[Ataraxy]

Devils advocate on

Since all advertising is the practice of psychological manipulation how is this particularly different? Is all advertising unethical?

Even if the process is automated, if the end result is to evoke a nice sentiment in someone, is that really a bad thing? Wouldn't the ethics really come into play in using such tech to rip people off in a variety of ways rather than to merely say thank you for your purchase?

Devils advocate off

I think there's a strong argument to be made that the efficacy of this approach is more tied to the visual senses and novelty of it. It's not just the personalization since as you've pointed out it's no different than a personalized email.

Ultimately it's just a tool, and how people choose to use those tools is all that really matters.

A friend of mine ran a ecommerce company where for years they would physically record at least a couple hundred personalized thank you videos for people each day. While they were quite successful and people really dug them, I can tell you for a fact that such messages may as well have been automated because there's very little you actually know about your customers beyond their purchase/purchase history that you can truly personalize your message to them with.

[burkaman]

> Even if the process is automated, if the end result is to evoke a nice sentiment in someone, is that really a bad thing?

Yes, because it only evokes a nice sentiment if you lie about how it was made. Magic tricks are still fun even if you know they're tricks. This is not at all fun once you know it's a trick.

[Ataraxy]

The fun is in the novelty, not in the <insert first name>.

Even if it's inherently considered dishonest by some, the same should be vigorously argued for all email/snail mail you have received for decades and frankly I can't remember the last time I've seen someone complain about a personalized email being dishonest.

[buu700]

While I also recognize the valid argument that this is deceptive, I have to agree with you:

1. In no world would I ever believe that a cold email was significantly personalized/targeted, except if the overall content were highly specific to me. This might be wrong a good portion of the time, but it is what it is.

2. Even if I were 100% unaware of the existence of AI/ML, a video wouldn't change my mind about #1. I would be more inclined to think that they'd recorded themselves rattling off a list of customer names and then stitched that into the main video, or just rerecorded the same video hundreds or thousands of times. The latter would take some dedication, and be a pretty big waste of time, but it wouldn't convince me that the sender knows or cares more about me personally.

3. Including a video message in an email in itself is uncommon in and of itself, personalized or not. If the technique increases conversions, this alone could be a sufficient explanation. To the extent that the personalization does further increase conversions, it's equally valid to hypothesize that a novel tech demo catches their attention as it is to hypothesize that people are being deceived. Personally, I would lean toward the former.

As an aside, even in the promotional video on Windsor's home page, the videos are kind of uncanny valley. May not be a big deal if the recipient doesn't think too much of one word being slightly garbled because the remaining speech sounds natural, but I'd be concerned about it completely butchering some names (particularly longer ones).

[burkaman]

Look at all the responses this guy got from his videos. Reading them, do you really think those people understood how the video was made and just enjoyed the novelty?

"I am amazed by the customer service...It makes me very happy that the team is so invested"

"I can't imagine how much effort must go into doing this"

"This is the first time in my life that I receive a personalized video from the founder of a company"

"This means a lot to me"

"I really appreciated the personal attention"

"I don't know how you have the time!"

[Ataraxy]

What you see is a sub selection of positive responses intentionally picked out to paint a narrative and ultimately market the product.

I actually find the act of doing that far more manipulative than automated thank you videos.

[burkaman]

Fair enough, I can't disagree with you there.

[actually_a_dog]

> Since all advertising is the practice of psychological manipulation how is this particularly different? Is all advertising unethical?

Do you mean "is psychologically manipulating people to buy shit they neither need nor want" ethical? Because that's largely how modern advertising operates.

[Ataraxy]

Yes, that indeed was more or less my point.