Trust Me

Like, say, a pushy aunt who you see twice a year and is always trying to give you advice you’ll never take, buy you gifts you’ll never use, feed you weird homemade treats you’ll never enjoy? Let’s call her Vicky: Aunt Vicky loves you, but she doesn’t get you. No matter how good her intentions are, she’s never really taken the time to get to know you as a real person. So, while you might trust Aunt Vicky up to a point—you’re not worried she’s going to steal your purse while you’re in the bathroom—you know better than to count on her when it comes to something really important, like buying your first home or navigating a new medical diagnosis. For that, you’ll turn to someone who better understands your wants and needs, like a partner or a best friend.

This is equally true for brands, with the most successful and trustworthy brands being those that provide experiences that are actively responsive to the needs of their users. For most brands, this can make the difference between success and failure: according to recent survey by PwC, 92% of consumers feel that organizations have a responsibility to build trust, 46% spend more at companies they trust, and 40% no longer purchase from a company due to a lack of trust. To earn that trust, brands need to actively listen to what their customers really need—not just what they think they need—and use what they’ve learned to inform the design of their customer experience accordingly.

Case Study: Amazon

Take Amazon as an example. As online shoppers, it can be difficult for us to feel confident about what we buy when we aren’t able to physically handle our prospective purchases to check for quality the way we would in a brick-and-mortar store. (Will these running shoes fit me? How lightweight will they be? What are the odds that I’ll need to go through the hassle of returning them?) Customer reviews can make a big difference, with over 90% of those surveyed reporting that reviews “play a decisive role” in how they spend their money.

While most brands include these reviews as a matter of course, Amazon puts them at the core of their digital experience. Not only are customer reviews for each item on prominent display, but those reviews can be quickly and easily sorted by rating and feature (“Appearance,” “Fit,” etc.). Items that consumers are most likely to enjoy—those with especially glowing reviews, low return rates, and speedy shipping—are affixed with the label of “Amazon’s Choice” and prioritized over other search results. By stamping much-loved products with its own seal of approval, Amazon recognizes and affirms the preferences of their users, earning their trust in the process: “you trust other shoppers, and we trust you.”

This virtuous cycle of mutual trust makes it easier for Amazon to use consumer data to deliver famously personalized recommendations for each user. As an avid Kindle reader, I know that Amazon keeps close tabs on my reading history, tastes, and goals, going so far as to track the time it takes me to read a particular book or identify how far I’ve read before moving on to another title. That’s a lot of information—but I’m comfortable giving it up because I trust that Amazon will use it to provide me with recommendations for historical fiction that I’ll actually enjoy. Seeing as Amazon now ranks as one of the world’s most-trusted brands, I’m not the only one.

Case Study: Disney

Disney, on the other hand, earns the trust of its audience through its commitment to high-quality, emotional storytelling. When customers engage with a Disney experience—on the Disney+ app, at one of their parks, watching one of their films, or via one of countless other touchpoints—they trust that the brand will bring its proprietary “magic” into their lives via a compelling story that’s colored by the same blend of wonder and family-friendly optimism that generations of fans have come to expect from the House of Mouse.

In a speech at SXSW, Josh D’Amaro, Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products, identified the three key principles that Disney relies on to tell consistently magical stories—and which I often consider while helping to craft brand stories for my own clients:

GREAT STORYTELLING IS IMMERSIVE 

Pull your audience in however you can, as much as you can.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

You can tell a great story (or deliver a great product), but it’ll only land if you know who’s listening on the other end.

TAKE RISKS

Disney Imagineers can go through hundreds of prototypes before landing on “the one.” Just because you’ve made something that works doesn’t mean you can’t make something that’ll work even better.

Case Study: TIA

In the world of healthcare, trust is difficult to earn, easy to lose, and absolutely essential for achieving better health outcomes. Women are particularly cautious about placing their trust in healthcare brands, and for good reason. Healthcare is more expensive and less readily available for women than it is for men, and many women find it difficult or impossible to access the care they need. A handful of brands have made an effort to meet some of those needs—focusing exclusively on providing affordable fertility care, for example—but Tia has found success by meeting all of them, standing out from their competitors with a highly accessible model that women trust to provide them with all the care they need, all in one place.

What makes Tia especially trusted is its explicit commitment to accessibility. Knowing that prospective customers may be hesitant to seek care because of the difficulty and expense involved in doing so, Tia operates according to a membership structure that provides users with full access to comprehensive physical, mental and reproductive care, virtually or in-person, with no surprise fees or hidden costs. The overall effect is of a brand that is intimately acquainted with the needs of women—and that women trust to meet those needs accordingly.