Brands are designed and created to keep customers’ needs in mind at all times. Businesses strive toward building a brand that will help them not only differentiate themselves from their competition, but also win the hearts and minds of their customers. It’s no secret that customers who are loyal to the brand will come back to it every time, even though they might find a better offer elsewhere. These relationships take a long time to establish and they’re built on emotions and trust.
However, in the digital world where everyone cans speak their mind freely, that trust can easily be broken, because a simple negative review can cause an avalanche of disapproval in an instant. That’s why brands try their hardest to maintain that trust and keep the promises they make, so that customers don’t get disappointed, not even once. Here are a few ways brands can build trust across all channels.
Always keep your promises
Having a brand means having certain standards that will attract your target audience. These standards are promises that you’ll hold the customer’s best interest as a priority. It also means having a unique selling proposition that will offer customers something they simply can’t find anywhere else. Whether you’re guaranteeing product quality, excellent customer support or the best return policy, you must maintain that promise constantly and advocate it across all relevant channels.
One misstep in your promise and the trust you’ve been trying to build over time may crumble instantly. In addition, once you disappoint your customers, it will be really difficult to regain their trust. That’s why building trust is essential for your brand and it requires you to deliver on your promises every time.
Build relationships with social media
Building trust requires you to actively engage with your target audience online. The best way to do so is to be active and visible on social media channels. A lot of people nowadays spend most of their time browsing through social networks and that’s where you need to be as well. Start building relationships with your target audience by engaging in more personal conversations instead of just posting promotions and sales.
Ask for feedback and improve your business flow based on the information you gather from your followers. That way, your audience will realize that you pay attention to and actually consider their opinions. Also, make sure you answer all the questions or concerns your followers may have politely, honestly and on time. Moreover, don’t hesitate to share customer experiences on social media in order to promote your brand. After all, people are more likely to trust you if you already have satisfied customers.
Make sure your message is heard
Brands know how to carefully tailor their messages so that they reach their audience across all channels. Whether you’re sending a message on social media, your brand’s in-app chat, traditional channels or your website, you must make sure your message is heard correctly and that it reaches your audience accordingly.
A lot of brands fail to deliver their messages properly and most of the time their messages get misunderstood. To avoid that situation, your brand should utilize reliable media monitoring to observe how your audience has received your message, so that you can react accordingly if they misread it thus ensuring your brand’s equity is intact. One of the main reasons is that communicating messages across multiple channels can easily be turned into misinformation if you’re not careful enough. The online world is, in fact, a media jungle and simple misinformation may give your brand a bad name. Not to mention that clearing your name is extremely difficult.
Offer the best support
Customer support is crucial for any business success, but it’s also crucial for your brand’s reputation. The better your customer support is, the more your customers will be fond of you and eventually learn to trust you completely. Customers will always have concerns about your products or services – sometimes they won’t understand how they work, while sometimes they won’t be satisfied with how something works.
Nevertheless, you must be available to them always and offer the best support possible. Furthermore, make sure customers can reach you on multiple channels, such as email, phone, live-chat and social media, and that you always have a friendly and educated staff member ready to help them out.
Building trust with your customers takes a lot of time, dedication and effort. Trust is essential to brands because it helps them build more personal relationships with customers and it helps them not just retain them, but also make them more loyal to the brand. However, building trust is just as difficult as maintaining it and you should always make sure that your promises are kept and your customers satisfied.
