Work pays off in customer confidence
Spontaneously igniting phones banks that want to sell personal funds investing your retirement money in weapons, sjoemelsoftware who also installed in your car. If consumer confidence in our bodies is made substantially to the test. In addition to these 'excesses' we experience as a customer also the brand promises are not always respected in daily practice. Every time ordered products arrive later than promised, service issues are not resolved adequately and personal services proves impossible in your case, this is at the expense of the customer (customer experience). And looming loyalty loss. In an era where customer retention is more rewarding than recruiting new customers, we therefore advocate for confidence ( trust ) and customer experience KPIs introduce. Based on research over the past three years, we find that many organizations miss opportunities to distinguish themselves here. Work pays off in customer trust!
This blog post I wrote with Ernst Kruize , lead consultant at Brightone.
Trust between people and thus creating companies rarely at once. You can receive or give trust, nurture or damage, acquire or deserve. It is often a process that takes time. You have to take care that the other experiences that you trust, because that build your confidence in the other person.
Confidence get, receive, acquire or earn to be reliable by itself. It is not for the other to make you trustworthy. This also applies to business relationships . As a marketing and communication professionals we 'used to' all learned that reputation and trust are important brand values, in addition to the more instrumental values such as price and product.
Today we see that has greatly increased the relative importance of the former 'intangible' factors. Indeed, it is increasingly difficult to distinguish yourself with your products, services and pricing. Where in the '50s, the brand value still 70 percent was determined by' tangible 'factors, there is still less than 40 percent. Feelings, emotions, experiences: they largely determine how consumers experience a brand and if there is trust.
When you realize this, it is remarkable to see how many companies dare to harm consumer confidence. Especially when you consider:
that our society today is so transparent that abuses sooner or later, but anyway, to surface. That it is no longer possible to conceal incidents, fraud almost certainly come to light and that dissatisfied customers always and probably will publicly manifest (through social media);
the millennials , more than previous generations of consumers, seem prone to trust issues. There is an ingrained mistrust of (commercial) business communications and it relies more on the views of like-minded people;
it now seems clear that the level of trust impact on the efficiency of an organization. In " The Speed of Trust " Stephen Covey argues that ' low trust ' organizations face higher costs than ' high trust ' corporations. They are also slower in (all) business. The Trust Barometer Edelman shows that consumers are reluctant to buy from companies that they do not trust to buy more companies that can be reliable.
Confidence as a holistic concept
Perhaps organizations are managing trust simply (too) complex matter, given the holistic nature of the concept. In terms of definition, we'd hook at Van Raay and Van Esterik-Plasmeijer (2015):
Trust is the level of expectation of the customer that the organization agreements and promises to fulfill in a way that is in the interest of and in any case is not unfavorable for the customer.
Important in this definition is the notion that trust must be realized in practice. How customers experience the reliability of organizations - practically - in practical terms? Behold the link with customer experience : it is not a promise, but the actual experience. This is above, below or in line with expectations?
Trust consists of multiple dimensions, some strategic, other tactical or operational. It affects the entire organization, from product development to marketing, sales, communication and customer service. Both C-level and at the level of operational staff has impact. A single employee can make or break the confidence of consumers. In fact, we have experienced in recent years that even individual customers are able to influence the generic confidence in a brand or organization.
To make the concept of faith tangible, we refer to the 5C model of the Values Institute:
Competence : the extent to which a brand is effective, how well it provides solves the needs of customers and problems out there.
Consistency : the extent to which the brand over time performing in accordance with the promises. Which makes what is promised.
Candor : a term that refers to values such as sincerity, authenticity and honesty. The ways in which these values are expressed (eg to communicate the way) count.
Concern : This is going to be more emotional aspects that embody commitment: empathy, tolerance, care (for the environment).
Connection : The extent to which a consumer for his / her personal values and goals reflected see in the brand.
The Values Institute speaks of a trust journey . It can also be visualized as a pyramid, with competence and consistency - as rational factors - form the basis. The middle layer consists of candor and concern. These are more emotional factors. Connection, after all, is the highest value and forms the top of the pyramid.
