Hey there,
This week I’m doing something a little different.
I’m building in public.
Not the polished version. Not the “look how smart we are” version.
The real version.
Because if you’re actually pushing the edge on growth, things break.
And last month… we broke it.
What Smart Feed actually is (quickly)
Quick clarification so we don’t mix things up:
Smart Feed is not a lead source.
It’s the system that controls how leads flow into your program.
Think of it as the layer that:
Monitors every source
Validates lead quality
Distributes volume intelligently
Optimizes by ISP (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.)
Adjusts based on real engagement + delivery signals
So instead of just dumping leads into your ESP…
Smart Feed decides:
“Which leads should we take, from where, and where should they go… based on what’s actually working in the inbox.”
The Good: Smart Feed is working
We’ve been dogfooding Smart Feed internally.
Same way clients would use it.
Same rules.
Same expectations.
And the early data looks exactly how we hoped:
Strong clicker growth
Faster activation windows
Cleaner engagement signals
We’re not just adding subscribers.
We’re adding people who actually do something.
That’s the whole point.
Not list size.
Not vanity metrics.
Activated audience.
The Bad: We pushed too hard
And then we did what every operator does when something starts working…
We stepped on the gas.
Hard.
Too much volume.
Too fast.
Too aggressive on segments that weren’t ready.
And just like that…
Inbox placement dropped.
Gmail started tightening.
Spam rate crept up.
Engagement signals got noisy.
It wasn’t catastrophic, but it was heading there.
And if you’ve been doing this long enough, you know how that story ends.
Bad → Worse → “Why is nothing delivering anymore?”
This is exactly how programs break
This is the part most people don’t talk about.
You don’t lose deliverability slowly.
You lose it because:
You scaled faster than your signals could support
You added volume without tightening segments
You trusted opens instead of real engagement
We saw it in real time.
Same pattern we see with clients over and over again.
The Save: Smart Delivery stepped in
Here’s where it gets interesting.
Smart Delivery flagged it immediately.
Not after the damage.
During the shift.
It picked up:
Weakening Gmail engagement
Rising spam signals
Segment expansion happening too aggressively
And more importantly…
It told us exactly what to do next:
Tighten Gmail segment immediately
Split domain groups (Gmail vs everything else)
Pull back volume on weaker sources
Stop forcing sends where activation wasn’t happening
This is literally the same playbook we run for clients.
We just had to follow our own advice.
What we changed (fast)
Within hours:
Cut back Gmail aggressively
Tightened Base Sending Segment
Paused weaker sources, but kept Smart Leads running
Focused on high-intent clickers only
And just like that…
We stabilized.
The takeaway
Everyone wants growth.
Nobody wants to talk about control.
But this is the game:
Growth without feedback loops kills deliverability.
You can’t just add volume.
You have to earn the right to send more.
That’s what Smart Feed + Smart Delivery together actually do:
Smart Feed = better data insights
Smart Delivery = controlled scale
One without the other is how you get in trouble.
Why I’m building this way
I don’t want to build features in a vacuum.
I run them internally first.
Because the reality is…
Every system looks good until you stress it.
Last month, we stressed it.
And it held up exactly how it should.
If you’re pushing growth right now and starting to feel things get shaky…
You’re not alone.
You’re just early in the same curve we hit last month.
Chris Miquel
P.S. This is exactly why we built Smart Delivery to sit on top of everything.
Not just to show you metrics…
But to tell you when you’re about to screw it up.
And what to do before it costs you your inbox.
