Spotted Wombat

A whopping 78% of 26,000 people surveyed* said that amongst all advertising, customer recommendations were the most credible in making purchasing decisions. The bottom line is that customers need to trust businesses and businesses need customers to trust them.

Building trust

What can you do to build trust and manage your reputation? Here are 3 simple ways that you can get started:

Step 1: Satisfied customers

Always do good business. Be honest and ethical in your dealings with prospective and current customers. If you can’t help them, say so and either provide them with relevant information or point them in the right direction. Create great products, deliver great customer service and you’ll gain satisfied customers who’ll come back to you – and who’ll tell others about you.

Step 2: Fix problems

Think of problems as opportunities to create customer loyalty. Most advertising today over-promises and under-delivers. Seize the opportunity and show your customer that you stand by your product or service and guarantee the integrity of your business. If you solve the problem quickly, you’ll end up with a loyal and happy customer.

Step 3: Start building an online reputation

Provide fresh and relevant content to your customers and engage with people. Capture customer feedback on your website, or link your site to third party sites that have customer reviews about your business. Ask your customers to participate. Yes, you risk getting a few negative comments, but again, use this as an opportunity to reply and offer to put things straight and stand by your services. A few well-handled negative comments amongst many positive comments will build credibility and can be used as a valuable trust based marketing tool.

*Global Nielsen (2007): Survey of 26,486 Internet users in 47 markets. http://asiapacific.acnielsen.com/news/20071002.shtml