Altered Brain Development and the End of the Customer Experience

The New Year has started off strong with fresh developments in the customer experience industry. From altered brain development and the supposed end to customer engagement to illegal social media practices, get the latest on and greatest right here.

1. Social Media is Changing Your Brain Chemistry

A recent three-year-long study tracked brain development and social media usage in teens ages 12 through 15. They found that the more social media adolescents use, the more sensitive they are to criticism from others.

Whether this is simply because extroverted kids who care what people think are more likely to be on social media or if it is social media that is making them this way is unclear. Still, the correlation is too strong to ignore.

Unlike face-face interactions, there is something exceptionally public and quantifiable about online interactions. Insults can be reposted, retorted, or go viral. The number of likes a post gets can determine the popularity of the poster. Some social media users have used this to make their living on being an influencer—but their ability to influence can be ‘canceled’ at a moment's notice.

Like it or not, social media is here to stay. Even if parents try to keep their teens off certain platforms, their eyes will find their way onto others. What does this mean for brands that market their products to teens? How can they continue to do this ethically without digging into insecurities young brains are so susceptible to?

On the one hand, brands now have a front-row seat to real-time feedback and an unparalleled ability to collect customer satisfaction data.

On the flip side, it may make customer experience employees or leaders nervous about messaging. As we mentioned, it is easy to become a public spectacle and words that were intended to be positive (or even humorous) can end up creating havoc for your brand. This, in turn, could thwart brand effort and creativity.

Using positive messaging, understanding your niche audience, and targeting parents instead of their kids are all going to be things that support your sales goals while remaining ethical. Read more about the study and what it means for you here.

2. “The Year the Customer Experience Died”

Any time someone headlines an article with “the year the customer experience died,” they’ve got CEI’s attention. TechCrunch recently analyzed the customer experience of various brands in 2022 based on one simple fact: “No matter how great your product or service, you will ultimately be judged by how well you do when things go wrong.”

They took Southwest Airlines’ holiday ‘meltdown’ as their prime example: when the airline had an exuberant number of flight delays, cancellations, and angry customers, they began calling the police on swarms of travelers at their gate. While Southwest’s publicity team was eager to admit they made a mistake, the front-line workers clearly were lacking the tools they needed to handle what was occurring to the travel industry.

Everyone makes mistakes, but how understanding your customer base is of those mistakes depends on how you handle it. This year, brands did not handle mistakes very well. While they continuously asked customers for data and information about their experience, this data never turned into training and guidance for the frontline workers.

As a result, TechCrunch has deemed 2022 the year the customer experience died. Read more here.

3. Equinox Doesn’t Speak “January”

But maybe they should learn.

Equinox is a club with fitness centers around the United States, each known for luxury, excellence, and exclusivity. When the brand announced on January 1^st that they were pausing new memberships to inspire people to make a long-term commitment rather than a one-month phase, members and onlookers alike were shocked.

Though the wide array of classes at dazzling locations across the country never felt totally approachable for beginner gym-goers, telling this audience they are not allowed to come is a different level of rejection. Some aspiring gym-goers have deep insecurities that prevent them from joining a gym. Will they be judged because they use the equipment wrong? Or because they are not a model influencer?

Some Equinox members praised the company for their decision to halt new memberships for a day, claiming the club stuck to brand values and will be alleviating the newbie rush of customers that take up space for the “real” athletes and fitness gurus. Others called the advertisement gimmicky and shameful, claiming that all of us started somewhere and it is not fair to judge how someone begins their fitness journey. Furthermore, the marketing strategy could have a negative effect on people’s willingness to go to the gym to achieve their health and wellness goals, digging into the insecurities we mentioned earlier.

Either way, Equinox sure got people talking. To learn more about both sides of the argument, click here.

4. Meta’s Ad practices are… illegal?

That’s right. The European Union recently deemed Meta’s ad practices on Facebook and Instagram illegal. The New York Times reports that “European Union regulators found [Meta] had illegally forced users to effectively accept personalized ads” in direct violation of laws that were passed in 2018 to protect the privacy of internet users.

How did this happen? Essentially, to create a Facebook or Instagram account, users need to agree to Meta’s terms of service. This lengthy document tells potential users that Meta will be collecting information about the user to better assess which ads the user will find helpful and relevant. If the potential user does not agree to this, they simply will not be able to follow through with creating an account.

While this does not feel inherently wrong, customers are agreeing to having their information read and shared, GDPR regulations require that users still have the ability to use a platform if they do not want to opt into ad targeting. In other words, it cannot be a “If you don’t like it, don’t use it” situation. It must be an “If you don’t like it, that’s okay, we will make some adjustments so you can still use it.”

Meta has three months to resolve the complicated issue. Though the future is unknown, this could mean Meta users will eventually be able to opt out of personalized ads and use the platform with different privacy settings.

Read more about the ruling and what it could mean for the tech giant here.   

5. At the same time, Twitter is relaxing bans on political ads

While Meta is under attack for personalizing ads, Twitter is reconsidering its ban on a different type of ads. Amid the 2020 Presidential election, Twitter banned certain political ads from their platform. They wanted to have open discourse on their platform without allowing the voice with the most money to dominate the conversation. Though there was controversy at the time, the rule has stuck with limited negative consequences for Twitter.

Three years later, new Twitter leader Musk is rethinking the decision of his predecessors to restrict cause-based advertising.

On January 3^rd the company Tweeted, “We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics. Today, we're relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US. We also plan to expand the political advertising we permit in the coming weeks.” Though the announcement received mixed reviews, it could inspire more revenue for Twitter in the upcoming year.

What types of cause-based ads will we be seeing? Will this become an advertising free for all?

Read more about the decision here.

Header Image: Photo by Aakash Dhage on Unsplash 

Image 1: Photo by Sticker Mule on Unsplash  

Image 2: Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash  

Image 3: Photo by Aman Pal on Unsplash