But, as distrust and misinformation continues spreading daily, how can your business grow the level of trust placed in you? Personally, I’ve found three highly effective actions that you can take: being consistent with your message, effective communication, and fostering positive relationships.

Effective and consistent communication

A key pillar in building trust is effective communication with your customer base. Organisations should create tailored, informative content for different customer segments, that help them use the product or service effectively. However, it’s important to exercise caution with any communication and only reach out when appropriate. Going too far and overcommunicating could risk jeopardising the relationships you work hard to build. A study by Adobe found that 39% of those asked distrust brands who over communicate, so there is a fine balance to be struck. For example, only using personalised materials that reach the right audience. Doing so demonstrates a clear use of strong judgement that can increase trust further, by catering specifically to customers’ needs.

Your company must also ensure that any content remains consistent with your  organisation’s purpose. Companies who set this purpose out – and are committed to living by it – are likely to increase target audience engagement, and may even find they are being publicly championed – even in turbulent times.

Fostering positive relationships

Before you can build trust, you must first understand your customers' needs, wants, and concerns and be committed to swiftly resolving their issues.

Social listening is a simplistic but highly effective way of keeping your company informed of public sentiment in real time. Businesses that listen to conversations on social platforms will better understand their audience’s needs and desires, offering valuable insight to help shape business plans and identify any areas for improvement. Gathering and addressing customer reviews is also an impactful strategy for identifying customer needs and wants – many of whom rely on a positive or negative review to make informed purchasing decisions. Utilising review sites helps businesses to build a sense of emotional connection with their customers, but they also have a powerful role to play in building trust. Creating a transparent and open forum, including not hiding negative reviews, helps demonstrate to customers that your business has nothing to hide, and is taking proactive steps to address any concerns.

However, any negative reviews should be replied to in a timely manner – ideally within 24 hours. Customers appreciate quick responses as they feel heard and hopefully satisfied with any action taken.

Feedback, even if negative, is also a valuable source of customer data that creates a more-rounded understanding of attitudes toward your company, when applied correctly. Using this information puts your company on the front foot over addressing concerns and roots out any recurring themes that require improvement. Doing so nurtures loyal customer bases, thereby driving brand growth. The Total Economic Impact study conducted by Forrester Consulting for Trustpilot found that 98% of businesses on Trustpilot feel reviews and ratings has increased brand reputation, as well improving sales (94%) and attracting new customers (95%).

Going one step further, proactively requesting feedback and involving customers in product development is also ideal. This ensures that they walk away feeling valued and it forms trusted relationships from the get-go.

Concluding thoughts

Simply put, trust cannot develop overnight. Spending time on building this is increasingly important in crowded marketplaces. Patience is a virtue, and the payoff will be worth it. You can cultivate vastly improved relationships, offer better customer service, and therefore boost your brand reputation. Ultimately, this is what drives growth and revenue.

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