts across Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook to see where your emails land.

4️⃣ Decode Gmail’s Promotions Filter & Avoid It

Gmail’s AI flags emails as promotions based on pattern recognition. To bypass it:

• Remove promotional triggers from your first 100 characters. Instead of “🚨SALE: 20% OFF,” start with conversational text: “Hey [Name], quick thought on [product category]…”
• Strip unnecessary footer elements—fewer links = lower promotion risk.
• Test different HTML footprints—one with fewer images, one plain text, and one hybrid. See which inboxes better.

5️⃣ AI-Driven Predictive Engagement Saves Your List

• Predict churn before it happens—Identify when subscribers typically disengage and intervene. If drop-offs happen at day 45, send a hyper-personalized re-engagement email at day 42.
• Optimize send time with AI, not guesswork. Automate sends based on individual subscriber behavior.

🚀 Deliverability = More Revenue

Inbox providers adapt constantly. If your tactics aren’t evolving, you’re losing revenue. Fix these now, and your emails won’t just get delivered—they’ll drive consistent, predictable growth.

📉 Google’s AI Overviews Are Killing CTRs
Insights from Seer Interactive

AI Overviews (AIOs) are reshaping Google search, with a new study showing significant drops in both organic and paid click-through rates (CTRs). The analysis of 10,000 high-traffic keywords from January 2024 to January 2025 highlights critical shifts in search behavior.

The Breakdown:

• AIO Queries See Major CTR Declines – Queries where AIOs appeared had lower CTRs from the start, likely due to zero-click searches. Organic CTR for these queries dropped from 1.41% to 0.64%, while paid CTR also saw a steep decline, suggesting users are clicking less overall.
  
• Organic CTR Rises for Non-AIO Queries – For queries without AIOs, organic CTR actually increased year-over-year, signaling that SEO opportunities still exist where AI Overviews are absent. This suggests lower competition on non-AIO SERPs./
  
• Showing Up in AIO Boosts CTR – Brands featured in AIOs saw organic CTR rise from 0.74% to 1.02% and paid CTR jump from 7.89% to 11%, indicating a strong brand trust effect when included in AI-generated answers.
  
• Google Ads Are Struggling – Paid CTR dropped across all queries, not just those with AIOs. Rising ad fatigue, shifting search habits (TikTok, private groups, AI search), and growing skepticism toward ads may be contributing to the decline.

AIOs are reshaping the search landscape, making visibility more valuable than clicks. Marketers should focus on securing AIO placements, optimizing high-intent queries, and rethinking ad strategies to adapt to these fundamental shifts.

🎥 Ad of the Day

What Works:

Featuring Forbes at the bottom elevates the brand's credibility and positions it as a premium alternative to alcoholic beverages. It reassures consumers that this is not just another non-alcoholic drink but a well-regarded and high-quality option.

The warm, inviting aesthetic, paired with fresh ingredients and a well-garnished drink, makes the product feel premium, refreshing, and desirable. It closely mimics the look of a high-end cocktail, making the transition from alcoholic to non-alcoholic options seamless for consumers.

What Could be better:

While the copy communicates that the drink is classy and consciously made, it could highlight a key differentiator—whether it’s taste, health benefits, or a unique ingredient. Adding something like “All the fun, none of the alcohol” or “The best alternative for cocktail lovers” could enhance the appeal.

Broader Insights:

With more consumers opting for alcohol-free options, this ad aligns perfectly with the growing mindful drinking movement. The wording “consciously-made” further resonates with health-conscious and socially-aware buyers.

Instead of making the bottle the hero, the ad sells the experience of enjoying a sophisticated drink, reinforcing the idea that rituals around drinking can remain unchanged—even without alcohol.

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