Is Facial Recognition Creepy or Is It Just the Future?

Technology can analyze people’s facial expressions and determine what emotion they feel. It’s called Facial Expression Analysis and it uses Facial Recognition technology. This technology presents the most authentic option for capturing data on customers’ emotions during your Customer Experience. This technology is the next level of Customer Experience analysis and the future for the industry. Take a look here: https://beyondphilosophy.com/authentic-emotion-recognition/

In some cases, however, it is the now, for facial recognition technology anyway. Big brands like Walmart and KFC use facial recognition technology already. Passengers on Delta can check into flights in the Atlanta airport using facial recognition technology. I unlock my phone and pay for purchases using facial recognition technology.

However, one must wonder….is this technology a little bit…creepy?

In this episode of The Intuitive Customer podcast, our guest Professor Bill Hedgecock from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota shares his expertise on facial recognition and facial expression analysis technology and its application in Customer Experience programs. Hedgecock is an academic marketer and an expert in neurology who studies how the brain works in decision-making and often participates in psychology-based research that uses this technology. 

Hedgecock begins by defining what the two technologies are: 

• Facial recognition matches a face it has captured to other images in a database.
• Facial expression analysis determines the emotions felt based on how the face it has captured looks.

As you can see, the data potential for authentic customer emotion capture is enormous with this technology. To be able to determine how a person feels during the different moments of an experience in real time is invaluable to Customer Experience analysis and design.

However, like everything else, we have an emotional reaction to this technology. The idea that a camera is recording you during a transaction and analyzing what you might be feeling at different times is, to many people, uncomfortable at best and all the way creepy at worst.

The future for data collection is Facial Recognition and Facial Expressional Analysis technology. So how do we get over these uncomfortable feelings about it? More importantly, how do we get our customers over their uncomfortable feelings about our using it? 

This episode explores the potential and the pitfalls of this innovative and intimidating software and how it can be used to take your Customer Experience to the next level. In addition, we share important ways for you to help ease your customers uneasiness about its use.

Listen to the podcast in its entirety to learn more about Facial Recognition and Facial Expression Analysis technology use for your Customer Experience.

The Intuitive Customer podcasts are designed to explain the psychological concepts behind customer behavior.

If you would like to find out from one of our CX consultants how you can implement the concepts we discussed in your organization’s marketing to improve customer loyalty and retention, contact us at www.beyondphilosophy.com.

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People like choices. They just don’t like choosing, at least not when there are too many options.

However, if you give people the option of shopping where there are only two options or where there is a wide selection, people will nearly always choose to shop where there are many choices. Then, when they get there, they can’t make a decision and feel frustrated and disappointed about it.

This episode of The Intuitive Customer explores the issues of too many choices and the adverse effects it can have on how your customer feels during your experience because of them. We also share ways that you can make choosing easier in your experience.

Being the Guardian of Your Service Culture

Keeping up your culture of customer service is not easy. Leadership in many organizations find maintaining the customer service culture they have established is a substantial issue.

In this episode of The Intuitive Customer podcast, we spoke with three-time best-selling author, coach, and conference speaker Marilyn Suttle. She helps leaders and teams make subtle shifts to create breakthrough success for customers. Her clients have gone on to increase their scores for customer satisfaction and improved employee engagement. Many have also earned awards in their industry.

The ubiquity of brands is undeniable. With the constant exposure to them, we all feel like we know what a brand is. However, when we are asked to explain it, we often fumble. In fact, it is remarkable just how different our answers are. It seems as if no one really knows what a brand is at all.

Branding is imperative to having an outstanding Customer Experience. The relationship between your brand and the outcome of your experience, at least in the customer’s eye, has deep roots in customer loyalty as well.

How to Manage Uncertainty

My team is the Luton Town Football Club. I heard the manager say about the team that you have to control the controllable. I quite like that phrase and I believe it is the key to managing uncertainty in your business for your customers.

Now, he didn’t come up with the phrase. It’s a well-used epithet by many coaching organizations—and not just for football.

Customers Are Irrational! Why? What Can We Do About It?

Many times, when I talk about irrationality in customer behavior, people in the business-to-business (B2B) arena tune out. However, this is a mistake. All customers are irrational, whether they are making business decisions or consumer ones.

This episode of The Intuitive Customer explores customer irrationality. We talk about what we mean by it, how it changes our perception of an experience, and what organizations can do to design Customer Experience strategies that work with irrationality.