Building & Profiting From Consumers' Trust

Introduction

Brands are rooted in the trust that consumers place in them, without it they cannot reach the crucial goal of creating an intense bond between the brand and the consumer. However, consumers are increasingly distrusting and skeptical of corporations on a number of levels. Marketers need insight into what makes consumers more trusting to develop productive long-term personal relationships with them.

Scope

• Insightful consumer and industry survey data conveying the key trust-orientated issues for consumers
• Detailed analysis of consumer attitudes regarding key trust issues across the packaged goods sectors and the influence of these of buying behavior
• Exhaustive review of NPD and marketing campaigns utilizing best-practice principles of trust building branding
• Detailed Action Points pinpointing how to devise effective marketing concepts that will help to (re)build trust

Highlights

Consumers are becoming more fearful, skeptical and distrusting; 86% of European and US consumers agree that they have become more skeptical about corporations in the last 5 years. In particular, consumers are more conscious of product safety, and they lack trust in mainstream media channels, and the specifics of product claims.

Consumers behave differently in response to their need for trustworthy products. This may be to overcome risk associated with product safety scares or because they are sceptical of product claims made by a new brand. However, certain factors such as word of mouth and professional endorsement can considerably boost trust.

Companies perceived as being socially responsible are deemed to be more trustworthy. Our consumer and industry opinion surveys revealed that 73% and 71% of respondents respectively considered "a good track record in business ethics" to be influential in (re)gaining consumer trust.

Reasons to Purchase

• Win new customers through radically more effective marketing that is based on building trust, and reducing perceived risk
• Overcome the growing threat of discounters and private label by leveraging key characteristics of established brands
• Obtain a comprehensive understanding of the key trust issues impacting your business in the next 5 years

