Happy Thursday.
Did you know that today is national email day?
A holiday honoring Ray Tomlinson, the engineer who sent the first-ever email in 1971 and, when later asked about it, said simply: “It seemed like a neat idea.”
That neat idea now reaches more than half the world’s population daily. So raise a mug to Ray. We wouldn’t be here without him. Literally.
Reading time: 4 minutes, 26 seconds
The most persuasive marketing is not an ad – it is a real person recommending a product they actually use.
Stack Influence taps into this at scale.
Their AI connects your brand with micro-influencers from a network of 11M+ creators.
They purchase your product, try it, and create authentic content – generating social proof that triggers the bandwagon effect and builds trust faster than any paid placement.
No upfront creator fees. Real purchases. Real content. Avg 5X ROAS.
Optimism Bias
Ever started a project convinced it’d take two weeks… then finished it three months later?
We did too. Because we were also guilty of Optimism Bias—a tendency to overestimate positive outcomes and underestimate risks.
We simply believe bad things happen to other people. Not us.
Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman documented this extensively in his research on cognitive biases and decision-making heuristics.
His studies showed people consistently rate their own chances of success higher than statistical reality supports.
This bias is hardwired. Neuroscientist Tali Sharot’s research at University College London found roughly 80% of humans exhibit it.
Even when presented with corrective data, our brains resist updating beliefs in a negative direction.
This is your playground as a marketer. Every purchase is fueled by a customer imagining their best-case scenario.
They don’t buy running shoes. They buy the future version of themselves crushing a marathon.
Your job? Feed that optimistic vision, then remove the friction standing between fantasy and checkout.
Three ways to leverage Optimism Bias
1) Sell the transformation, not the tool
Fitness brand Gymshark rarely leads with fabric specs or stitching details.
Their campaigns showcase athletes mid-transformation: sweating, grinding, becoming.
Their Instagram and TikTok content frames every product as a vehicle for the viewer’s aspirational self.
The result? Customers project their most optimistic fitness future onto a pair of leggings.
Gymshark hit over $500M in annual revenue by selling identity, not apparel.
2) Use free trials to exploit “this time it’ll work” thinking
Canva offers a 30-day free trial of its Pro and Business plans with zero restrictions.
Users dive in believing they’ll master advanced design tools and finally build that brand kit.
Optimism bias kicks in hard here. Users overestimate how much they’ll accomplish during the trial.
But by day 15, they’ve built workflows around Pro features. Canceling feels like loss, not savings.
Canva reports over 200 million monthly active users, with free-to-paid conversion fueled by this exact loop.
3) Frame risk as nearly nonexistent
Casper offers a 100-night risk-free trial on every mattress.
Don’t like it? They’ll send a courier to pick it up. Full refund.
The implicit message? There’s basically zero downside to trying.
Optimism bias makes customers think, “This will absolutely be the mattress that fixes my sleep.”
The perceived risk shrinks to nothing, while the imagined upside — perfect rest every night — stays massive.
Casper knows once you sleep on it for a month, you’re unlikely to return it. That’s the bias doing its work.
Stop drowning in AI information overload
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AI MARKETING: OpenAI has started offering cost-per-click (CPC) bidding to select advertisers within its ad pilot, at a reported $3 to $5 price range. OpenAI recently reduced the minimum spend required to advertise to $50,000 and CPMs dropped to $25 so yes… It’s getting close.
AI MARKETING: No designer? No problem. Claude Design lets anyone build prototypes, decks, and marketing assets just by describing what they need. The new visual collaboration tool refines output through comments and direct edits, with your team’s brand system built-in. Wow.
YOUTUBE: Deepfake protection on YouTube now extends to anyone, not just creators with channels. You can upload your likeness to flag AI-generated impostors for removal. With deepfake tech moving at pace, getting yourself registered before someone misuses it is far cheaper than the cleanup afterwards.
ADVERTISING: Search still commands $114.2B and nearly 39% of all digital ad revenue, IAB reports. But its 11% growth looks modest next to social’s (33%), or video’s (25%) climb. US total digital ad revenue hit a record $294.6B in 2025 with top 10 platforms controlling 84% share.
ICYMI, last time we looked at the Dunning-Krueger effect.
The “Glass Half Full” Crew.
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