• by Ryan Warren , February 25, 2026

Before reading this article, check your inbox. How many emails have you gotten recently from a brand trying to sell you something?

If your inbox looks like mine, it’s filled with content but empty on value. Consumers aren’t short on messages. They’re short on relevance.

The cause of touchpoint overload

This isn’t a new phenomenon. It started with an influx of consumer and data privacy laws. Then came the pandemic, and after that, an approaching deadline for cookie deprecation. All three led to an ecommerce explosion.

As sales rose, the metrics tracked by marketers did, too. But post-pandemic, ecommerce growth normalized once it was safe to buy in-store again. Marketers had an inflated year-over-year benchmark to hit, and there was only one way to do it: start throttling up the “send” cannon and fire away.

In doing so, they torched their most valuable asset -- customer data -- because while chasing quantity, they’ve eroded accuracy. Two-thirds of consumers surveyed in 2023 by Optimove said they want fewer marketing messages.  

And while chasing growth through volume degraded performance, it also sunk consumer trust.

A degradation of trust

Dissecting the problem leads to two clear issues: a focus on the wrong metrics, and a siloed approach. Companies measure opens and clicks and often do so in segmented channels like email, social, and SMS. Without attaching that campaign performance to sales, or connecting that performance across channels, it’s much harder to create real value for consumers.

This degradation of consumer trust can only be corrected when the goal becomes generating positive outcomes for consumers at both the individual and audience level, not simply hitting disconnected quantitative benchmarks.

An opportunity for marketers

It sounds simple, but how we treat consumers matters.

I’d like to challenge marketers to think about connecting the full consumer experience in personal, trusted, and valuable ways. That means embedding personalization at the core with the right data to connect individual identities.

• Deploy AI agents capable of algorithmic nudging, ingesting real-time signals to determine the “next best action” to best meet each individual’s unique circumstance.
• Brands also need to learn how to leverage AI to construct optimal versions of messages for specific individuals if they expect to achieve effective personalization.
• As consumers increasingly look for ways to avoid privacy trackers and ad blockers, brands should implement guardrail metrics that prevent AI agents from actions done in pursuit of short-term clicks.

According to McKinsey, personalization programs can deliver 20% higher customer satisfaction ratings and 10%-15% higher sales conversion. In my experience, developing a personalized connected experience approach also improves customer loyalty, and in turn, builds trust.

Focus on the mission first, then the outcomes

I recognize this vision is aspirational, and few brands are currently in position to achieve it. It’s a pivotal moment for marketers to recognize the need to think differently, ditch the siloed, quantity-first approaches, and refocus on value. With that mission in place, they can build toward the outcomes they are striving to reach. Their consumers (and their inboxes) will thank them for it.