Why Customer Trust Is So Important?
Customer trust is the basis for any positive customer engagement. If your customer does not trust you they will not be your customers for long. This should not come as any great surprise to any brand as one of the most common fundamentals of business is that we buy from people we trust and like.
“Learning to trust is one of life’s most difficult tasks.”
Isaac Watts
Trust is earned and this is where you can use your brand storytelling to help build trust with your audience. I find that the following 5 tips help encourage trust when you are telling your brand story.
1) The Basis Of Customer Trust Is Honesty
“No legacy is so rich as honesty.”
William Shakespeare
Trust and honesty always go “hand in hand” you cannot have one with the other. The reason is that honesty will always encourage trust. This means when telling your brand story you need to have a “simple rule”, never knowingly deceive your audience. If you inadvertently break this rule immediately acknowledge your mistake and inform your audience what you are going to do to rectify it. Everyone makes mistakes and trust is lost when we handle a mistake badly.
2) Your Audience Needs You To Give Them Value
“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
Charles Darwin
A constant theme of my blogs is that when telling stories or creating video content then you should always value your audience attention. If they take the time to listen to your brand story reward their attention with something that adds value to their life. This can be an insight that helps them solve a problem, an idea for saving them time in the future or simply to entertain them with interesting insight. The key is to create some value for your audience with your brand storytelling.
3) Be Consistent With Your Brand Storytelling
“Slow but steady wins the race.”
Aesop
Customer trust is earned by being consistent with your brand storytelling. This means when you tell your brand story it is in line with all your brand values and delivers the type of quality and timely content that your audiences have come to expect from you. Your brand story telling should not only meet their expectations but it should also exceed those expectations.
4) Let Your Brand Personality Shine Through
“We live in a rainbow of chaos. “
Paul Cezanne
We may “live in a rainbow of chaos, but it is our rainbow of chaos. Let your brand personality shine through with your brand storytelling. Trust is earned when your audience can relate to your brand because you share and hold similar values and approaches to the way you interact with the rest of the world around you.
Demonstrating your brand personality in your storytelling is the only way to show your brand can show your audience you see the world in a similar way to them. This sends your audience a signal that it is safe to trust your brand.
5) Always Follow Through On Your Intentions
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”
Seneca
It is not enough to tell your audience that you can be trusted; you need to show them your brand is worth trusting. Demonstrating this in your brand story by always doing what you say you will do. You need to show that this is always the case and you consistently always follow through on your stated intentions.
Customer Trust Is Hard To Earn And Easily Lost
“To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.”
George MacDonald
Trust is easy to loose and your brand storytelling needs to show your audience why you should be trusted. This needs to be based on honesty, if there is a problem, solve that before you tell your brand story or show in your story how you intend to tackle that problem. The best brand stories reflect a consistent approach to marketing that has at its core the idea of providing value to your customers. Customer trust is earned by a combination of these factors underpinned by a brand personality that reflects the customers values and their aspirations.