The first shift in customer experience thinking is to recognise that experience is a decision problem, not a design problem. The second shift is more uncomfortable. As AI, automation and agentic systems become embedded in organisations, those decisions are increasingly made by machines. That changes the nature of customer experience completely. From decision support to […]
Category Archives: Consumer Experience and Ethics
January
26
AI, automation and agentic systems turn customer experience into a governance problem
posted by Mike O'Brien
January
26
Customer experience is a decision problem, not a design problem
posted by Mike O'Brien
Most organisations believe they have a customer experience problem. And, if like me, you believe CX is the unifying theory of everything for marketing, that is bad news. Journeys feel fragmented. Personalisation feels awkward. Automation feels efficient but oddly cold. Teams redesign touchpoints, refresh interfaces and rewrite tone of voice, yet the experience stubbornly fails […]
September
23
Dark Patterns Part 4: Confirmshaming & Manipulative Language
posted by Mike O'Brien
Ever clicked “No thanks, I don’t like saving money” when declining an offer? That’s confirmshaming – guilt-tripping language designed to make you feel foolish for opting out. I’ve had more than a few encounters with American investor spivs shouting, “So you don’t like making money?” as if I were a penny short of tuppence. My […]
September
23
Dark Patterns Part 3: Sneaky Defaults
posted by Mike O'Brien
Distraction is a marketer’s best trick – and a brand’s biggest risk. Ever been too distracted to notice the “subscribe me to marketing emails” box already ticked? Or that extra insurance slid silently into your cart? That’s the power of defaults – exploiting the fact that in the rush of shopping, most of us aren’t […]
September
23
Dark Patterns Part 2: Hidden Costs
posted by Mike O'Brien
You’ve chosen the product(s) – think Amazon’s upsell suggestions. You’ve entered your details. You’re seconds from hitting “buy.”Then – the sting: extra fees revealed only at checkout. This is drip pricing or hidden costs. Airlines perfected it. Hotels followed. Now, it’s everywhere from concert tickets to clothing. Why it works Behavioural economics calls this the […]
September
23
Dark Patterns Part 1: Urgency & Scarcity
posted by Mike O'Brien
We’ve all felt it: the ticking timer at checkout, the red text screaming “Only 1 left!”, the banner warning “Hurry – 37 people are looking at this right now.” These are urgency and scarcity tactics – designed to trigger a primal fear of missing out (FOMO). Why it works Behavioural science explains it. Scarcity is […]
September
23
When “Choice” Isn’t Really Choice
posted by Mike O'Brien
The Dark Pattern Problem in E-Commerce In 2022, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that over 60% of major e-commerce sites were using “dark patterns” – manipulative design tactics that steer consumers into decisions they might not otherwise make. These aren’t glitches. They’re deliberate choices by designers and marketers. Think: Each one leverages […]
June
01
It’s always time for a new old school marketing model
posted by Mike O'Brien
As a marketing practitioner, I owe a great deal to all those who went before me and nailed their thoughts to the flagpole (cliche by design) at risk of getting shot down by the trolls. Those brave souls who made it through the process, end up with their name attached to a marketing model that […]
July
12
The quantum marketing skills challenge.
posted by Mike O'Brien
Most of the marketing tasks that once took highly-skilled teams weeks to accomplished can now be actioned in minutes by an individual with a smartphone. Even the most complex programmatic campaigns are triggered, delivered and dynamically optimised in milliseconds. But speed isn’t everything. While marketers make every effort to optimise business and human productivity, […]
December
13
All we want for Christmas is an IoT party
posted by Mike O'Brien
The Internet of Things has a long way to go before it makes most people’s Christmas stocking
November
03
Winter is coming Don Draper
posted by Mike O'Brien
Are clients cooling their interest in agencies? In July 2006, Unilever started giving the cold shoulder (sorry) to the agency world when it cut its UK marketing and digital agency roster from 20 to 7 shops. At the same time, Unilver quietly announced a review of its global digital roster. Among those agencies who survived the cull were: Agency […]
May
23
The agency model is breaking bad
posted by Mike O'Brien
All good things come to an end Advertising, direct marketing and digital agencies have played a pivotal role in turning marketing into a $600 billion a year industry. The memorable ads, mailshots and digital campaigns have done more than simply help advertisers to create brands, sell products and develop ongoing relationships with customers, they have […]
April
16
Get agile or get left behind
posted by Mike O'Brien
On February 11-13, 2001, at The Lodge at Snowbird ski resort in the Wasatch mountains of Utah, seventeen software developers got together to, as they put it: “Talk, ski, relax, and try to find common ground.” What they produced and signed up to was The Agile Manifesto: a 12-point commitment to optimising the development of software […]
March
27
Marketing automation prepare to be out-thought
posted by Mike O'Brien
