T
he anonymous quote that indicates
that trust takes years to build,
seconds to break, and forever
to repair, is something every business
enterprise must build into their brand
development plan. Customers are loyal
to brands they trust, and brands need to
make cognitive efforts to build this into
their brand culture, communication, and
code of practice.
keep the promises they make to customers.
In essence, customer expectations are
actually built on assurances made by
brands. When a brand steps out and
declares what it will do, when it will do it
and how it will do it, then customers are
taken on that and create it as their truth,
which then becomes the brand’s truth.
The currency of customer trust is priceless,
and serves to have brands navigate both
choppy and calm waters during the brand
life cycle, to emerge stronger. The converse
is also true in that, a breach of customer
trust shakes the very foundations upon
which brands are built, and can take a
lifetime of brand reassurance to regain
brand value. It is therefore imperative for brands
to make promises that they can keep.
Products need to live up to what they
are created, for and what their marketing
messages promise of them, and service
delivery needs to stick to what customers
are waiting for, based on communication
put out. Promise keeping is a central
aspect of trustworthiness, and without
trustworthiness, brands do not stand the
sustainability test of time.
The internal customer dynamics around
trust also have their weight in productivity
and efficiency gains. Trust reduces the void
created by unsubstantiated work place
grapevine that pre-occupies employees,
and creates a conducive work place
environment that lends itself to creativity
and focus, reduced talent attrition, and
solid dependability. Keeping promises elicits delight, and
exceeding customer expectations elicits
even more delight. Delighted customers
keep coming and tell others about
their delight with the brand without
prompting. There’s no magic to it, there’s
no mysterious solution. Building a
dynamic brand on customer trust involves
delivering on customer promises. Simple.
Brands need to consider three important
pillars when designing their brand
architecture to have customer trust at
the core, with trust as one of the main
customer experience non negotiables,
dotted across all touch-points within the
customer journey. The ‘Fine Print’ Fallacy
The Promise
The first pillar is to under promise and
over deliver. This cliché assertion if built
into all the brand touch points, cannot fail
to elicit customer trust. The main enemy
of customer trust involves inadequate
communication on the brand’s ‘when’
and ‘what’. Failure to deliver on time and
within the agreed framework, and failure
to deliver within the boundaries and
sanctity of the product expectation, is a
sure recipe for broken trust.
If a brand promises to do something, it
should; and if a service is promised within
a specific turnaround time or geography, it
needs to hold true. Specifications whether
tangible or intangible in nature, are taken
as obligations by customers and need to
be met.
Customer promises need to be delivered.
Promise keeping is part of brand building,
and businesses have a moral obligation to
36 MAL28/19 ISSUE
The second pillar is to do away with the so
called ‘fine print’ - loosely defined as part
of an agreement spelling out restrictions
and limitations often in small type or
obscure language, in order for the user
to gloss over and assent positively, whilst
providing protection for the supplier
should things go wrong.
When a brand is customer centric and has
the customer at the heart of all operations
from end to end, how does the element of
hidden messaging requiring customers to
‘read between the lines’ augur as a brand
principle? This would be akin to getting
into a relationship, with a hidden agenda
that is only disclosed when the smooth
sailing ride hits a bump.
Consumer Rights activists are more and
more championing the right to outward
and visible disclosure, and for customers
to demand in advance, scenario outcomes
should things go wrong.
The consumer protection act in this
country empowers customers to raise
issues concerning specifications that are
contrary to the agreed quality of goods
provided or services rendered. The act
provides consumers with the right to seek
legal redress if expectations are not met,
and to raise alarm when service delivery
either with regards to delays or to agreed
rectification is not met.
The key essence in the Consumer Act’s
tone and intention, is that there needs
to be agreement between consumers
and suppliers, and agreements must be
honored. Fine print does not in any way
constitute an agreement. It hinges on
the premise of win-lose that is deemed
an unfair practice, with one party
disadvantaged at the hands of the other.
There is the argument about a brands self-
preservation and ultimate protection, and
the brand’s legal team would for sure balk
at doing away with fine print. Customer
advocates would however counter this by
calling for fine print to be part and parcel
of the customer communication and
customer education process that enables
customers choose a product or service
willingly and fully informed.
Building a dynamic brand on customer trust
is achievable and strongly attaches itself to
the design and execution of internal and
external communication to commit to and
inculcate a culture of trust. Brands in their
endeavors to meet their strategic objectives
and deliver on their brand promises, need to
ensure that integrity is not just a nice-to-
have-value pasted on the wall for everyone
to see, but to have it run through the fiber
of the brand’s core being.
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