The market is flooded with tools that promise “personalization at scale.” But in reality, most solutions just slap tokens into templates and call it personalization. No wonder prospect email reply rates hover around 1-5%. Prospects can sense the automation. Real personalization in AI prospecting means using relevant, real-time data to craft outreach that speaks to…
Month: October 2025
Starting a new business? Here are the AI tools I would use when building from scratch
Building a business has never been easier, but the landscape is also more competitive. The difference between success and failure often comes down to how quickly you can execute. You need to understand your market and know how to scale your operations. AI tools can help you get off the ground. If I had to…
Why SurveyMonkey’s Marketing Leader Says Your Foundation Is Broken
The way most marketing teams approach AI is probably the way I approach my inbox at 4:59 PM on a Friday. With reckless optimism and zero follow-through. But Katie Miserany, SurveyMonkey’s Chief Communication Officer and SVP of Marketing, thinks the real problem isn’t AI — it’s that most marketers have forgotten a fundamental truth: Just…
Why most go-to-market playbooks fail internationally — and what to do instead
I first worked across borders in the mid‑90s, interpreting Spanish calls for AT&T. What struck me then — and what still holds today — is how quickly things break down when people assume their way of working is universal. Fast‑forward nearly three decades, after leading international growth at HubSpot and advising companies from Google to…
Tracking customer effort score improves satisfaction — why your CES matters from first touchpoint to last support ticket
Customer Effort Score (CES) has become a cornerstone for measuring friction across the customer journey. In fact, customer effort varies by journey stage, which means companies need unified tracking from first touch through renewal. When companies have this information, they gain clarity to address blockers and refine every touchpoint. Companies can track CES across pre-sales,…
AI email subject lines that drive 3x more revenue and actually convert [+ exclusive insights]
Email subject lines determine whether your carefully crafted campaigns ever see the light of day — yet most marketers still rely on gut instinct and basic A/B testing to choose them. What if you could predict which subject lines will resonate with your audience before hitting send? AI email subject line optimization makes this possible…
Enterprise generative AI tools that actually work
TL;DR: Enterprise generative AI tools are advanced software platforms designed to automate and enhance marketing, sales, and customer service at scale. The best tools integrate with your CRM, unify customer data, and support secure, governed workflows. To choose the right solution, focus on proven use cases, integration depth, governance controls, and measurable ROI. Start with…
AI website content vs manual content writing: What marketers need to know
As a former journalist and current HubSpot blog staff writer, I admit it feels awkward to publish my thoughts on AI website content versus manual content writing. I’m torn. After all, I have my foot in two worlds: one with writers decrying the use of their work to train AI without their permission, another with tech…
Can music influence what we buy? To find out, I dove into the psychology of music
In the first episode of my Nudge podcast, I interviewed the fantastic psychologist Dr. Adrian North, who conducted one of the seminal studies on the psychology of music. Back in 1997, the researchers stocked an English supermarket with four types of French and German wines, all similarly matched in cost, dryness, and sweetness. For two…
How professional services firms can transition from spreadsheets to a CRM with automated sales pipelines
Especially in the age of AI, professional services firms are in the business of relationships. People work with people, and once a certain bar of expertise is met, closing sales requires trust and a deep understanding of the people on the other side of the table. Despite this need, many organizations still rely on spreadsheets…