Building Functional Trust
What is trust? Trust is defined as the “firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something”. It is to put your faith in, or have confidence in someone or something e.g. a brand. It is a construct that follows us in almost every daily situation. Trust in quality, consistency and familiarity of the brand remains ever so important particularly in complex buying decision processes such as buying a car, which is why these key measures are so interconnected with driving engagement with a brand.
In 2013, these are some of the most trusted brands in Australia across categories*
- Banks: Commonwealth Bank
- Bread: Bakers Delight
- Breakfast Food: Weet-Bix
- Cars: Toyota
- Charities: Guide Dogs Australia
- Coffee Machines: Breville
- Confectionery: Cadbury
- Deodorant: Rexona
- Fast Food: Subway
- Hair Care: Dove
- Life Insurance: AAMI
- Mobile Phone Provider: Telstra
- Pain Relief: Panadol
- Supermarkets: Woolworths
- TV & Home Entertainment: SONY
- Vitamins and Supplements: Blackmores
- Whitegoods: Westinghouse
It will be interesting to see how these rankings will shift in the 2014 results. But what makes a brand more trustworthy over another brand? What do these top brands have in common? Consumers tend to have more trust in the functional aspects of the brands they were loyal to. This includes looking at key aspects such as quality, safety, reliability, and value for money. Reliability stems from the ability to live up to your promise. As Kevin Stevens mentions in his branding article, “The drivers of trust varied across sectors; however the one common theme was that consumers did not want to be lied to. Therefore, building functional trust with customers, as well as transparency, should be a key priority for brands in 2014 and onwards.” In a time where life is constantly throwing us curveballs, challenges and uncertainty, people turn to their most-trusted bands. No matter how hard things get, we are all consumers at heart – we eat, we drink, we dress, we communicate, we travel. We turn to our most trusted brands in the hope that they will not let us down.
“Trust is hard won and easily lost”
Additional hurdles exist for online retailers who face the struggles of establishing trust in the sceptical world. People are wary of entering personal details and information online to a faceless brand. Therefore it is critical that behind every transaction, there needs to be a level of trust demonstrated by the purchase towards the seller that they will fulfil on their promise. If the trust isn’t there, then the transaction doesn’t happen. An exceptional story is Amazon and their tale of how an online brand established trust to become America’s most reputable company. According to a study by Harris, Amazon holds the most emotional appeal and provides the best products and services. A key part in establishing this emotional appeal is Amazon’s ability to utilise consumers’ personal information to make recommendations and help them lead a better life through their products. But they do not abuse this power of information and become intrusive which creates just the right level of intimacy with their customers. It’s personal, and the perception is that they’re not giving out that information for anyone else to monetize it. Brands need to find this delicate balance of becoming personal and establishing that emotional connection and not overstepping their bounds and falling from grace as it is a very long arduous journey to earn back that trust.
By Kalai Chu, Senior Research Consultant
For further information on THINK Global Research, please contact Kristy Ihle (Managing Director): info@thinkglobalresearch.com.
*Research conducted by Reader’s Digest
