When measured the right way, brand trust has the potential to be an insightful and highly predictive customer experience metric to drive long-term growth.
But brand trust can be thought of in different ways – capability (is a brand delivering on its promise?) or character (is it ethical in how it operates?) – which means that the value of generic studies is open to doubt.
The problem with a standard trust approach
- Australia’s Fifth Dimension Research and Consulting found that if a respondent thought the brand trust question was asking them to rate the brand capability, they were 30% more likely to say they trusted a brand.
- But if a respondent thought the brand trust question was asking them to rate the brand character, they were 88% more likely to say they distrusted a brand.
- One-third of distrust was based on distrusting brands in general, and not the brand the respondent was rating.
- Consumers regularly buy from brands they say they don’t trust.
- Unprompted trusted brands are the most salient, not the most trusted overall.
Why it matters
Brand trust has become a controversial measure, with many of the world’s leading brands scoring low on trust. The problem lies with measurement, and not with the importance of trust as a business concept, which remains central.
Leadership brands in a brand trust model developed by Fifth Dimension achieved a 50% increase in market share and double the levels of advocacy of brands that were nominated as being “trusted” in a generic brand trust study.
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This article first appeared in www.warc.com
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