---
title: AviaryAI ABM Email Campaign Performance
type: article
created: '2026-03-11'
updated: '2026-04-05'
source_docs:
- raw/2026-03-11-aviaryai-weekly-call-129176325.md
tags:
- abm
- email-marketing
- hubspot
- client:aviaryai
- outbound-sales
- conversion-tracking
layer: 2
client_source: null
industry_context: null
transferable: true
---

# AviaryAI ABM Email Campaign Performance

## Overview

AviaryAI's ABM email campaign (101 accounts, launched February 2026) is producing engagement metrics that are exceptional by industry standards — but those metrics are not translating into inbound sales leads. This article documents the performance data, the hypotheses explored to explain the discrepancy, and the actions taken or planned to resolve it.

Related meeting: [[meetings/2026-03-11-aviaryai-weekly-call]]

---

## Campaign Metrics

| Metric | AviaryAI Result | Industry Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Open Rate | ~60% | ~20% (good) |
| Click Rate | ~30% | ~5–10% |
| Bounces | Near zero | — |
| Unsubscribes | 8 (from 101 accounts) | — |

Multiple contacts have clicked 4–6 times across the sequence. By standard engagement signals, these would be classified as high-intent prospects.

The campaign uses plain-text HTML emails (minimal links, primarily to the homepage and case studies) sent via Orbit, with contacts managed in HubSpot.

---

## The Discrepancy: High Engagement, No Leads

Despite the engagement numbers, Aaron Grossman (AviaryAI Head of Sales) reports:

- Fewer than 5% of inbound leads are cold
- Zero meeting bookings from the ABM sequence to date
- One email reply (in active but inconclusive conversation)
- The vast majority of new contacts come from conferences, referrals, and existing client networks

> "I'm not feeling it on my sequences. They're not as good as yours, but I was not seeing anything to your numbers." — Aaron Grossman

---

## Hypotheses

### 1. Firewall Activity Inflating Metrics

Credit unions commonly configure email security gateways to automatically open emails and follow links as part of threat scanning. Aaron raised this based on prior experience with Apollo sequences.

**Assessment: Partially plausible, but unlikely to explain click data.**

- Firewalls typically trigger opens on every email but do not click multiple distinct links
- The 30% click rate (not just opens) and multi-click patterns on individual contacts suggest real user behavior
- The 3 AM click timestamps are likely a data artifact from the N8N server's SQS/SNS event capture pipeline, not evidence of automated scanning

**Conclusion:** Firewall inflation may account for some open rate inflation, but the click patterns are more consistent with genuine engagement. The discrepancy is more likely a conversion funnel problem than a data quality problem.

### 2. UTM Tagging Gaps Hiding Attribution

GA4 shows only 5 email-attributed sessions despite the click volume. The "Direct" channel bucket (886 sessions) likely contains misattributed email traffic from links that were not properly UTM-tagged.

This is a known risk: UTM tagging is policy but not always enforced in practice. If email clicks are landing as "Direct," the campaign's downstream website impact is invisible.

**Action assigned:** Karly Oykhman and Sebastian Gant to audit and fix UTM tagging on all ABM email links. See [[knowledge/analytics/utm-tagging-standards]].

### 3. HubSpot Automation Canceling Sequences Prematurely

A workflow rule cancels email sequences for any contact when a HubSpot deal is created. Because AviaryAI targets large credit unions with multiple business units, creating a deal with one contact was inadvertently suppressing outreach to other contacts at the same organization.

**Resolution:** Change the sequence cancellation trigger from "deal created" to the "Opportunity" lifecycle stage. This allows continued outreach to other business units within the same account until a contact is explicitly marked as an active opportunity.

Aaron to confirm preferred logic; Mark Hope to implement the trigger change.

---

## Contact-Level Example

**Darla at Partners FCU** — illustrative high-engagement contact:

- First email: February 11
- Second email: February 23 (clicked link)
- Subsequent emails: multiple link clicks across the sequence
- HubSpot activity log shows consistent engagement pattern

This profile would normally warrant immediate sales follow-up. The gap between this signal and zero booked meetings is the core problem the team is investigating.

---

## Next Steps

| Owner | Action |
|---|---|
| Mark Hope | Draft next 6 ABM emails and send for Aaron's approval |
| Mark Hope | Set up HubSpot tasks/notifications for contacts with 4+ clicks |
| Aaron Grossman | Send next 100-account list by EOD 2026-03-12 |
| Aaron Grossman | Propose solution for deal-creation vs. lifecycle-stage trigger conflict |
| Karly / Sebastian | Audit and fix UTM tagging on all ABM email links |

---

## Related Notes

- [[knowledge/analytics/ga4-attribution-issues]] — GA4 misattribution context
- [[knowledge/outbound-sales/hubspot-abm-workflow-design]] — HubSpot sequence automation logic
- [[clients/aviaryai/_index]] — Client overview