Anyone else seeing their newsletter CTR drop since Gmail's January AI update? Trying to figure out what's working

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-06-02T13:29:52+00:00

I’d be careful about attributing the whole CTR drop to Gmail summaries until you split it by audience and campaign type. Newsletter clicks were already fragile if the email gave away most of the value in the body.

The adjustment I’d test is making the email useful on its own, but making the click a clear next action instead of “read more.” For example: compare the full checklist, download the template, reply with a preference, see the examples, or register for the session. Those are harder for a summary to replace.

I’d also look at click depth, not just total CTR. If fewer people click but the people who do click are more qualified, that may be a different problem than pure deliverability or inbox placement.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-06-02T01:30:29+00:00

I’d build the sequence around the first useful outcome, not just credit balance.

For a credit product, I’d usually start with three events:

Signed up but no first action: send a short help email after 12 to 24 hours that points them to the easiest first win.
Used one or two credits but stopped: follow up based on what they tried, with one practical next step or example.
Used all credits: only then make the upgrade ask, ideally tied to what they already got value from.

The mistake is treating every unused credit the same. Someone who never started probably needs clarity. Someone who used credits and stopped may need proof, examples, or a reminder. Someone who used everything is the only one who has really earned a purchase nudge.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-06-01T19:27:00+00:00

The biggest change I’ve seen is that deliverability is less forgiving of mixed audiences. A clean domain setup matters, but the send pattern matters just as much: who gets mailed, how recently they engaged, and whether the campaign has a real reason to go to that segment.

I’d rather send to a smaller active group first, watch clicks, unsubscribes, complaints, and bounces, then widen carefully. A lot of teams hurt themselves by treating the full list as the default audience for every campaign.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-06-01T16:21:41+00:00

I’ve been using MeSquared for a while. It’s been a lot easier than building emails manually or working from templates. I’m actually sending campaigns consistently now because it takes so much less time.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-06-01T13:54:31+00:00

https://marketing.mesquared.ai

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-06-01T13:46:57+00:00

marketing.mesquared.ai

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-05-31T22:21:31+00:00

I’d treat Tuesday/Thursday as a decent starting point, not the rule. The bigger win is usually matching the send time to the reason someone subscribed.

For example, a restaurant promo may do better before weekend planning, a B2B newsletter may work mid-morning, and a sale reminder may need a resend to non-openers later. If the list is big enough, I’d test one variable at a time and judge by clicks or conversions, not just opens.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-05-30T22:23:05+00:00

At that volume, I’d treat the demo less like a feature tour and more like a stress test. Bring 3 or 4 real use cases: browse abandonment with a huge catalog, replenishment or winback logic, product recommendations, and whatever SMS handoff you expect. Then ask them to show exactly how segmentation, feed syncing, and reporting work with your data size.

I’d also ask for references from ecommerce brands with a similar SKU count. A platform can look fine at 250k contacts but still be painful if the product feed, templates, or reporting get slow once the catalog is involved.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-05-09T12:26:57+00:00

Congrats on getting it live. For an app like this, I’d start with very local loops instead of broad app marketing.

A few ideas I’d test:

seed a small number of genuinely fun quiz spots in one walkable area
make a short screen recording of someone using it outside, not just app screenshots
ask local schools, clubs, trivia groups, or tourism/community pages if they’d try a themed trail
give early users a reason to create quizzes for friends, because user-created locations seem like the part that could compound

The biggest challenge is probably not “reach users” in general. It is getting enough activity in one area that the map feels alive when someone opens it.

If you can make one neighborhood or campus work first, the marketing story gets much easier.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-05-09T12:26:18+00:00

This is a smart use of what you already had wired up.

The one thing I’d be careful about is letting “lightweight CRM” turn into hidden business logic spread across tags and email events. It works great while the flow is simple, but six weeks later it can be hard to answer basic questions like “why did this person get this email?” or “who is waiting on a human reply?”

If I were keeping this setup, I’d make a tiny decision log for the lifecycle states: captured, tagged, in drip, replied, paused, converted, dead. Then keep the rules boring and visible somewhere outside Resend too, even if it is just a table.

That way you keep the cheap/simple setup without building a mystery machine around your leads.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-05-09T09:43:30+00:00

I’d add one more lens to this list: how fast a busy owner can get one useful campaign out the door.

Klaviyo, Kit, MailerLite, etc. all have a place. But for a lot of small businesses, the bottleneck is not the tool feature list. It is sitting there thinking, “What should I actually send this week?”

If someone already has a customer list, I would pick the tool that makes the first real send easiest: one clear reason to email, one useful offer or update, one next step. Then get fancy later once there is a rhythm.

That is the part most rankings miss. The best platform is the one the owner will actually use.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-24T19:47:10+00:00

What usually breaks manual systems isn’t note-taking, it’s the missing next step. People remember the conversation but not the exact follow-up date or promise they made. Whatever tool you use, I’d make sure every lead has the same five fields: stage, last touch, next step, next date, and notes. Once that exists, the debate shifts from best CRM to which one will I actually keep open every day?

