Great CXpectations: The importance of trust in modern marketing

When done right, personalised digital experiences can deliver and strengthen customers' trust in brands. When they poorly execute personalisation, customers lose any trust they may have held.

In the digital-first economy, marketers know this better than anyone.

Marketing and business leaders can make or break trust at each digital touchpoint along the customer journey. With ever-evolving customer preferences, building the foundations of trust through experiences and responsible data use has become crucial to strong customer relationships.

As a part of the CMO50 video series, I recently had the pleasure of joining Jeremy Nicholas, Telstra's Digital Services and Sales Executive, alongside CMO Magazine's Nadia Cameron, to explore the forces that build or break trust, the role of data, and the gap between consumer expectations and brand delivery.

What do you want to be trusted for?

Trust is such a multifaceted area now for brands, so by first setting out what you want to be known for, you can establish a clear strategy to work towards building that trust.

Things like data privacy and security are factors brands need to commit to long-term; however, brands also need to consider broader factors that weigh on customers' minds.

The data privacy imperative

Trust is by no means a new concept for brands. And, with the rapid digitisation and ever-shifting expectations of customers, the pressure on brands to balance the delivery of personalised experiences with greater data privacy continues to grow.

“From a customer point of view, how do you give them that confidence that they are still within that secure environment and that they’re in a safe sort of space and able to share that information,” Jeremy says.

Building trust in every step of the personalised journey

Personalisation is vital in boosting customer trust, but only when a seamless and consistent experience is present.

The focus needs to be even the most specific areas of personalisation, like not asking for details in the second step of the journey when they were already provided during step one.

As Jeremy says, building and maintaining trust is all about doing what you say you're going to do – keeping customers secure, delivering valuable experiences, or simply responding in a timely manner.

Trust isn't new in marketing; we're just now recognising the impact it truly has on brands.

See more of my discussion with Jeremy Nicholas in the third and final episode of the 3-part CMO50 video series here.