• Chapter 1 Executive Summary
  • Hot topic
  • The future decoded
  • Action points
• Chapter 2 The Future Decoded
  • Introduction
  • There are different types and dimensions of trust
  • Trust is vital in developing relationships with consumers
  • TREND: Consumers are becoming more fearful, skeptical and distrusting
  • Consumers lack trust in product safety
  • Consumers lack trust in corporations and mainstream media channels
  • Consumers lack trust in the specifics of product claims
  • INSIGHT: There are four major determinants of consumer confidence in product safety
  • Consumers are influenced by trust in regulatory institutions and actors in the supply chain
  • Safety incidents and media coverage of risks heighten consumer skepticism
  • Product safety is actually taken for granted by consumers until specific incidents occur
  • INSIGHT: Concerns over food and drinks break down into three categories
  • Concerns over allergies have become more apparent
  • GM foods and pesticides are a key food safety concerns
  • Contamination and terror issues have the potential to become more relevant
  • INSIGHT: Where consumers perceive risk or trust is low, they develop trust-orientated strategies accordingly
  • Consumers seek word of mouth recommendations for trust reasons
  • Consumers perceive higher priced products as being higher quality and therefore more trustworthy
  • Consumers seek quality assurance from trusted 'experts'
  • Multiple sources of information are chosen to give consumers confidence
  • Country of origin information often has a trust building impact
  • Organic and natural products are chosen because of trust issues
  • Consumers use product information as a risk-reducing variable
  • When consumers perceive risk they show loyalty to brands they trust
  • Purchasing from smaller scale/local sources is sometimes perceived as being more trustworthy
  • INSIGHT: Women are more likely to be influenced by trust based issues
  • Females are more concerned about trust based issues such as product safety
  • Trust is more important for older consumers
  • Age and education also impact the importance of trust
  • INSIGHT: Companies perceived as being socially responsible are deemed more trustworthy
  • Conclusions
  • Trust suggests a relationship beyond the functional: it builds brand equity
  • Building trust is important because there is currently a 'trust void'
  • Certain product attributes and marketing tactics can increase trustworthiness
• Chapter 3 Action Points
  • Introduction
  • ACTION: Leverage the product attributes and communication cues that consumers perceive as trustworthy
  • Communicate the advantage of existing, established brands over new products
  • Build relationships with the 'expert community'
  • Embrace viral and word of mouth marketing
  • Be wary of the negative affects of celebrity endorsements
  • Make product quality a key brand value
  • Provide a clear understanding of the product benefits
  • Communicate business ethics, but make it the secondary part of any message
  • Embrace the notion of 'customer-made' marketing
  • Become an information resource for healthy living
  • ACTION: Ensure that product claims are transparent, honest, and trustworthy
  • Be extra vigilent about misleading product information and claims
  • Develop recognizable and trustworthy labels
  • Make verifiable claims about natural products
  • ACTION: Be proactively open about the communication of a wide range of trust issues
  • Embrace the Internet as a trusted source of information
  • Improve information with regard to product traceability
  • Respond quickly and honestly in times of crisis
  • Provide more detailed product information on packaging
  • Make certain demographics the primary target recipients
  • ACTION: Turn existing trusted brands into champion/master brands
  • Extend brands with already established health credentials
  • Extend these trusted brands into new categories
  • Adopt a segmented approach
• Chapter 4 Appendix
  • Definitions
  • Research methodology
  • References
  • How to contact experts in your industry
• List of Tables
  • Table 1: The percentage of European and US consumers who trust a company or organization to do what is right, 2005
  • Table 2: Percentage of Europeans who 'do not trust' the press, radio, television, political parties, big companies and religious institutions, 2003
  • Table 3: The level of trust consumers have in various claims made by packaged goods manufacturers, by country, 2004
  • Table 4: Consumer survey: "What is your opinion of manufacturers' claims regarding their cosmeceutical products in the following product markets?"
  • Table 5: Naturals % share of overall personal care market, 1999-2009
  • Table 6: European and US ethical personal care market value, 2004-2009
  • Table 7: European and US consumer and industry opinion concerning the influence of various factors on (re)gaining consumer trust
  • Table 8: Definitions used in this report
• List of Figures
  • Figure 1: There 4 reasons why trust and ethos based branding are of increasing importance
  • Figure 2: Building trust will help develop personal connections with consumers helping to develop long-term relationships
  • Figure 3: The majority of European and US consumers are indifferent in their perceived trustworthiness regarding the general business practices of packaged goods companies
  • Figure 4: European and US consumers are untrusting towards nutritional and health boosting claims made by food and drink players and claims made by personal care manufacturers
  • Figure 5: Three-quarters of consumers have misgivings about the benefits of cosmeceuticals
  • Figure 6: There are 4 core determinants of consumer trust in food safety
  • Figure 7: Both industry and consumer opinion illustrates product recall incidents have broader implications beyond the specific brand/manufacturer affected
  • Figure 8: Where consumers perceive risk, they often pursue the following strategies to reduce risk
  • Figure 9: Consumers perceive that the recommendations of others are important and more likely to rely on such communication when choosing products and services
  • Figure 10: Consumers' quality perceptions can be grouped under four main factors, each of which has an influence on trust
  • Figure 11: Health advice from doctors and professional bodies is the most trusted source of health information
  • Figure 12: Trust is a factor that particularly influences older consumers, new parents and females generally
  • Figure 13: Consumers aged 50-64 are the most untrusting of product claims made by food, drink and personal care players
  • Figure 14: More than half of US and European consumers believe that it is important to purchase ethical or socially responsible products
  • Figure 15: Both consumer and industry opinion perceive that prior experience and endorsement from professional bodies are the most influential factors in (re)gaining consumer trust
  • Figure 16: Two phases characterize successful viral and word of mouth campaigns
  • Figure 17: Following these actions will help create perceptions of quality thereby increasing trust and confidence in the product
  • Figure 18: Providing opportunities for 'collaborative' customization may be a useful way for consumers to feel more closely connected to brands and hence drive trust
  • Figure 19: Many re-assurance steps can be made via simple on-pack communications
  • Figure 20: There are a number of examples of manufacturers improving the traceability information of their products