02 / 05
The trend
Every channel is closing
- AI is flooding every channel (30–54%). But customer acquisition cost rose 40% in two years.
Here's why:
| Channel |
AI penetration |
Result |
| Cold email |
30% |
Reply rates: 7% → 5.1% in one year |
| LinkedIn content |
54% |
Organic reach down 50% YoY |
| Newsletters |
50% |
Unsubscribes tripled in 12 months |
| Search/SEO |
13%+ |
CTR down 61% |
These channels used to drive 35% of new business for small teams.
It is heading to zero for anyone not planning to re-invest.
For small teams, every door to new business is closing except one: who they already know.
Sources: Sales So, Originality.ai, Straits Research, MailerLite, AuthoredUp/Sales So, Phoenix Strategy Group; Seer Interactive (3,119 queries, 25.1M impressions, Sep 2025)