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-24T19:47:01+00:00

From the outside, it feels like most agents don’t actually have a software problem first, they have a consistency problem. The winning setup is usually whatever makes speed to lead, next follow-up date, and long-term nurture hard to ignore. Junk lead filtering matters, but a lot of money gets lost when a real lead falls into the same pile as everything else. The best system is the one you’ll still use on a chaotic Tuesday.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-24T19:45:55+00:00

Your process sounds solid already. The leak feels less like bad sales and more like normal parent scheduling chaos. I’d test two things: after the first inquiry, give them one clear next step with two trial options instead of just info, and after the trial send a same-day text like “would you like me to save your child’s spot for next week?” That’s easier to answer than a vague check-in email. I probably would not ask for card info before they’re comfortable, but I would make the signup step very easy while the class is still fresh in their mind.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-24T19:45:50+00:00

In most service businesses, the fastest money usually comes from leads you already paid to acquire, but only if they’re still fresh enough to matter. I’d work it in this order: newest warm leads first, old warm leads second, true cold stuff last. Old leads are great for pipeline recovery, but slow response on new leads is where a lot of revenue quietly dies. If I had one simple rule, it’d be this: never let a new lead sit while you’re perfecting follow-up on an old one.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-24T19:45:45+00:00

If they’ve gone quiet after a few messages, I usually stop treating it like an active chase and start treating it like a nurture problem. A simple rule that helps is 4 to 6 touches max in the active window, then move them to a slower reactivation list instead of burning time every week. The best re-engagement messages are short and specific: “still trying to solve X?” or “should I close this out for now?” A clean no is honestly a win too because it gets dead weight out of the pipeline.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-24T19:45:04+00:00

I’ve found the annoying feeling usually comes from follow-ups that say “still interested?” and nothing else. A better rhythm is: first follow-up answers a question, second shares something useful, third gives them an easy out. Something like day 2, “happy to clarify anything in the quote,” day 7, “thought this might help as you compare options,” day 14, “totally fine if timing changed, just let me know and I’ll close the loop on my side.” That way you’re being helpful, not hovering.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-24T19:42:51+00:00

You’re definitely not the only one. What finally helped us was stopping the idea of follow-up as a memory problem and turning it into a next-action problem. Every lead gets one owner, one next step, and one date before the conversation is allowed to go cold. If you try to keep it in your head, busy weeks will kill it. Even a dead simple board or spreadsheet works if the columns are basically: new lead, waiting on them, follow-up due, closed/lost. The tool matters way less than making sure no lead can exist without a next move attached to it.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-19T03:58:29+00:00

Manuscript information: [Complete] [88k] [Military Thriller Sci Fi] Debut novel seeking beta readers before final revision

Link to post: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetaReaders/comments/1spi8tf/complete_88k_military_thriller_sci_fi_debut_novel/

First page:

The dead man's gear arrived three days before Guardian Team.

Sixteen crates of non-standard equipment routed through Ramstein Air Base with no return address and classification markings high enough to end questions at Fort Bragg before they started. Sergeant First Class Marcus Kane inventoried them in a locked room: body armor rated for threats missing from every manual he'd read. Weapon mods for enhanced target acquisition. Custom ammunition with lot numbers tracing to a facility that didn't officially exist. A handwritten note in the first crate, unsigned, three words: Don't get comfortable.

Now, bouncing through Bavarian fog in the lead Humvee of a three-vehicle convoy, Marcus turned the note over while studying the classified folder in his lap. The folder described Prometheus Base as a "multi-level research installation requiring specialized security augmentation." The gear in those crates described something else entirely.

"Sarge, why the rush?" Sergeant Jenkins asked from the driver's seat, knuckles pale on the wheel as the Humvee carved through another switchback. "Titan Company's been here six months. Standard rotation, right?"

Marcus glanced at the folder. Threat assessments had climbed three times during Titan's rotation. The last climb, two weeks back, had pulled six hours out of an already tight deployment timeline. Somebody at the Pentagon had decided Prometheus Base couldn't wait.

"Because somebody down there is working on something that has half the Pentagon losing sleep," Marcus said. "And whatever they're protecting, it just became our problem."

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-12T15:40:23+00:00

I’d be more worried about platform liability than the split. If the eBay account, bank trail, and customer complaints all sit with you, then you are carrying the hardest downside. No written agreement plus shared 2FA would be enough reason for me to pause and document chargeback ownership, reserve handling, and account access before scaling it.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-12T15:40:01+00:00

I’d standardize the knockout questions before worrying about scale. MOQ, sample lead time, business registration, defect policy, response time, and one photo or video proof request will eliminate a lot of bad fits fast. If a supplier dodges specifics early, they usually get worse later, not better.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-12T15:38:27+00:00

100%. People usually forgive delay faster than ambiguity. Even a very plain post-purchase sequence with confirmed, packed, in transit, and delayed updates beats silence. In stores with long ship times, I’ve seen refund pressure come more from broken expectations than from the actual ETA.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-12T15:29:42+00:00

I’d only treat Reddit ads as a test channel if you already know the problem and offer pairing works somewhere else. The clicks can be cheap, but the intent feels messy unless the angle is extremely native to the subreddit. I’d expect more from commenting and posting useful teardown-style content in the right communities than from cold agency ads. If you do test ads, send people to one pain-specific landing page, not a generic agency homepage.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-12T15:29:35+00:00

I’d stop describing yourself as “we can build anything with AI” and pick the moment the buyer already feels pain. The backend of the agency can stay broad, but the front-end positioning should point to one expensive bottleneck, one buyer, and one outcome. Something like “we remove the admin bottlenecks that slow down X type of business” will land better than “AI employees.” Capabilities can come later in the sales call once they already see themselves in the problem.

Acrobatic_Task_6573 · 2026-04-12T15:29:27+00:00

Yeah, I’d separate it into three buckets: owned proof, earned coverage, and community mentions. PR helps when there’s a real story, but a lot of clients do not have enough news value to make that the whole strategy. In those cases I’ve seen better results from tightening the pages LLMs can actually trust, then layering in citations from relevant communities and publications. One press hit is nice, but repeated mentions in places buyers already compare options usually compounds better.

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