Everyone has a little uncertainty about what’s to come. Will there be sales in the next few months or not? Do I have a job next month? Do we generate enough revenue?
At least that uncertainty doesn’t make selling any easier, and that’s why it’s important that you’ve built strong credibility for customers. The customer wants to be absolutely sure that you can deliver what you promised.
I’m sure you can immediately list more brands whose service or product quality you trust. You’re absolutely sure they can deliver whatever they promise in any situation. These brands have built a solid relationship with you and make sure that it remains so.
Next, I’m going to go over what a reliable brand is like, what today’s reliable brands are in Finland and around the world, and how on earth are those built.
What kind of features do trusted brands have?
Customers like listening to their opinions. This doesn’t mean responding to comments or emails on your Facebook Page, but developing your services and products based on feedback from your customers. This creates a feeling for customers that they are cared for and that the relationship between the customer and the brand becomes more personal and accessible. This leads to the customer being more likely to become a committed customer and recommending your brand.
As a trusted brand, you also make sure that the product or service matches the product or service description you provide. If you don’t keep that promise, the customer will feel cheated and no longer buy your brand’s products or services in the future.
Customer will also tells their friends about this experience and thus you lose a lot of potential customers. It has been studied that negative experiences are more easily remembered and are also more sensitive to information to others.
A trusted brand must be identified everywhere. Therefore, keep the same visual appearance as much as possible from your website to the product packaging. This creates a feeling for the customer that they are spending time with the same brand. You can read more about the importance of a unified brand look in our blog In all the important things are that your digital brand look is recognizable? – SDM Oy
In addition, the more open your activities are, the easier it will be to trust you. Do not offer obscure or unclear purchase terms, but instead explain to the customer as clearly as possible what they are buying and what it costs. For example, give the customer the opportunity to see shipping costs before they are paid by the online store checkout.
The most trusted brands in Finland and around the world
There is no research in Finland that specifically measures reliability, but brand appreciation can be used as a comparative indicator here.
In Finland, the TOP 10 list for the most valued brands looked like this in 2019:
- Fiskars
- Fazer
- Arabia
- Fazer Blue
- YLE
- Hackman
- Iittala
- Valio
- S-Group
Source: Brand Appreciation study
Finnish brands are clearly favoured in Finland, so it is worth highlighting domesticity in brand communication.
The TOP 10 list of the most trusted brands in the United States looks like this:
- USPS
- Amazon
- PayPal
- Weather Channel
- Chick-Fil-A
- The Hershey Company & UPS
- Cheerios
- M&M’s
Source: The Most Trusted Brands 2020
In reviewing the research results, particular emphasis was placed on the importance of brand relatability and listening to the customer, as well as on developing based on feedback.
The study also compared the results across generations. Younger generations are more sceptical about brands and earning their credit is thus more tasking. They will also look more closely at whether brands are doing the right things ethically.
How to build a reliable brand?
Based on previous points, the first thing you should do is start investing in developing customer satisfaction. Collect feedback from your customers and listen to what they want. Develop your services and products based on feedback and you are one step closer to a satisfied and committed customer.
After that, make sure that you keep your promise regarding the product and are able to deliver what you promise. This automatically develops the shopping experience as well.
When developing your shopping experience, it is important to maintain a consistent quality at all stages of the purchase process, from the website until you receive the product. Make the experience of ordering from the website simple and functional so that the customer does not get frustrated at an early stage.
How to improve reliability through marketing?
Display your customers’ comments on your website. Do not hide negative comments unless they are completely unwarranted. Show that you care about and respond to customer opinions.
Also bring out customer experiences in your advertising, tell us how person x bought the product y and how this brought him joy to the topic z.
Share your company’s information on your website, tell your story to make it easier for the customer to identify with you. Make the brand humane and accessible. Display employees’ faces on your website if possible. You get a much more confident feeling when you know who they’re dealing with and you’re not working behind the curtain.
Keep your face consistent so that the customer recognizes you. Don’t make a customer question whether they’re still working on the same brand or not. A good way to develop this is through a brand strategy, where can you read more about our blog What is a digital brand strategy? – SDM y
Many of these things sound obvious, but how well do you put them into practice yourself?
Even though building a reliable brand is slow, is it worth the effort
Customers trust that their brands will be able to keep their promises even in these times and the quality of the product or service will not suffer. Not everyone is affected in the same way, and that’s why it’s important that you have committed customers who are currently able to invest in your brand.
You’re certainly not going to become the most trusted brand in your customers’ eyes right away, but by taking care of them and their needs in every situation, you’re headed in the right direction. Also, be sure to make sure your brand is consistent; this will multiply the benefits of being able to constantly remind the customer that your brand exists.
Perform a situational map of your customer satisfaction and start by developing towards your goal of developing into a trusted brand in the eyes of your customers
