Is outbound going to die? - Part 2

This is a follow up post to Is outbound going to die?

In my previous post, I argue that as AI-powered outbound sales and marketing tools become ubiquitous and less effective due to user fatigue, companies will need to rely on genuine relationships, owned channels, and strong communities for sustainable growth. As companies ramp up hyper personalised outreach, most of us are increasining tuning out by setting up automatic filters, switching off notifications and even these days letting an AI agent manage your inbox. Shortwave for example bundles the promos emails together for easy deletion, iOS triages alerts by priority, Lindy/Sanebox autodeletes the fluff by itself.

This was a common follow up question I got from the readers of that post: There are some essential communications like payment reminders, new launches, promotions etc which has to be communicated to the user. What will be the channel for that? Will email die? How will it evolve in the era of AI? In this post, we try to understand how this relationship between companies/brands and people will change.

So, what next? If brands have industrialised spam and we’re industrialising our defenses, communication will evolve. Here’s how I see it play out:

• The AI Gatekeeper Era is already here

  • Example: You sign up for an airline’s newsletter, but your email assistant (Lindy, SaneBox) auto-bundles it into a “Travel Promos” digest you never open(or auto delete). Meanwhile, your phone quietly hides non-essential pings from retail apps during work hours. It’s like every message now has to pass through two layers of bouncers - your OS and your AI.

• Push beats email for urgency (but only for the privileged)

  • Example: Your bank’s fraud alert actually buzzes your phone at 2am because it’s one of 3 apps you let break through DND because it earned “critical” status. That flash sale from your favorite clothing brand? Sorry, it goes straight to notification junk, summarised in a daily digest you’ll probably ignore.

  • Example: Can’t reach you? Some delivery apps will escalate from silent push, to SMS, to human call, until you or your agent taps “Received.”

• Brand AI vs Your AI

  • Example: Brands like Nike and Samsung pour millions into dynamic push campaigns (15+ versions daily per segment, tweaked by Phrasee or Optimail). On our side, personal agents summarise, defer or just auto-delete most messages. Soon, your AI will negotiate delivery lik “I’ll allow 2 notifications per week, only if there’s a true discount or a loyalty perk.” I am personally excited to see how this will play out. Lot of scope for hacking incentives here.

• System-level privileges

  • Example: Airlines can now apply for Apple/Android “critical alert” slots—meaning only flight cancellations, gate changes, or passport reminders show up as banners, regardless of DND mode.

  • Example: Your health insurance provider can’t send you a wellness offer that bypasses your filters unless it’s tagged “urgent” and reviewed by the OS for legitimacy.

• How will ‘super important’ stuff land, then?

  • Example: Your bag is lost at Bangalore. Instead of 20 emails, you get a single signed, OS-verified push (with airline branding, cryptographic proof), plus an SMS to your registered number if you don’t respond.

  • Example: Doctor’s appointment reminder? It shows up as a badge on your lock screen and if ignored—prompts your AI to reschedule or reply.

What does this mean for brands? Get ready to fight for attention with the OS or the AI assistant used by the user. Your offers need “agent readability” like clear structure, purpose, proofs of authenticity, and context awareness. The god awful and annoying practice of baking in a million emojis in your notifications is over. One interesting way I think this can evolve is brands paying for your attention. Ex: “attention micro-fees” where brands incentivize you (or your AI assistant) to delive the message and ensure that the user sees it. This could just become another line item in their CAC calculation and we might end up where we started but just with multiple extra steps in between.

Anyway, if you’re working on new ways to signal real urgency or value in this world of agent-to-agent communication, or you think there’s a new protocol for this chaos, reach out to me.