How businesses can build trust with their customers

In today’s incredibly competitive business landscape, being truthful is crucial. This transparency is essential for companies wanting to appeal to more cautious consumers.

Businesses that focus on improving their transparency and place a greater emphasis on reliability can stand out from the crowd and better retain loyal customers.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at some practical ways that businesses can build trust and keep their current customers happy.

For businesses, even the best products can fail if the target market fails to engage, which is why this is such an important area to explore further.

Always be transparent and honest

Honestly is the best policy, especially for businesses wanting to help their customers understand who they are and what they stand for.

Not only should brands avoid publishing misleading ads and including hidden fees in transactions, but they should also ensure that, in the event of a mistake, they take responsibility and take ownership.

Customers will ultimately respect a company that is honest more than one that isn’t. Although it may seem tempting for a company to try and save face in the event of an error, this is more likely to create a rift between them and their customer base, as they may come across as dishonest.

Taking accountability may seem worse in the short run, but over time it will be much better for the business’s growth.

A great example of these value-first brands is Patagonia, which has built a strong reputation for its refusal to compromise what it stands for, despite the cost of doing so.

Patagonia places a clear emphasis on sustainability and donates profits from Black Friday sales to environmental charities. This adherence to values shows customers they can be trusted.

Offer a consistent, high-quality experience

Failing to provide a consistent experience or level of assistance will sow doubt in the minds of customers.

For businesses to genuinely succeed, customers need to believe that they’ve received the same quality product or service every time they purchase or engage with the brand.

Ensuring this consistency helps make brands more likely to be recommended. Even if you offer an appealing product or service, if customers can’t rely on you to deliver it consistently and reliably, then retaining those customers would be very difficult.

Brands should ensure that they focus on these three key areas:

1. Creating a reliable product and/or ensuring a reliable level of service.
2. Delivering a consistent brand and tone of voice across all platforms.
3. Communicating in a way that is both timely and relatable for customers.

According to Edelman’s In Brands We Trust? report, only 34% of consumers trust a majority of the brands they regularly engage with.

This 2019 report also states that 81% of consumers have brand trust as a key deciding factor when considering a purchase.

They place only quality, convenience, value and ingredients ahead of brand trust.

Build social proof and credibility

Prospective customers are much more attracted to a proven track record than marketing gimmicks and flashy television ads.

In B2B settings, Gartner’s Global Software Buying Trends report states that 86% of businesses consider verified reviews critical in their purchase decisions. When large sums of money are on the line, this is absolutely vital.

For customer-facing businesses, these verified reviews are just as important. Spiegel Research Center states that the purchase likelihood for a product with five reviews is 270% greater than the purchase likelihood of a product with no reviews.

Having this additional level of verification adds a sense of credibility to the businesses, which also reinforces trust.

In order to do this it giving away products or services in exchange for honest reviews, can increase your company’s reliability.

Here are other ways that businesses can build social proof and increase sales:

• Collect testimonials and reviews from happy customers.
• Write case studies to explain how your product or service delivers success.
• Seek recommendations or endorsements from industry-relevant influencers.
• Publish user-generated content (UGC) to showcase experiences.
• Engage with customers on social media and amplify positive voices.
• Showcase any awards and certifications on websites and social platforms.
• Provide tangible results and statistics to demonstrate popularity and/or quality.

Go beyond the transaction

It’s easy to do the bare minimum and get by, but to be truly successful and connect with your target audience, you need to think of transactions as long-term commitments.

Even if your business only sells a product once in a decade, this long-term relationship is vital in ensuring that the customer will return later down the line, no matter how long the wait. 

While this might sound like a lot of work with little in terms of immediate payoffs, there’s a lot that even small businesses can do to build loyalty.

Things such as sending seasonal offers to customers or celebrating key milestones, such as birthdays and anniversaries, can go a long way in keeping past customers engaged and ready to buy when the time is right.

There’s a time for selling and there’s a time for being useful. Businesses that understand the differences between the two have the best chance of success.

xIt’s important that businesses can be relevant and useful without being overly sales-focused. Providing freebies, such as free spins to win new samples or access to early releases, can be very beneficial. 

Final thoughts

Trust takes time to build but can be lost in a matter of seconds.

While it can take a long time to become a household name, short-term brand growth can be achieved in relatively simple ways, such as showing customers that you’re attentive to key milestones and important events. 

Businesses that prioritise factors including transparency, consistency and developing strong internal values help ensure stable growth without sacrificing the short-term success of the business.

No matter what, remember that trust is important above almost everything else and that, by investing in this, businesses can better connect with their target audience.