ActiveCampaign CEO States The Obvious. More Content Is Not More Value. Someone Had To Say It, Apparently.
ActiveCampaign CEO Jason VandeBoom points out what should be self-evident. Producing marketing content faster via AI does not inherently improve engagement, conversion, or retention. Volume without measurable customer outcomes is simply noise. The piece frames this as part of a broader Signal Capture analysis on AI adoption, where smaller and midsize businesses may actually understand something larger companies overcomplicate.
This illustrates a principle I call Output Bias. The cognitive error is assuming that increased production volume correlates with increased value. It does not. The mechanism that matters here is signal-to-noise ratio. When you flood a channel with automated content, you degrade the very attention economy you are trying to capture. Measure engagement per unit produced, not total units produced. If your AI doubles output but response rates hold flat, you have not gained ground. You have wasted compute.
ActiveCampaign, under CEO Jason VandeBoom, is articulating this counterintuitive position. The company operates in autonomous marketing, yet its founder is cautioning against the blind pursuit of volume.
- Pull your last 30 days of marketing emails or social posts. Count total sent and total opens, clicks, or replies. Calculate your engagement rate per piece.
- Identify the top 20 percent of performers by engagement. Look for patterns in subject, timing, or format.
- Before generating your next batch of AI-assisted content, write down one sentence defining what success looks like per piece. If you cannot articulate the expected outcome, do not publish it. The goal is to produce fewer, better-targeted assets, not more filler.