When I was a boy, I spent a lot of time at the market: the classic physical market of stalls, crowds and bargaining, the real marketing training ground 😁
Contrary to what you might think, in local markets (not those aimed at tourists) the relationship with customers is very strong and a bond of trust develops.
My father offered refunds to customers who changed their minds before Bezos was born. People knew one another and trusted each other.
Then came large shopping centres and the digital revolution.
All wonderful and tremendously valuable: I can buy anything from the comfort of my armchair, perhaps saving money too.
But the trust factor has not changed. In fact, I think its importance has increased for the following reasons:
- We have less and less time, and purchasing decisions need to be made quickly
- We are bombarded with advertising messages from every medium; the list of channels and formats would be too long (we are estimated to receive 3K to 4K messages a day)
- Brands overpromise: everyone is cool, talented and beautiful, while transparency and clarity are lacking
- Online is inherently a more impersonal channel than others, with little direct contact
Brands that manage to earn trust today have a greater competitive advantage than in the past.
Trust differs from credibility. Credibility concerns the object of the sale, while trust goes further and encompasses the relationship and the purchasing experience.
If there is trust, I may extend credibility to products and services outside the brand's area. Conversely, if there is only credibility, it does not extend beyond its usual products.
For example, Amazon and Google have a higher chance of success than others even when they launch new products for which they have no grounds for credibility, because they enjoy a high level of consumer trust.
Video of Seth Godin talking to Gary Vee about trust and attention
Modern strategies must define guidelines and plans with the objective of earning customer trust! Trust is capital.
How do you build trust?
The necessary conditions for a trusting relationship to develop are:
- Value
- Authority
- Shared meanings
- Transparency
- Keeping promises
- Give before asking
- Consistency
- Presence and support
- Give the customer control
The first element is obviously the value we give the customer, as we have seen in the guide to marketing: whether functional and/or emotional, it must be grounded in substance and fulfil a need or desire.
The key is to keep delivering value throughout the customer relationship, including through additional content and resources (e.g. you buy a camera and I provide a free online seminar).
Authority is recognition of the brand's expertise and mastery of its subject.
Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook hire the world's best engineers, and this helps establish their authority.
The shared meanings are the values and beliefs the brand presents to the market; these must align with those of its customers.
This is why communicating the company's reasons and history matters: you open up to people who can identify with the brand's vision, you create empathy and generate a sense of belonging.
The photo above shows Nike's mission, whose statement clearly expresses the brand's values.
Transparency is fundamental to a trusting relationship; we could also connect it to the higher concept of honesty towards the customer.
Transparency means clearly showing the product's characteristics, what it can do and what it CANNOT do. You must also never hide problems, must take appropriate responsibility and resolve them promptly.
Customers must feel that we do not want to sell them something at any cost, but only if our product can give them value. For example, a trusted greengrocer will be the first to advise against buying a product if they believe that, on that day, it does not meet the right quality level for their loyal customer.
The typical problem with ‘classic’ push advertising is its tendency to overpromise and be self-centred: we are the best, the most skilled, and with our service you will conquer the world!
Keeping promises is a measure of the relationship between brand and customer. Creating excessive expectations can be counterproductive; conversely, we greatly increase trust if we surprise customers with something extra. For example, when Amazon states x days for delivery and then manages to deliver earlier.
Giving before asking breaks the psychological dynamic between buyer and seller in which the former carefully assesses the suitability of the latter's offer.
Offering customers products, content, services or better terms for free (as in the earlier example of faster delivery) increases trust in the seller. Successful restaurants, for example, always offer something, whether a small appetiser at the start or a digestif at the end.
Consistency is often underestimated: the brand's actions must be consistent with one another and over time. Consistency stems from marketing positioning and shared values; if the company occupies a certain position in the customer's mind, they will expect behaviour that matches it.
The concept of Presence and support can be summed up as being there in times of need.
The moment a customer has a problem is a crucial crossroads in building trust. If we solve it efficiently and effectively, we add a major positive pillar to the relationship; otherwise, we dig a hole we may never get out of!
This point is so important that it is easy to imagine that, between a customer whose problem has been brilliantly solved and one with no problems, the first may develop much greater trust. The reason is simple: if the company stands by me to solve a problem, it means I can rely on it in the future too.
By building a transparent relationship, customers understand that things can sometimes go wrong, and problems can become not only a threat to the company but also an opportunity to improve the relationship.
One last factor is giving control to the customer: in practice, this means allowing them to act independently and stay informed about activities and processes that affect them.
From this perspective, digital opens up countless possibilities, and we can give customers the keys to our data and tools for mutual benefit. Customers should be able to access a private online area where they can see all the information relating to them, make purchases, check a shipment or service activation status and, generally, decide for themselves when and how to carry out an activity.
All the factors needed to build trust are common sense, and we also find them in interpersonal relationships; after all, they are the foundations of a long-lasting friendship.
Friendship rests on a shared view of the world and life and on constant presence. As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed!
All these elements are connected and should be addressed strategically in a plan involving the whole company. Customer care and support services, for example, should be viewed strategically, not just operationally or as part of the marketing mix.
In this perspective, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities and employees' attitudes outside work play an important role (people who work for the company should be its first ambassadors and champions of its values).
The value of a customer who trusts you!
When there is trust, lifetime value (LTV) increases and churn decreases. More importantly in a digital world (where people trust their peers first), a happy customer becomes a channel of communication and influence in their own right (and increases the Net Promoter Score).
