What’s Up THIS WEEK?! NEW AI Must Do’s, 1990s Impact, Subject Line Tips, TV Recos? | Ep. 491
Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson
GURU Media Hub
4.9 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 14 April 2026
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The data landed this week, and it quietly changes how you should be titling just about everything. Jay Schwedelson unpacks three tactics that are already moving the needle on AI visibility and email open rates, including one that produces what he describes as the most poorly written subject lines imaginable, and it still outperforms. Add in a genuinely spicy Coachella take and some unexpected news from Levi's, and this one earns its 10 minutes.
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Best Moments:
(00:30) Content titles that start with a number are getting picked up by AI overviews nearly 22% of the time, the highest rate of any content type
(01:45) Starting your subject line with "And," "But," or "Plus" is lifting email open rates by around 15%, and yes, it looks as weird as it sounds
(03:00) Comparison-style content like "X vs Y" is showing up in AI answers 45-60% more than other formats
(04:45) Levi's 517 jeans saw a 25% sales spike this quarter, and a JFK Jr. TV show gets partial credit
(05:30) Why Kylie Jenner's cigarette post at Coachella is one 90s trend that should stay buried
(06:00) Jay's full-throated defense of Justin Bieber's Coachella set and why calling it lazy is just wrong
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Big shoutout to our sponsor, Knak!
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Partner with Jay: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/contact
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Pre-order Jay Schwedelson's new book, Stupider People Have Done It (out June 9, 2026).
All net proceeds are donated to The V Foundation for Cancer Research, let's kick cancer's butt: https://www.amazon.com/Stupider-People-Have-Done-Marketing/dp/1637635206
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Subscribe to Jay's newsletter for weekly marketing tips and tactics: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/newsletter
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Register for Eventastic (FREE + VIRTUAL!) https://www.eventastic.com
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Register for GuruConference (FREE + VIRTUAL!) https://www.guruconference.com
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Connect with Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schwedelson/
Check out Jay's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@schwedelson
Check out Jay's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayschwedelson/
Ask Jay anything: https://www.jayschwedelson.com/ask
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Do This Not That, the podcast from marketers. We share quick tips, things you can do right now, and then we add a little bit of chaos at the end of every episode. We also keep it short like this intro. Let's check it out. |
| 0:16.5 | We are back for what's up this week from the Do This Not That Podcast. This is our short episode. |
| 0:21.4 | We'll break down what's going on this week in marketing and business and life. |
| 0:24.7 | So let's get into it. So saw this data that just came out this week from Digital Applied. |
| 0:29.8 | And it's kind of interesting. Basically, where they're showing is that in all the different AI |
| 0:34.0 | overviews in Google or the AI answers and any of the tools you use like |
| 0:38.1 | Chachapit or Cloud or whatever, that those offers that you have on your site or in your content, |
| 0:44.2 | those pieces of content that you put out their consumer or business, if they start with an actual |
| 0:49.3 | number, like the seven questions to ask your cloud security provider, or nine hiring criteria |
| 0:56.8 | for your next fractional CMO, or four ingredients in your face wash that are actually drying |
| 1:03.1 | your skin. If they start with an actual number, AI overviews are picking them up at the highest rate of any content type, roughly 21.9% |
| 1:14.4 | of the time according to their new data. Now, this shouldn't be shocking because we know about |
| 1:19.7 | listicles forever and we know about putting numbers at the start of your subject lines, |
| 1:24.1 | but now there's data to support having basically your blog titles, |
| 1:28.2 | all of your content titles, everything starting with a number because it's allowing you to |
| 1:32.3 | show up in AI more. Now, probably the most strangest new tactic that we saw come out this week |
| 1:40.9 | from my team at World Data Research. It's actually related to subject |
| 1:44.8 | lines and email marketing and I bet you it's a test you have never tried. It is starting your |
| 1:51.0 | subject line with one of these three words. Starting your subject line with the word and the word |
| 1:57.4 | but or the word plus. This is actually increasing email open rates by about 15% and it's bizarre. |
| 2:04.4 | It creates the most poorly written email subject lines, |
| 2:07.9 | but it's so different and it catches people a little bit off guard that there's curiosity there. |
... |
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