Cold audiences need a new plan

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Ready for another day of staying ahead of the competition in the Growth race?

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💡 Escape the Warm Audience Trap

Social media once felt straightforward. You saw posts from people you followed, and ads were easy to spot. But the age of hyper-relevance has changed everything, and it's making it harder to reach people who have never heard of you.

Here’s what’s going on:

1️⃣ TikTok Reshaped the Feed: As Barry Hott points out, TikTok taught users to enjoy content from creators they didn’t follow. The algorithm learned quickly and delivered with precision. Now, every platform follows this playbook.

2️⃣ Warm Audiences Get the Attention: Personalized feeds favor content that blends in. Ads that feel native perform better, but they usually reach people who are already familiar with your brand or actively looking.

3️⃣ The Buyer Journey Is Hidden: Clicks are no longer the key signal. A user might see five different ads before they take action. Meta sees this behavior, but marketers do not. As a result, awareness-building ads often look like poor performers.

4️⃣ Valuable Ads Get Cut: Since these middle-funnel ads don’t show immediate results, many marketers pause them early. They focus instead on what looks good on paper, often missing the long-term impact.

5️⃣ The Cycle Repeats: New creatives are measured against those that already convert. Over time, this creates a loop that favors what’s already working and ignores untapped opportunity.

What to Do Instead

Start building content for cold audiences. Expect it to perform lower at the start. That’s normal. You’re not chasing quick wins. You’re planting seeds for growth.

The Takeaway

Platforms optimize for what's easiest. If you want to grow beyond the usual crowd, you need to create for the unfamiliar and give it time to work.

💡 When AI Hurts the Human Touch

AI is changing the face of service delivery, but not always for the better. New research shows that replacing people with bots in warmth-focused industries may actually drive customers away. If your service is built on empathy, connection, or pleasure, a human touch still matters more than ever.

Here’s what the research found:

1️⃣ AI Can Feel Cold: In hospitality, wellness, and leisure services, AI was seen as 19.5 percent less warm than humans. That difference was enough to reduce customer loyalty and intent to return.

2️⃣ Intent Drops Fast: Across five studies, customers were 23.7 percent less likely to keep using a service when it was AI-powered. That number jumped to 29.8 percent when they were looking for fun or personal care, and dropped to 17.5 percent for more practical needs.

3️⃣ Tone Makes a Difference: When bots used casual phrases like “thanks!” or “great choice,” the warmth gap shrank. Small language tweaks can increase how friendly the AI feels.

4️⃣ Geography Doesn’t Matter: The drop in satisfaction held true across cultures, including both US and Chinese customers. AI warmth is a global challenge, not just a regional quirk.

5️⃣ Brands Are Already Reacting: McDonald’s ended its AI drive-thru pilot after backlash. Henn na Hotel in Japan scaled back its AI staff. Meanwhile, brands like Starbucks and Zara are finding success using AI to assist, not replace, human workers.

What to Do Instead

Use AI where speed and efficiency matter. For customer-facing roles that require empathy, fun, or conversation, keep humans in the loop or use AI to support them in the background.

The Takeaway

AI can enhance service, but it should never replace warmth. The key is knowing when customers want help fast and when they want to feel seen.

As we prepare more "Growthful" content, we'd love to hear your thoughts on today's edition! Feel free to share this with someone who would appreciate it. 🥰