And let connection are just now mainly made by people. Even when trust is therefore concerned with the making of the personal contact, which acts to reinforce the connection. To earn the full confidence of consumers, must perform organizations at all levels.
industry Scores
Over the past three years we have to Samré asked questions from our customers panel on the extent to which consumers trust organizations. Every six months is a representative group of 1,200 to 1,800 Dutch interviewed for a trust mark ( net trust rating ) concerning seven sectors. For example, how much faith do you currently have in the insurance company where you have closed most insurance?
The NTS is asked out on a 11-point scale from 0 (no confidence) to 10 (complete confidence). The actual score is then calculated by the percentage that distrust (score 0 to 5) has a pulling off of the percentage of that trust (score 8 to 10). Over the past three years show trust scores in seven sectors were as follows:
supermarkets
Supermarkets have the highest trust; this we also saw the net promoter score - and customer effort score measurements. Earlier we noted here that it is often supermarkets are scoring high in competitions as the most customer-friendly company in the Netherlands . Personal contact, the extent to which supermarkets fulfill the promise and maybe we make the fierce competition that the industry is doing well.
The trend is even positive. Supermarkets are relatively rare in the news with negative news and if so (eg chocolate or flop chicken), it is also fairly often taken direct action. The central place of the customer is central to grocery stores, it seems.
Banks
Banks come in second place. For banks is that consumers in general, the bank still confident, but overall confidence in the sector layer is. Looking at the last 3 years we see that confidence from the second half of 2014 incurs a dent. This has to do with the publication of various reorganizations and various interest scandals?
The first quarters of 2016 again show a slight recovery, which still is not sure if this continues, since in recent months has been regularly again negatively tinged new, both in their own country but also internationally . Integrity is seen as improvement.
insurers
The same picture is broadly visible to the insurance industry and for banks. Where banks, however, show a recovery in the first half of 2016, lowered confidence further away in the insurers.
Transparency is an improvement. There is little confidence in pension companies and the Trust Compass 2015 shows that 3 in 10 Dutch has no confidence in insurers. The question is how this develops, considering the reports on the efforts of insurers with respect to physiotherapy and rising rates.
home Stores
Trust in online retailers shows a clear downward trend. Despite that sales continue to rise , the confidence drops. Possible causes for the uncertainty about supplies and all issues surrounding payments . There are home shopping in recent weeks have negative note in the news and is something that has been playing longer. The quality and reliability of reviews has impact , as well as data integrity .
In an industry that is growing so fast, everyone wants to make it, so there is 'less' trustworthy companies. These have a negative image of the entire industry and that is reflected in confidence. The major parties are good for each other, but the long tail?
Utility
Energy companies make 2013 a positive image seen through the first half of 2015, then the confidence falls again to the level of 2013. Uncertainty about the green character of the companies can play a role here as possible.
Noteworthy are the results of this international study showing that energy consumers are indeed satisfied with the products and services of providers but have little confidence in the organizations.
municipal government
Municipalities showed a fairly consistent picture in 2013 and 2014 but saw confidence decline the last quarters of 2015. The fact that the national government increasingly outsources tasks to municipalities, leads us to increasingly as citizens with local government. Or citizens certainly see through , is questionable.
telcos
Telecom companies were in 2014 engaged in a rise in confidence. In recent years, it is fairly stable. Traditionally, telecom operators are not very good at, especially by opaque rates, product information and subscription forms.
The handling of personal data is a sensitive issue . A focus on simplicity and transparency seems to bear fruit and lead to a higher confidence.
What's next?
What now? The NTS actually add value to your organization? In previous blog posts we asked questions about the sustainability of NPS and there will be more and more resistance to NPS. Nevertheless, many marketers love this "holistic" KPI.
The customer effort score is also on the rise, particularly in the area of online services and in customer service (all touch). Obviously, because it is an ' actionable ' KPI - leads to many practical improvements insight - especially with a deepening demand.
Is there still room for trust and KPI? We think so, please refer to this blog post and the following framework:
Trust as KPI has a relationship with satisfaction and relates to emotional customer experience . Moreover, it is a real customer-oriented KPIs and their most organizations use there is usually very little.
At least as important as gathering confidence scores are insights from the corresponding floor question. Why you score as an organization high, low or average in terms of customer trust? That customer feedback is crucial to take concrete steps for improvement.
And putting the right steps seem still plenty of opportunities to stand out from many competitors. A great opportunity, right?
