It’s exceedingly difficult to reflect the in-store experience online. When you’re in-store or you’re hiring staff to work in your store, you can rely on happy, friendly interactions to build up trust with customers while also being active in solving any issues. You have far more interpersonal tools at the ready and a physical presence of a store to build trust with that has long helped to propel brands forward.
Online, it’s far more difficult to build brand trust from the ground up. You can rely on competitive pricing and the quality of your products to, over time, earn a degree of trust among a customer base. However, it’s far too easy for customers who don’t get that sense of trust quickly to move on. The stats range greatly, but all emphasise the importance of earning brand trust.
Some say that 65 per cent of customers have switched because an experience didn’t match the brand’s image. Others say that brand trust is the deciding factor for purchasing decisions among 81 per cent of customers. Then, there are the 88 per cent of customers who will buy again from a brand that earned their trust. It all matters tremendously to your brand, so it’s integral to use any method available well to secure that trust.
Work with all sentiments of feedback
A big part of earning trust in the digital age is having the public backing of others and proving that, as a real human brand, you can work to solve any issues customers may have. Relaying data from a HBR study, Trustpilot homed in on the elements of customer feedback that a brand can use to increase trust levels. When customer sentiment is reflected through reviews, act on it, either by thanking praise or identifying ways to realign negative views.
With this, negative customer reviews shouldn’t be seen as the enemy or something that should be hidden. These reviews can enable you to publicly show that your brand keeps working until the customer is satisfied. Having very few negative reviews can also inspire a sense of distrust, with many people knowing about the paid reviews practice. Overall, though, seek customer feedback wherever you can to grow a better practice and earn trust.
Align with other trusted brands
Online, you’re asking a customer to send their money to a digital platform that promises to deliver something afterwards. It’s a big ask, especially if you’re a new, small, or lesser-known brand. To help smooth the process, you can align the brand with other trusted brands. The clearest path for this is through trusted payment methods.
As you can see at any UK casino that wants to emphasise its trustworthiness, the acceptance of payments from PayPal, MuchBetter, and Trustly can help. This way, the customer knows that, should they make a purchase they later change their mind on, they have a clear path for recourse through the trusted payment brand.
The new marketing methods
People trust their fellow customers, and even more so, they trust people who give them tips and also entertain them on social media platforms. This has given rise to influencer marketing. This is even to the extent that this FCC article ranks influencer marketing as one of the main strategies for building brand trust today.
The Forbes Communication Council continues, saying that content marketing is also a valuable resource. White books, blog posts, and similar publications can all help to promote a brand. Offering insights and tips within your industry builds up trust through expertise and advice. It’s a passive but useful way to establish a brand’s value.
Building brand trust in the digital age is difficult, but the key is to embrace the new landscape and its new tools for doing so online.
