Psychology, Marketing and AI
Guest blogger Megan Greaves looks at the implications of AI for marketing from the point of view of a psychology graduate.
For the last few years it has been impossible to ignore the growth of AI in marketing. Whether it’s marketing proposals, creating content or predicting consumer behaviour, AI is just about everywhere we look. As someone with a background in psychology, I find this cross between technology and human behaviour equal parts interesting and nerve-wracking.
AI & marketing
We cannot deny the power of AI in marketing. It’s fast, it handles the boring stuff, and it’s a fantastic tool for generating ideas or first drafts. It won’t come as a shock that AI is already being used by businesses to analyse consumer movements and predict their buying behaviours. By using machine learning and pattern recognition, AI is helping businesses anticipate customer reactions before they’ve even happened.
It’s Not A(I)ll Sunshine
This all sounds fantastic, but I was always told that if something is too good to be true, it usually is. With all its power, AI is still massively flawed because it’s not human. I don’t know about you, but I can spot AI-generated content a mile off; although it can look and sound great, it misses the mark on authenticity and at the end of the day it’s just code (albeit very clever code). As such, AI doesn’t have lived experience, it doesn’t feel the excitement of your favourite brand releasing a new product (I’m looking at you M&S chocolate-covered custard creams) or the frustrations of receiving a poor service. And all of this matters because…
People Buy From People
To be completely honest, if I’m buying anything significant or I want information about a service, I want to speak to a real person. There’s genuinely nothing more frustrating than endless hours on O2 trying to negotiate a new phone contract with an AI chat bot. Even online, I want to see a creator trying on a new outfit, showing how it fits and how it makes them feel.
AI cannot replace this. It’s these types of human interaction that drive purchasing decisions, and this leads me very nicely into talking about behavioural economics.
Behavioural What Now?
With two degrees in psychology, I’d be silly not to bring some theory into this – mostly so I can say I’ve put my university education to good use!
Traditional economics assumes that we make logical, rational decisions when we shop. But anyone who’s ever placed an impulsive TikTok shop order knows better.
This is where behavioural economics comes in. This is the idea that human behaviour is shaped by biases, heuristics (mental shortcuts) and emotions. We’re influenced by scarcity (“Only three left!”) and social proof (“Everyone is buying this!”). These mental shortcuts and emotional cues (getting major FOMO) drive our behaviour, mostly subconsciously. While AI can analyse patterns and predict behaviour based on past data, it doesn’t experience any of it. It doesn’t understand the joy of said TikTok shop order arriving and the subsequent laughter when it looks nothing like what was advertised.
So What?
I guess what I’m trying to say is, yes there is a lot of worry about AI replacing jobs, but we genuinely have the upper hand because a machine will never be able to understand or feel what it’s like to be us.
Sure, AI is fantastic for making our lives easier and doing the hard yards to inform strategies, anticipate consumer behaviour and make data-driven decisions. But the bottom line is, it will never grasp what actually makes us tick.
MG
