Creating Trust Improves Marketing

In business, as in any human endeavor, trust is the basis of a long term relationship. As marketers, it is our job to develop and maintain strong and positive relationships with customers. All the hard work we do in terms of branding is essentially to create a level of trust with customers.

In the April 28th issue of the Wall Street Journal, a study was presented that discusses a chemical named Oxytocin, that is believed to trigger trust in humans. And the trigger to the release of Oxytocin in humans is trust. So according to the article, when you trust someone and exhibit trusting behaviors, such trust will be rewarded with trust in return.

For marketers, the idea means that if we exhibit trust behavior towards customers, they will have a release of the “trust molecule” and be inclined to trust in return.
An example might be the offering of rate comparison data on the Progressive Insurance web site. By trusting the shopper with rate information, the potential customer is inclined to build up a level of trust with Progressive. This trust may even be enough to overcome a small rate difference that favors a competitor.

Experiments were cited in the article dealing with the release of oxytocin during moments of trust. You may wish to consider your own experiments in this regard and to review the trust elements of your marketing activities.

Jh
May 5, 2012