Customer Trust: How to Build it and Why it’s Important

What is Customer Trust?

Customer trust should mean everything to a business. Without trust, there’s no loyalty to your brand. Customer trust is essential to driving commitment and business success. Earning trust means understanding and respecting customers and providing relevant, personalized experiences.

Why it is Important for Your Customers to Trust You

Customer trust is essential because a business’s reputation is how they reach new customers and retain old ones. If your business is deemed untrustworthy, there’s a strong chance many won’t want to give your products or services a try.

We are fully immersed in the Age of the Customer as a society. Consumers today are more connected than ever. As their access to information and resources grows, so do their expectations. One shopper in New York can easily share experiences with someone in Hong Kong with the click of a mouse and vice versa. A bad experience can cost you one customer. A slew of them can be critical for a business.

Gartner research reveals that 74 percent of customers expect more from brands, not only in their products and services but also in how they treat their customers. Eighty-three percent of consumers report an unwillingness to do business with brands they don’t trust. Once customer trust is lost, it’s almost impossible to regain it – that’s why it is so important.

How to Build Customer Trust

Like any other meaningful relationship, trust is built on honesty and authenticity. Your business can’t expect customer trust if your brand’s actions don’t back up its message. If you claim to provide excellent customer support but seem to be failing in satisfaction ratings, trust in other messaging will fade. To begin building trust, start with the following actions:

Make exceptional customer support a priority

If issues or questions arise with customers, your first line of contact will be the customer support department. It is essential these employees be welcoming, understanding, and willing to help in any way possible. Remember: increased support leads to an increase in sales.

Be transparent

No one likes to be deceived or lied to, so why would you do that to paying customers? Being open and honest about your products, services, or actions allows customers to see your brand in a different, more human light.

Share honest customer feedback and reviews

Have you received a good review from a satisfied customer? Great! Let the world know. Showing appreciation for customer support goes a long way in building customer trust and retention.

Consistently try to connect with customers

Learning the needs and wants of customers and adjusting to meet those needs is a great way to build a mutually beneficial relationship. Your business can do this by connecting with them often, searching for feedback, ways to improve, and suggestions.

Invest in your employees

Customers aren’t the only ones that share experiences. If your business has a wonderful group of hardworking employees, do what you can to make them feel valued. Give them a reason to stick around and word will spread about how well you treat those that work for you. If you were a customer, would you buy from a brand that treats its employees poorly?

To build customer trust, your business must be able to humanize itself – forming an emotional connection with customers by demonstrating honesty, transparency, sensitivity, and dependability.

How to Maintain Customer Trust

The best way to maintain customer trust is also the simplest: delivering on promises. If you have a money-back guarantee, you better ensure customers get their money back when the situation applies.

If you talk up your products or services, you can build and maintain customer trust by backing up that talk. Deliver the exceptional products, services, and experiences you claim to provide – and remember that people are always paying attention when you fail to make good on promises. Other ways to maintain trust with customers include:

• Not overselling or overspinning
• Avoiding half-truths or deceitful statements
• Properly reading the situation and adjusting policies when necessary

It’s important to familiarize yourself and your customer support team with customers’ everyday needs. This action helps establish and deepen your connection with customers. Respecting the opinions of others, even when critical, and practicing empathy for those with issues with your products or services are other great ways to build customer trust. In the Age of the Customer, people appreciate authenticity and a sensitive approach.

How Red Crow Can Help

Red Crow Marketing is trusted by its clients (many of whom have been with us for over a decade). We know how to build trust with your potential customers and keep it flowing with your current ones. Contact us today to see how we can help build trust in your brand.