If gaining customer trust isn’t one of the cornerstones of your business, it should be. When you have won your customers’ trust it is easier to:

• Attract new customers
• Retain existing customers
• Build long-term relationships with other businesses
• Gain new business through peer-to-peer referrals

When you consider that the Harvard Business Review estimates the cost of customer acquisition vs retention at between 5-25 times more expensive, cementing those customer relationships becomes a definite priority.

In this blog I’ll suggest 8 strategies that help you gain customer trust, strengthen customer relationships and win more business.

How to win customer trust

1. Don’t over-promise

I can feel the hate coming at me from your Sales team as I type but the hand-over from Sales to Onboarding is often the first breach of customer trust. Make it policy that your Sales team represent your product accurately and don’t mis-sell to get their commission, leaving it to colleagues to break the bad news.

2. Frictionless onboarding

Ensure that new customers know what to expect and when. If timelines are dependent on certain work being done in-house by customers, be transparent about it. Building customer trust and keeping it is a longer, tougher process than losing it, so make sure that the foundations are strong.

3. Provide a great product

It is hard to retain customer trust if you have sold them a lemon! Really consider your customers’ pain points and provide something that will answer them. Don’t create something that is great and then allow it to atrophy. Keep the momentum going by constant innovation so that your customers feel rewarded for trusting you and your product to grow with them.

4. Fantastic customer service

Too many companies are front-weighted, focusing too much on sales and too little on customer service. Both are important if you are to build real customer trust and if you hope that your customers will recommend you to others.

Staying close to customers gives you a competitive advantage, allowing you to retain and win customers. A better understanding of their needs and how they use your product means you can stay on track with developments.

Most important of all in the customer trust stakes, if a customer has a problem, help them solve it quickly.

5. Provide ongoing value

Is your product still worth the price your customer is paying for it? Finding out that you are paying over the odds for a product or service is a horrible feeling and is a sure way to lose trust. But it isn’t just about reducing prices; value isn’t always about cost.

Winning a prestigious award allows your customers to piggyback on your success with their own customers. Better yet, look at awards that you can enter in partnership with a customer. External validation is a powerful way to build customer trust.

6. Keep in touch

As with any relationship, the more effort you put into them the more you’ll get out of them. Don’t mail-bomb customers but sending them useful information, such as product updates or industry changes wins customer trust and lets them know that you are on top of things.

7. Showcase evidence of success

We can all big up our businesses but there are no better ways to earn customer trust than some great case studies. Indisputable and authentic evidence that what you provides works is a great shortcut to building trust. Where possible, add a video, allowing a customer to offer their experience in their own words.

8. Encourage feedback

Whether it’s reviews on Google Business, Trustpilot or somewhere else, prospects look to see what actual customers have experienced. When you have had interaction with customers, ask them for feedback. Whether you encourage them to make those responses public by adding links, or purely for your internal business use, both show that you care and make customers trust you more.

Is customer trust important?

We’ve already touched on some of the ways in which good customer relationships are beneficial but it’s important to consider the risk of losing customer trust as well as the benefits of gaining it.

Unless you have been hiding under a rock you will be aware of Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that sees the end of official fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram. Whether you’re in favour of what Zuckerberg terms a return to “free expression” or see it as another nail in the coffin of fact-based reality, this poses an active threat to customer relationships.

Why does it matter to businesses? Because as with Twitter/X before it, it becomes possible for anyone to say whatever they want about you on those platforms, now that they are deregulated. Reputational damage can have a massive negative effect on both sales and customer goodwill. Essentially, it pushes the onus on you to keep on eye on instances where your company name is mentioned and fact-check it. Don’t let customer trust plummet through fake news.

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