Building Trust from the Customer's Perspective

This is the final blog describing the research of Professors Halliburton and Poenaru from ESCP Europe. As a result of their research where they interviewed 2000 customers in the US and UK over a 3 year period, they asked the customers what they would recommend as ways of building trust. Their responses fell neatly into three categories. The responses are listed in order of the number of responses in each of the categories.

1. Improve communications. There were 568 responses that fell into this category. This category includes communication itself in terms of quality and clarity as well as communication transparency.

2. Provide "customer care" or a sense of being "looked after". There were 438 responses that fell into this category.

3. Ensure a high level of competency and professional conduct from employees. There were 241 responses that fell into this category.

There were a number of other recommendations but with many fewer responses. They include:
1. getting the service right
2. admit mistakes and solve them fast
3. provide efficient services
4. improve security
5. reward loyalty more for existing customers.

The bottom line is that there are a number of lessons that can be taken from this research. Here are a few that seem most important:

1. Get your product or service right!
2. Ensure high standards for front-line staff
3. Admit mistakes, apologize and fix them!
4. Improve communications across the board.

This might not be news to anyone. But now we have some research that seems to back up those experiential evidence we have been using to make decisions.