Happy Thursday.
Bad news travels fast. Good news takes the scenic route, stops for coffee, and gets distracted by a podcast. That’s just how our brains are wired.
And once you understand it, you’ll never look at your marketing the same way again.
Buckle up, because today we’re leaning into the dark side. Don’t worry, though. We promise it ends well.
Reading time: 4 minutes, 09 seconds
2026 State of AEO Report reveals what 4k+ marketers are doing to show up in answer engines
A year ago, most marketers weren’t thinking about AI search. Now it’s one of the fastest-moving channels in the industry, and nobody has a playbook yet.
So HubSpot built one. They surveyed thousands of marketers to find out how they’re approaching answer engine optimization, where they’re investing, what’s actually working, and what isn’t.
The result is the 2026 State of AEO Report. Real data. Real strategies. A clear picture of where AI search is headed and how to get ahead of it.
Here are just some of the most interesting stats from the report:
- 58% of marketers say they are optimizing content for answer engines
- 44% have made a business purchase based on brands they discovered through answer engines
- HubSpot saw 433% brand citation improvement when doubling down on AEO
Negativity Bias
One snarky comment ruins your whole day, but ten compliments barely register.
Feels close to home? It must. Because that’s Negativity Bias—something our brain’s been doing since cavemen times.
Negativity Bias is our tendency to register, dwell on, and remember bad things more vividly than good ones.
Researchers Baumeister and colleagues called it “bad is stronger than good,” showing negative events impact us roughly three times more than positive ones.
This wiring made evolutionary sense.
Spotting a predator mattered more than spotting a pretty flower. But in modern life, it means a single 1-star review weighs more than fifty 5-stars in shoppers’ minds.
It’s why we doom-scroll bad news, replay awkward conversations at 2 AM, and trust warnings more than promises. Marketers who understand this don’t fight the bias. They work with it.
Think about how you choose a SaaS tool. You skip past glowing testimonials and head straight to the 1-star reviews.
You’re not being negative. You’re being human. Here’s how to use that to your advantage.
Three ways to leverage Negativity Bias
1) Lead with the pain, not the pleasure.
In 1927, John Caples wrote what became one of the most copied ads ever:
The idea of a public humiliation pulled readers straight into the story.
Almost a century later, and drama still works.
Dollar Shave Club’s 2012 launch video didn’t open by promising a great shave.
It opened by attacking the enemy: overpriced razors, “fancy handles,” and the absurdity of paying $20 a month for blades padded with vibrating tech you don’t need.
2) Use loss-framed urgency in SaaS onboarding
Calendly nudges trial users with messages about meetings they’ll lose track of without scheduling automation, not just hours they’ll save.
Loss framing leverages Negativity Bias directly: “You’re missing 4 booking opportunities this week” hits harder than “Book 4 more meetings.”
In trial reminder emails and in-app nudges, quantify what users are losing by not activating features.
Show abandoned workflows, unbooked meetings, or unsent campaigns.
3) Name your enemies on the label
Beautycounter built its brand around the Never List, a public catalog of over 2,800 ingredients they refuse to use, including parabens, phthalates, and formaldehyde.
Their copy doesn’t open with “glowing skin.” It opens with what’s poisoning the industry.
Specificity makes the threat real. By naming exactly what’s banned, they turn shoppers’ vague distrust of “chemicals” into focused alarm, then position themselves as the only safe answer.
So. Much. AI news. How do you know what’s worth your attention?
There’s always something new with AI, but not everything deserves your attention.
Good thing The Deep View only focuses on AI developments that could actually impact your work and decisions.
It shares must-know updates into a fun, 5-minute read and has helped 500,000+ professionals stay informed without drowning in the constant flood of updates.
Even readers from Google, Meta, Microsoft, and a16z start their day with these insights.
OPENAI: You can now plug product feeds directly into ChatGPT, which auto-generates ads from existing names, images, and attributes. It works similar to Google Shopping’s feed model, but ads surface based on conversational intent rather than keywords. It was a matter of time.
TIKTOK: …is becoming your travel agent. TikTok GO now supports major travel partners, including Booking.com, Expedia, and Viator, letting you tag locations and drive bookings straight from your posts.
LINKEDIN: The platform’s CTO just announced a big change. LinkedIn now uses AI to read your entire professional journey as one signal, replacing separate models for feed, jobs, and ads. Your behavior shapes what you see, so audience targeting gets more nuanced.
ICYMI, last time we looked at the Self-Serving Bias.
The “Glass Half-Empty” Crew.
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