The late comedian George Burns once said, “The key to success is sincerity. If you can fake that you’ve got it made.”
As a loyalty marketer, I wonder: are we trying to build emotional customer engagement using a tool that, at best, fakes human emotions? It’s a fascinating paradox emerging in the marketing world.
The are two vital trends in our industry. One is, of course, the incorporation of AI into virtually every facet of marketing, from data analytics, to strategic direction, targeting, messaging, and customer experience. The availability of deeper customer knowledge than we’ve ever had, and the automated efficiency with which those insights can be actioned, are unprecedented.
The other key trend is the continuing ascendancy of emotional loyalty, rather than transactional rewards, as the key loyalty driver – a trend we’ve been covering for years.
Paradoxically, as human experience becomes more important, we’re increasingly handing marketing over to a tool that by definition, cannot have human experiences.
But, you say, AI is getting closer every minute to replicating human experiences and even emotions. While that’s true, we must remember that artificial intelligence is using huge data models to do just that – replicate human cognition and feelings. Are we asking AI to “fake it till you make it?”
Yet we know consumers, especially younger ones, can smell the lack of authenticity a mile away. Using AI, like any other resource, human or digital, without a sound guiding strategy and careful oversight, risks failing that sniff test. Establishing trust between customers and brands is essential to building real loyalty. Can AI tools build trust?
Maybe AI will grow its EQ to match its IQ some day. But until that day, smart marketers must balance their use of AI with human intelligence, if the goal is to nurture lasting emotional loyalty. Your thoughts?