In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, Professor Ryan Hamilton is joined by Ben Shaw, seasoned brand strategist, to unpack the promises and pitfalls of synthetic audiences - AI-driven research used for faster, cheaper market research.

Synthetic audiences, powered by large language models (LLMs), can replicate customer segments and respond to creative concepts or product questions at scale cutting the time and cost of traditional surveys. But does it come with trade-offs?

Expect lively debate on the AI vs. LLM naming debate, the enduring value of ethnography and nuance, and practical tips for blending synthetic and traditional research to make smarter, more human-centred decisions. From democratising access to consumer insight to questioning the believability of robot-approved ad copy, this candid discussion highlights how to use these tools wisely.

1. Synthetic ≠ Real: Synthetic audiences use LLMs to predict human responses—they're powerful, but they're still not replacements for real people.
   
   

2. Direction not Proof: Treat synthetic audiences as a first-cut hypothesis tool i.e.great for inspiration, not yet reliable as stand-alone evidence.
   
   

3. Nuance & Minority Voices Matter: AI often defaults to the average response, risking loss of critical insights from edge cases or minority behaviours.
   
   

4. Democratisation of Insight: With the right data, teams from product to shop-floor staff can ask customer-centred questions directly.
   
   

5. Best Practice: Use synthetic audiences for speed and hypothesis testing, then validate with real humans—especially for high-stakes decisions.
   
   

• HubSpot CMO Kipp Bodnar "Better, faster, AND cheaper isn't a trade-off anymore"

• Harvard Business School study 'Using LLMs for Market Research'
  

Sales and Customer Experience—two critical functions that should work together, but too often operate at odds. This week, Colin and Ryan explore how traditional sales tactics can undermine long-term loyalty and create organisational silos. They share personal stories (including Colin's car-buying nightmare) and practical advice for aligning sales with your desired customer experience. If you want to sell AND build trust, this episode is for you.

Best Quote of the Episode:
"If you can't proudly stand behind the experience you're creating, you've got a problem." — Colin Shaw

Key Takeaways:

✅ Traditional closing techniques can damage trust, even when they maybe effective
✅ Sales incentives often conflict with customer experience goals
✅ Leadership must deliberately define the experience they want to deliver
✅ Culture matters: a sales-first mentality breeds silos and resentment
✅ Aligning sales and CX is essential for long-term success, not just short-term gains

👉 Got a business challenge you'd like us to tackle? Visit www.BeyondPhilosophy.com/pickle and tell us about it!

About the Hosts:

Colin Shaw is a LinkedIn 'Top Voice' with a massive 284,000 followers and 87,000 subscribers to his 'Why Customers Buy' newsletter. Shaw is named one of the world's 'Top 150 Business Influencers' by LinkedIn. His company, Beyond Philosophy LLC, has been selected four times by the Financial Times as a top management consultancy. Shaw is co-host of the top 1.5% podcast 'The Intuitive Customer'—with over 600,000 downloads—and author of eight best-sellers on customer experience, Shaw is a sought-after keynote speaker. Follow Colin on LinkedIn.

Ryan Hamilton is a Professor of Marketing at Emory University's Goizueta Business School and co-author of 'The Intuitive Customer' book. An award-winning teacher and researcher in consumer psychology, he has been named one of Poets & Quants' "World's Best 40 B-School Profs Under 40." His research focuses on how brands, prices, and choice architecture influence shopper decision-making, and his findings have been published in top academic journals and covered by major media outlets like The New York Times and CNN. His work highlights how psychology can help firms better understand and serve their customers. Ryan has a new book called "The Growth Dilemma: Managing Your Brand When Different Customers Want Different Things" Harvard Business Press 2025

Follow Ryan on LinkedIn.

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Trust in traditional institutions is eroding. As customers lose faith in advertising, government and even online reviews, they're turning to voices that feel most relatable: peers and communities. Edelman's latest Trust Barometer shows the most credible spokesperson for a company is now "people like me."

Ben Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton explore the decline of influencer credibility, the rise of community-driven word-of-mouth, the tension between authenticity and control, and why attention + trust will be the "coins of the realm" for brands in the decade ahead.

1. Trust > control – brands that over-engineer influencer content or product placement erode the very authenticity that made those channels effective.

2. Attention + trust are today's scarce currencies – in an AI-shaped customer journey where deep-fakes, fake reviews and scam sites abound, both are harder to win.

3. Community is the new battleground – brands should put the "social" back into social media: support micro-communities, forums and peer-to-peer validation rather than chase mass reach alone.

4. Influencers ≠ "people like me" anymore – audiences are starting to view most creators as a separate, commercial class.

5. Virtual influencers may be a short-lived novelty – unless treated as fictional characters with entertainment value and transparent intent.

• Edelman Trust Barometer

• G2 crowd / peer-review sites – cited B2B tactic to harness "people like me."

• Case notes: Super Bowl celebrity ads vs brand recall, Vodafone Germany's virtual influencer, Colonel Sanders' virtual persona.