Clicks Were a Crutch. AI Made Them Obsolete: Rethinking Email Performance in Modern CRM

Written by Christine Harris

For years, marketers have treated clicks as the clearest indicator of interest. A click meant intent. No click meant indifference. Entire KPI frameworks were built around this single binary action.

That system only existed because we did not have anything better.

Today, with Agentic AI and cross-channel intelligence, clicks have become one of the least reliable ways to understand whether an email is doing its job.

The truth is simple:
Email performance is no longer defined only by what happens inside the email. It is defined by how that email influences the customer’s progression across the relationship arc.

Clicks Were a Proxy Because We Lacked Real Signals

Historically, marketers measured what was easy, not what was meaningful.
Clicks were visible, countable, and exportable. They created neat dashboards. They gave strategists something to optimize.

But they were a crude proxy for intent.
A click often reflected curiosity, confusion, device errors, or accidental taps.
Meanwhile, real interest was invisible because we had no way to observe the silent signals.

We optimized for what was measurable, even when it was not the right measurement.

Agentic AI Changed the Rules Completely

Modern CRM platforms no longer rely on explicit actions to interpret engagement.
AI can evaluate a customer’s level of interest using dozens of micro-signals that were previously impossible to measure, such as:

• Scroll depth and reading patterns

• Time spent on specific modules

• The recurrence of certain content affinities

• Cross-channel activity that correlates with email exposure

• Long-term progression patterns instead of single-session behavior

In other words: the customer does not need to click for the system to know what they care about.

A click tells you what someone did.
AI tells you what someone meant.

This shift fundamentally redefines how CRM success should be measured.

Customer State Changes Are Now the Only KPI That Matters

Most brands still categorize emails by format. Newsletter. Offer. Journey step. Trigger. Honestly, this is understandable because thats how most CRM programs are built, but customers do not experience any of these categories. They experience a series of nudges that shape their readiness, and now we have a way to track and measure that.

The real performance question is no longer, “Did they click”
It is, “Did this email move the customer to a more valuable state”

Examples of state transitions:

• Unaware to Aware

• Aware to Interested

• Interested to Considering

• Considering to Intent

• Intent to Action

• Action to Loyalty

Agentic AI is now capable of detecting and predicting these shifts, even when the customer performs no explicit action.

If a subscriber moves from Aware to Considering because of repeated exposure to brand stories, that is performance.
If someone consistently skims EV content and begins visiting the website a week later, that is performance.
If a customer remains subscribed, opens regularly, and retains brand familiarity, that is performance.

The value is in the progression, not the click.

What This Means for Email Evaluation

Traditional KPIs break down quickly when applied to this new model.

A newsletter with minimal clicks but strong opens might drive a measurable lift in downstream site visits or vehicle research.

A product update with no CTA engagement might still trigger higher content affinity scores in the AI model.

A multi-step nurture sequence might move a customer from passive interest to active consideration long before they ever click anything.

When AI can interpret signal strength on its own, optimizing for clicks becomes counterproductive.
It encourages marketers to chase activity instead of intent.

The goal of CRM is not to generate actions inside the email.
The goal is to shape the customer’s trajectory.

The New Role of Email in an AI-Driven CRM Program

Email is no longer an endpoint. It is an input into an ecosystem.

Its purpose is to:

• Provide consistent brand presence

• Build mental availability

• Reinforce key narratives

• Increase affinity indicators that AI models can learn from

• Support progression across the relationship curve
  
  

Sometimes that progression is obvious and measurable.
Often it is quiet and cumulative.
But it is still real, and AI can detect it.

The emails that create the most long-term value are often the ones that produce the fewest clicks.

The Takeaway

Clicks were useful when they were all we had.
Now they represent only a fragment of the picture.

In modern CRM:

• AI detects engagement without explicit action.

• Customer state changes matter more than in-email behavior.

• Email success is defined by its influence on progression, not by its ability to drive clicks.

• The most effective CRM programs optimize for trajectory, not interaction.

The question is no longer, “How do we increase clicks”
It is, “How do we design messages that move customers forward in ways AI can understand”

Not every email needs a click. In fact, the emails that shape the relationship most effectively may never need one at all.