This may be an obvious statement: Trust is important in building consumer relationships.
But while it may be obvious, do we really know how much trust matters? Is our understanding of trust as astute as it could or should be? Could we be overlooking opportunities to build more trust than we currently are?
The trouble with obvious statements is that they’re often the most overlooked. They don’t routinely get investigated, analysed or challenged because they’re assumed to be self-evident and universally understood.
We’ve been looking into trust a bit more closely lately, and we’ve made some interesting findings:
How important is trust, really?
Recent survey results from MarketingSherpa are rather telling in what’s important to consumers, and these results may surprise you.
Consumers were asked which statements out of those given rang most true when it came to companies they were big fans of. Perhaps unexpectedly, some of the lower ranked statements had to do with desire, engagement and interest. The higher ranked statements pertained to the lack of intrusiveness and the honest providing of value.
The consumers were also asked to rank negative statements on the same companies, and the least frequently appearing statements mention privacy and intrusiveness issues.
In other words, of the companies they loved, people were the least likely to have trust issues and more likely to product or interest issues.
So while we know that trust matters, it wouldn’t be an unjust assumption that it matters less than quality products or engagement.
Of course, all of these things matter. But the results are in: Trust reigns supreme.
How do we build trust?
The reason content marketing works, for example, is that the act of marketing through content is centred on providing value. It focuses on giving first, while also honestly acknowledging that the repercussions of giving are going to be positive.
To gain trust, you must first give.
Transparency matters too. You’ll note that in the MarketingSherpa survey data, the top negative statement people gave about the companies they loved was that they didn’t put the consumer’s needs above their own business goals.
People are smart. They know businesses want to be successful and grow, so don’t beat around the bush. Some of the most successful online businesses are extraordinarily open about how they market to people, why they do what they do and what they hope to achieve.
Gary Vaynerchuk might be the very best example when it comes to transparency. Note how unfiltered and honest he’s being here. His fans love him for it, and your audience will respond the same way the more transparent you are.
