Marketing Dopamine  •  July 27, 2026

Audit Your Dopamine Triggers

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Most marketing gets reviewed before it goes out into the world. We check the grammar. We tweak the headline. We make sure the call to action is clear.
But lately, I’ve found myself asking a different question.
How will someone feel after they read this?
Will they feel curious? Encouraged? Understood? Or will they feel pressured to act before they’ve even had a chance to think?
That one question has changed the way I look at marketing.
Think about the businesses that always seem to be having a “last chance” sale. The first few times, you pay attention. You may even hurry to make a decision. But when the sale is extended again tomorrow… and then one more time through the weekend… your brain starts to recognize the pattern.
Eventually, “last chance” doesn’t feel like a last chance anymore.

Every marketing message is either making a deposit or a withdrawal from your audience’s trust.

A countdown timer, manufactured scarcity, or a subject line that promises more than the email delivers might create a quick burst of attention. But every time the experience falls short, people remember.
Trust works a lot like a bank account. One withdrawal doesn’t seem like much. But if you keep taking without making deposits, eventually the balance runs low.
I’ve noticed this in my own marketing. Years ago, I thought every email needed to be exciting. Every social post needed to grab attention. Every launch needed urgency.
Eventually I realized I was working harder to get attention than I was to earn trust.
Today, I’d rather someone open my email because they trust it will be worth their time than because they’re afraid of missing out.
Sustaining marketing feels different. It’s quieter. It doesn’t need a bigger promise every time because it keeps the promises it has already made.
It delivers what it promised, when it promised, and in the way it promised. It earns another email open because the last email was worth reading. It earns another visit because the last experience felt complete.
It doesn’t need to escalate to keep working.

Marketing should leave people better than it found them.

The easiest way to audit your marketing is to notice what happens after someone engages with it.
Did the experience deliver what the headline promised? Did someone walk away feeling informed, encouraged, or simply sold to? Does your next email feel like a helpful continuation, or just another attempt to create urgency?
Spiking marketing can feel exciting to create, but exhausting to maintain. Trust grows more quietly, but it lasts much longer.

A Dopamine Pause

Before you send your next email, post, or offer, ask yourself:
  • Does this create curiosity or anxiety?
  • Am I earning attention or demanding it?
  • If I removed the urgency, would this still be valuable?
  • Will someone feel better after reading this?
If every email, launch, or offer has to be louder than the one before it, that’s usually a sign that people are starting to tune you out.
These days, I’d rather build trust slowly than borrow attention quickly. It may not feel as exciting in the moment, but I believe it’s a much better way to build something that lasts.
If your marketing leaves people feeling calmer, clearer, or more confident than when they found you, you’re probably building something they’ll come back to.
Lisa Carmichael is the creator of the Marketing Dopamine Workbook, an interactive workbook designed to help entrepreneurs recognize the distractions, patterns, and habits that may be pulling their marketing off course. She is currently writing Marketing Dopamine: What Your Brain Is Really Doing When You Think You’re Building a Business. Learn more at marketingdopamine.com.