NYC rewrote your cancel button

Howdy readers 🥰

In this newsletter, you’ll find:

🗽 New York's cancel rule is live. here's one flow, before and after

📊 Google Ads is changing what counts as a view

🏆 Ad of the day

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Together with AirOps

Are You Judging AI Search by the Wrong Numbers?

You wouldn’t judge a brand campaign only by last-click sales. Yet AI search is being asked to prove itself against paid-channel attribution standards. You risk cutting the budget that helped win a customer because another channel got credit for the sale.

On October 15, join Matt Hammel, COO of AirOps, and Zak Prauer, Expert Partner at Bain & Company, to rethink how you evaluate AI search:

• Use findings from Bain’s Marketing Leaders Reality Index to understand why paid-channel measurement sets the wrong expectations.
• Look beyond citations to whether AI recommends your brand when buyers are weighing their options.
• Discover what AI search conversations reveal about customer needs that survey responses can miss.

You’ll leave with a clearer view of what your reporting overlooks, so the next investment decision accounts for how buyers actually choose.

Can't attend the session live? Register anyway, and you’ll get the recordings in 24 hours.

🗽 New York's cancel rule is live. here's one flow, before and after

Since October 1, subscriptions sold to New York City consumers must be as easy to cancel as they were to start. Cancellation has to work "through the same avenues as enrollment."

Fines start at $525 and reach $3,500 for repeat violations, and each misleading statement or omission can count separately. Have counsel confirm the details for your business, but the operational changes are clear enough to start now.

Here's a typical coffee subscription, fixed.

BEFORE: Signup

A shopper texts "BREW" to a short code and subscribes in two taps. Price and renewal terms sit in a linked page.

AFTER: Signup

Before asking for payment, the checkout states the price, how often it charges, the cancellation deadline and every way to cancel, in plain text on the same screen.

BEFORE: Cancellation

Log in, open account settings, find "Manage," answer a survey, decline two offers, then confirm by email.

AFTER: Cancellation

• Channel parity: customers who joined by text can cancel by text, such as replying "CANCEL BREW." Keep that keyword separate from your marketing STOP so one doesn't trigger the other.
• One screen online: the cancel button sits on the subscription page. A pause or skip option can appear alongside it, in my judgment, as long as cancel stays equally visible and works in one click.
• In-person signups: anyone who joined at a pop-up or store gets an online cancel option by web or email.

BEFORE: Renewal

The card is charged quietly every month.

AFTER: Renewal

The rule sets notice windows. Annual or longer terms need notice 15 to 45 days before the cancellation deadline. Price increases need 5 to 30 days' notice. Charges after a free trial or gift of a month or more need 3 to 21 days' notice.

Treat those notices as your best retention email. Lead with the date and the amount, then offer skip, swap and pause before the cancel link. Someone who wants a break picks pause because it's easy, without being trapped.

Edge cases to settle

If you can't reliably tell who lives in the city, apply one flow to everyone. Running two versions doubles the chance of a mistake.

If you sell gift subscriptions, check who receives the trial-end notice before the first charge.

List every way a customer can subscribe today, including text, quiz, checkout and in person. Then make sure each one has a matching way out.

📊 Google Ads is changing what counts as a view

Google is updating Demand Gen measurement, conversion reporting, lift testing and AI Max controls, giving advertisers more data while changing how some campaign results are counted.

The Breakdown:

Display Views Get Easier to Count - Demand Gen Display will count any rendered impression as a view, replacing Active View’s stricter standard. View-through conversions may rise without actual performance improving.

Conversion Paths Get More Detail - Google Ads Overview will include video impressions in eligible web conversion paths and group metrics by awareness, consideration and action. GA4-imported conversions are excluded.

Lift Testing Goes Self-Serve - Search and Performance Max advertisers can now run Conversion Lift tests without a Google representative, provided they have at least 1,000 observed conversions and a $5,000 campaign budget.

AI Max Gets More Transparent - New columns reveal targeting settings, while text customization previews up to 10 sample headlines and descriptions. Retailers can also share audiences with brands under domain restrictions.

These updates give advertisers more visibility into campaigns, but the new Demand Gen counting method could inflate reported view-through results. Comparing performance across periods will require extra care, and Conversion Lift offers a way to check whether ads actually generate additional conversions.

🎥 Ad of the Day

What Works:

Search Intent Hooks - The search-bar format mirrors real consumer questions, creating strong message-market fit while making the ad feel native to how people actively research healthier hydration habits.

Benefits Scan Instantly - “Zero Sugar” and “B+C Vitamins” sit in high-contrast blocks, reducing cognitive load and giving mobile viewers two fast, concrete reasons to choose the product.

Product Feels Refreshing - The bright raspberry drink, ice block and fruit cues make hydration feel cold, flavorful and desirable, while the pack remains clearly visible for strong branding recall.

Turn high-intent customer searches into the creative hook, then show the product as the visual answer. It connects existing demand directly to a clear solution.

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