2022 Trust Report: Customer trust is earned or broken with every experience

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Image source: peopleimages.com, Adobe Stock.

Today’s digitally savvy consumers expect companies to step up as trust leaders in their communities, workplaces and marketplaces. According to Morning Consult, “the role trust plays in boosting a brand’s reputation, customer loyalty and the bottom line has never been more critical.” From living their brand purpose to respecting customer data to delivering valuable experiences, trust is non-negotiable and must be a part of every company’s DNA.

To better understand the ways brands can build trust with customers and employees, Adobe surveyed 12,066 global consumers and 2,031 senior executives across 15 countries (US, India, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Germany, UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, and New Zealand) between January and February 2022. While the data found some variation by region and country, we saw remarkable alignment amongst global consumers around what it takes to earn and keep their trust.

Brands are facing more challenges in building trust with customers. A large majority of executives (75 percent) say that since the pandemic began, they have had a harder time building and maintaining trust with their customers.

Digital experiences are just as important as in-person experiences in earning customer trust. While in-person experiences will always be core to earning trust with customers, global consumers say digital experiences are just as important. For most Gen Z and Millennial consumers, digital customer experiences are now even more important than in-person experiences in building trusted relationships with brands.

Responsible use of data is the price of admission for earning customer trust. Regardless of how quickly governments or businesses move to protect customer data, consumers want brands to act now.

Customer trust is earned or broken with every experience. Whether selling to consumers or businesses, brands earn trust by keeping the promises they make to their customers across the entire relationship — from respecting their data to providing experiences they value at each stage of their journey.

Taking care of employees is key to building brand trust: If companies want to earn the trust of their employees, the most important thing they must do is “practice what they preach.” (80 percent).

Trust and the bottom line: According to Accenture, trusted brands reap a range of benefits including the ability to “develop better services and better experiences, and to get better information to then tailor things for consumers." While trust can be difficult to quantify, the Trust Report gives us strong indicators of how the making and breaking of trust can impact brands’ bottom lines.

To learn more about how companies can earn trust with their customers, download the 2022 Trust Report here.