Intent ads

Hot take: 1:1 personalization is overrated. Not because it’s a bad idea, but because it distracts from what actually moves the needle. Most sites can’t identify more than a small fraction of visitors (usually 2–10%). Most teams can’t produce enough content to support true 1:1. And most “personalization at scale” promises collapse the moment real traffic hits them. The good news: You don’t need any of that to deliver a better experience. Intent-based personalization scales faster, reaches everyone, and outperforms the 1:1 fantasy with a fraction of the effort. And it is possible without advanced tools. The biggest unlock isn’t identity. It’s intent. Teams leaning into intent first, including companies like Made With Intent, show how scalable this approach can be once you build on those signals. That’s personalization that scales.

Hot take: The goal of your website isn’t to convert people. (It never was.) It’s to increase the chance of them converting 👀 That sounds subtle. But it’s everything. Because conversion rate is just a number that looks backward. It’s binary. Aggregated. Influenced by macroeconomics, the weather, or your competitor’s flash sale. You can’t control that. You can only control the experience. How you help someone find what they need. How you inform and persuade, not push. How you meet them where they are in their buying stage. A focus on an event that you can't control (conversion rate) creates behaviours that result in squeezing more conversions in the short term. Hello, discounts 👋 Instead, focus on increasing someones level of intent. Taking them from low ” → high, from discovering ” → considering. From “just looking” → “this might actually help me.” Serving the right person at the right time. Conversion isn't just a lever we can pull. So we shouldn't treat it like that.