3 factors that influence perceptions of consumer trust

How does one establish what drives trust in order to leverage that more effectively? 

For some time now consumer trust has been at an all-time low. 

Google “trust at an all-time low” and the first page of results immediately confirms that consumer trust has been low for some time now. This low trust is in government, financial institutions (trust levels are still struggling to return to pre-2008 levels), media (thanks to fake news) and big business. 

Current events that have exacerbated low consumer trust;

• People are more aware of the trustworthiness of news sources

• They question the antics of big business, especially their motives but also what they’re actually doing and not just what they say they’re doing

• Lip service is not enough: they expect real action

A shift in the way consumers engage and interact with businesses;

Throw in the profound impact that lockdown has had on many people and the re-evaluation of what’s important and what they need and we see a profound shift in the way people are engaging and interacting with businesses: 

• Many people are limiting their social media intake to communications with friends only (to limit exposure to fake news, but also to a lot of negativity)

• Seeking out a variety of opinions to weed out the truth and not taking news at face value 

• Less spend going toward bigger businesses

• More spend and support for smaller and local businesses

• Less shopping for ‘things’ altogether

“I’ve become more aware of supporting local business when we couldn’t travel and could see they were all I needed. I see now that I have no need to go buying stuff like clothes etc, we really have plenty.”

“I’ve learnt to value what I have. I don't want to shop for "stuff".”

“I’m taking the time to think things through, read a variety of sources and opinions, spend more time on social media reading people's opinions and arguments.”

“I’m now conducting my own research to verify some news articles.”

“News is now covering outright liars. It's hard to know who is or isn't calling it out.”

With attitudes towards big business this negative (obviously, this doesn’t extend to all big business), rebuilding trust and promoting that will be an important objective for the rest of 2020 and beyond. 

But trust is a slippery, hard to define, hard to explain, hard to articulate attribute. It’s hard to build up but easy and quick to break down.

When your customers don’t trust you, it’s fairly easy and simple for them to explain why, as it’s normally been lost because of an event, a series of events, or a company ethos. However, it is one of the rare occasions when the negative (i.e. why trust was lost) is not the opposite of the positive (i.e. you cannot do the opposite to the negative things and rebuild trust). 

Why consumers build trust in a brand

Why your customers trust you is the product of many elements and the chemistry of these creates trust. It is made up of knowledge and experience from: 

• Direct contact (consumer interactions, sales process, after sales care)

• Indirect contact (news and PR, advertising, word of mouth, how you treat your staff, suppliers, supply chain, company ethos, company values and so on)

 The formation of trust is mostly not one that customers are aware of happening, since the result is simply a feeling: I trust them. 

Let’s illustrate that with a personal example, rather than a commercial one: think about your partner and the trust you have in them. That trust has formed from a series of conversations, experiences, intuition and perceptions you have about that person. You don’t trust them just because they say they won’t cheat. You trust them because of everything else that has happened in your relationship: it is a feeling you have about that person.

The same goes for consumers. 

One of the most trustworthy brands is John Lewis. When asked, consumers will rail off a list of very logical reasons and all of these will have played a part in building that image of trust but it is the sum of the parts and not the individual parts themselves that has created such high consumer trust. Trust is really the tip of the iceberg – what we really need to understand is what’s below the surface and supporting that perception. We call it the TrustBerg.

We believe that there are three key factors influencing perceptions of trust: 

1.     Reputation

2.     Perceived risk

3.     Context

Instead of exploring trust, we can then explore these factors and how they are formed. 

 Reputation

• Do I believe your organisation is transparent and behaves with integrity in all dealings with me, with other customers and with your staff and suppliers?

• What processes, accolades, claims or innovations am I aware of that support this? 

Perceived risk

• What do I expect will happen to me if I use this company?

• Do I trust that they will fulfill the sales process as promised?

• Will they be able to fix it if something goes wrong?

Context

• What are my previous experiences, both with this company but also its competitors?

• What are my needs and will this company be able to solve the issue I’m taking to them?

• How have previous experiences influenced my expectations of this company?

Using this approach of exploring the foundations of trust, when or if trust starts slipping, you then know what your foundations are and you can investigate which part has been broken and reinforce that.

Similarly, when you know what these foundations are, before trust is broken or lost, you can take a more proactive stance and reinforce these perceptions in all customer contact both direct and indirect. 

So, to answer our initial question of how to leverage trust more effectively, the answer is simple: establish what is driving perceptions of trust by understanding your reputation, the perceived risk of engaging with you and their previous experiences and thus expectations.