How to gain and maintain customer trust

Trust plays a key role in our lives. Human relationships are imbued with trust. You won't share your life with a person you are not sure about.

The same thing happens in business. It is consumer confidence that helps companies move forward. The purpose of building relationships of trust is making your customers loyal to your brand.

These days most of people are concerned about how their data are collected and stored. They will think a hundred times before giving information about themselves to a company. Moreover, every consumer had a bad experience with low-quality products or unfair performance of services at least once in life. In this regard, gaining trust becomes a complex and lengthy process that requires a special approach. After all, as soon as the buyer sees that he risks entering into a relationship with you, he will quit. According to Stephen MR Covey, trust is one of the essential elements of business, and the ability to create, preserve and restore trust is one of the most important skills today, inside and outside the office. When level of trust falls, the same thing happens, for example, with sales. Without trust business slows down and costs rise.

In this article we will tell you how to gain and maintain customer confidence.

Firstly, ask yourself 4 questions:

1. What is the reputation of your company?

Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist Alfred Nobel said: “A good reputation is more important than a clean shirt. Unlike reputation, the shirt can be washed”.

Try to remember, have you ever let your clients down? If so, what have you done to fix the situation and not make the same mistakes again? These days, when everyone can tell the world about your mistake openly, it's very important to take care of your reputation. Show that you are able to solve difficult issues quickly, admit your mistakes and correct them.

2. How do clients perceive your business?

Think, do people feel that you care about them sincerely and want to help? If consumers see you as a company that needs only profit, they are unlikely to come back to you. Or they will immediately refuse to cooperate. Nobody likes to be used.

3. What does your brand demonstrate?

In the era of rapidly changing wishes it is important to understand whether your brand is associated with high quality, improvements in your business field and the ability to predict the desires of customers. When you make statements about yourself, you should correspond to them. Show that you are achieving your goals in a trustworthy way.

4. Is your company associated with its results?

"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done," said the eminent poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

You have to show people that you keep your promises. If you are going to improve the quality of the product, or add a new delivery method, or cooperate with a new brand - do it! Customers are interested not only in your current results. They compare them to the past assuming what to expect from you in the future. Show consumers a visual history of your achievements. And people will advise your company to their friends with confidence.

Honest answers to these questions will help you understand what you are doing wrong and what you are missing in building a trusting relationship. Don't be the ones who talk a lot and don't do anything. After all, you can lose a client in an instant. And the cost of attracting a new one will be higher than keeping the old one.

There are 6 ways to gain the trust of your clients and not lose it:

1. Speak honestly who you are, what you offer, and how you run your business.

Nowadays every large company should have a high quality website to attract attention and show its best sides. Write about the company and the product in detail. Don't forget to include your contact details and information about yourself. Users are more likely to trust firms that do not hide the information.

Consumers also respect transparency in business. This way they feel comfortable and confident because they know that nothing is being hidden from them. Find out what information your clients value and provide them with it.

Altkraft is transparent to its customers and partners. We don’t hide anything. For example, every year we submit reports to Federal State Statistic Service. This information is available for everyone.

2. Help clients make their values a reality.

Consumers, when choosing a company, take into account lots of criteria. For example, how the product is produced, whether there is a team of professionals, what is the mission of the company and etc. Not the least role in this is played by the values that you transmit to the world. Such as:

• problems that you highlight and help to solve (for example, social, environmental),

• companies and organisations you work with,

• fair pay and good working conditions for your employees.

Customer confidence depends on how well your business helps consumers live up to their values.

When creating its products, Altkraft adheres to the following principles:

• solving real business problems;

• ensuring high speed and reliability of work;

• developing a clear and user-friendly interface;

• creating a scalable architecture.

According to Marketing Charts, only 20% of American buyers feel connected with their favorite brands. The remaining 80% believe that companies do not reflect their values.

3. Be involved with your customers, show participation.

Companies that provide high quality customer service are in great demand. Organizations demonstrate this attitude because they understand the needs, desires and motivation of customers. When a company respects the customer, it is possible to increase productivity, sales and loyalty by several times.

Altkraft treats its customers with reverence. We instantly respond to any requests by adapting the product to the needs of users.

4. Find out what people write about you on social networks.

Regularly monitor your product reviews. This will help you understand what you're doing right and what should be fixed.

For example, users are complaining about long responses from the technical service. Take note of this and improve your feedback by giving your staff the right assignment. Consumers will see that you take into account their wishes and they will continue working with you. Moreover, it will be a good incentive for your development.

As it happens, Altkraft does not need to track feedbacks about itself. We are constantly in touch with our customers in the chat. This allows us to solve problems in real time. Also users have an opportunity to influence our roadmap by taking part in platform development. In this way they get a product that is ideal for their tasks.

5. Test your product on yourself.

Follow your client's path. You want to convince people to stay with you. So you need to know the product that you are promoting. Try your product as a consumer to gain client experience. In this way you will discover the pros and cons and will be able to correct the situation if necessary.

Before releasing an update to the platform, Altkraft employees thoroughly check the result on themselves. This way they note the shortcomings and difficulties that customers may have and instantly fix the situation.

According to Marketing Charts, 94% of customers are likely to recommend the company with very good customer experience.

6. Thank customers for their trust

It may happen that you are too busy looking for new prospects and forget about existing clients. It is easy to predict that users will refuse the services of companies that do not remember them. Don’t forget to thank clients for their choice. Give promotional codes and personal discounts. By taking care of your client you increase their trust limit significantly .

Conclusion

When you extend trust to others, your work becomes effective. The truth is that you can influence trust: create, develop, distribute, and even restore it. Take our advice and do everything possible to reduce the number of losses. Thus, your speed will always be at the same level, and the costs will be minimal.