Tempus fugit for the mortal marketer Time, the most precious commodity ever conceived by man, marches relentlessly towards the future without so much as a passing thought for marketer or consumer. It is an unavoidably finite resource that needs to become the central focal point for every product or service hoping to survive in an age of […]
February
03
The RISE of the micro marketing machine
posted by Mike O'Brien
The past makes me confused about the future of marketing The Bellwether report for January 2015, found that the “fragile nature of the economy has knocked the confidence of marketers and forced many to adopt “cost-efficient” online strategies to reign in their advertising spend.” It then went on to state that, “Despite the slowdown in advertising spend in […]
December
16
Laughing time is almost over for the agency as we know it
posted by Mike O'Brien
In two minds about the future of advertising and marketing Sir Martin Sorrel himself admits if he was starting out again he wouldn’t build the kind of mega agency he runs today. He is busy looking towards China, digital and customer insight to maintain momentum while wondering, like the rest of us, is there a better […]
July
17
Nest on its way to your home and beyond
posted by Mike O'Brien
Big Brother’s toe in the door or the start of bringing Amazon-style customer service into our everyday lives? I am firmly in Nest’s corner on this one. The idea of my home and many of the objects in it anticipating my every need, want and desire is going to be good for our lives and […]
June
25
Security Researchers Uncover The Tools Governments Use To Spy On Our Phones
posted by Mike O'Brien
Don’t say I didn’t warn you… banking on your mobile phone, not for me
March
14
Optimise every moment – shedding light on the customer journey
posted by Mike O'Brien
It’s getting more difficult to defend yourself form the competition As we move deeper into the age of the constantly connected customer, mapping the customer journey against the tried and tested buyer behaviour model has become increasingly desirable and difficult in equal measure. As the number of touchpoints expands, so too does the degree of […]
February
07
Remote Controlled Robots To Roam Tate Britain Gallery After Hours So Web Users Can Peek At The Art
posted by Mike O'Brien
Can they do it in the National Portrait Gallery – seeing the faces in a new light will be amazing
February
03
Rightware delivers benchmark tool to identify the fastest smartphones and tablets
posted by Mike O'Brien
Like all good ideas – Basemark X is focused on being useful to customers
January
22
Hi my name is Mike and I am an insight infoholic.
posted by Mike O'Brien
How well do you know your customers? Developing deep, actionable insight into the world of customers is fraught with difficulty for small businesses. Those huge databases chock full of accurate, well classified and richly segmented collations of relevant data sets will forever be in our hearts but not within reach of our budgets. So do […]
January
17
Great creative meets customer service meets content meets shock and awesome
posted by Mike O'Brien
It’s a minor miracle. Mind blowing creativity that took the whole business and a plane load of customers to deliver the big idea. Right up there with Avis We try Harder in my books. I read a covering article in which the marketing pundit asked, “It’s all very well, but will it sell seats?” You […]
January
11
Latest insights from the leading global information services company
posted by Mike O'Brien
Latest insights from the leading global information services company Yet more free information. Their consumer database holds information on 45 million UK customers. They hold marketing lifestyle data on 49.7 million individuals in the UK, including 33 million email address and 20 million mobiles. They already know what you would love to know about your customers.
December
18
It’s the experience not the budget or the channel that counts
posted by Mike O'Brien
Thinking outside the silo As the age of blow it all on TV marketing driven by the silo-centric interests of mega agency networks sputters in and out of temporal existence, I notice a worrying trend: rumour has it that mobile advertising is set to reap the budgetary fallout. Didn’t we go through this a few years back when TV […]
December
04
Google+ adds up by helping reduce your social footprint
posted by Mike O'Brien
Can less really be more? Reduce your social footprint? How counter-intuitive is that to the current zeitgeist? Well to borrow from creative guru John Hegarty and his Levis campaigns of 1982: “When the world zigs, zag.” Perhaps we need to reconsider our obsession with numbers and consider meaningful relationships. This notion is at the heart […]
November
26
Why market when you can UnMarket?
posted by Mike O'Brien
Calling time on the old rule book. Scott Stratten is President of UnMarketing and is, demonstrably, an expert in social engagement. What constitutes the title “Expert in the field?” His client’s viral marketing videos have been viewed over 60 million times. More importantly, his book, Unmarketing – Stop Marketing. Start Engaging (Revised and updated edition), […]
November
15
The 3.0 world belongs to creative thinkers
posted by Mike O'Brien
Make the world a better place – with marketing – seriously? In 2010, the marketing legend Philip Kotler, together with Herman Kartajaya and Iwan Sitiawan collaborated on the publication of Marketing 3.0. This thought-provoking book explores the transition of marketing from product-based (1.0) through the current consumer-based focus (2.0) and into an age of collaborative […]
