Trust in the business world means being comfortable and believing that what we buy will meet our expectations and goals. But trust is complicated, like all our emotions, everyone experiences trust differently. What we can all agree on though, is that having a person’s trust is a good thing for business. Just be sure to keep it as trust is much easier to break than gain. We can build trust through open communication, storytelling and honouring our commitments.
Do You Trust Me?
This article is to get you thinking. I don’t have all the answers, but I do have a lot of questions. So let’s dive into the topic of trust and explore the ways in which we can build it, use it and keep it.
Trust in the business world means being comfortable and believing that what we buy will meet our expectations and goals. Before making large purchases like hiring a logo designer or even choosing a project management tool we have to trust the seller or product. We tend to spend the next few days researching all we can about the product and its competitors to see which one we trust more. The larger the purchase, the more trust we need and the longer we take.
How do we build trust?
Honour Your Commitments:
One of the most important aspects of building trust is to follow through on your commitments. Don’t make promises you can’t keep, and do what you say you will do. When people know that you’re reliable, they’re more likely to trust you in the future.
Open Communication
Clear, concise communication is essential to building trust. The more detail and clarity you provide, the more realistic your promises will seem to others, which in turn makes it more likely that they’ll trust you to deliver.
Presentation
The visual aspect of your presentation can have a big impact on trust. People are often drawn to things that look and feel professional, and the overall mood of your presentation can also play a role.
Ease of Use
When a product or service is easy to use, it builds trust. People are more likely to trust something that’s intuitive and straightforward, which can help you build a strong reputation over time.
Show, Don’t Tell
In today’s fast-paced world, people are more likely to believe what they see than what they’re told. Showing others what you can do is a much more effective way to build trust than simply telling them.
Storytelling
Storytelling is a powerful tool for building trust. When you tell a story, you’re able to connect with others on an emotional level, and this connection can help build a strong foundation of trust. However, it’s important that the stories you tell are believable and backed up with evidence, otherwise, you risk losing trust.
Explaining the Process
When you explain the process behind what you do, you help others understand your intentions and build trust. This can be especially important when you’re trying to build trust with new clients or customers.
How do we break trust?
Dark Patterns and Forced Actions
Using deceptive tactics, such as dark patterns, to manipulate people into making a purchase can quickly break trust. People are much more likely to trust you if you’re transparent about your intentions and allow them to make an informed decision.
Lies
Lies, even small ones, can have a devastating effect on trust. People are quick to recognize when they’re being misled, and when they do, they’re unlikely to trust you in the future.
Clickbait
Over-promising and bending the truth in your marketing materials can lead to distrust. People are more likely to trust you when you’re straightforward and honest about what you can offer.
Misinformation
Sharing false or inaccurate information can also break trust. Even if your intentions were good, people will quickly lose trust in you if they find out that you were misinformed.
Do different people gauge trust differently?
Well, I think we start with a baseline expectation of a product or service and with each interaction our perception changes. We quickly judge them, which isn’t the best thing to do but it’s really hard not to – especially to a business where we feel we aren’t going to hurt any emotions. We judge them based on things like appearance and presentation before re-evaluating and looking deeper.
It’s when you go to a website to buy a product and you’re bombarded with a million pop-ups and once you found the tiny x hidden at the bottom you’re greeted with a page from the 90s that is ridden with spelling errors. You start to think you might not actually get the quality product you want, or at least in one piece.
You’ve actually lost trust in the company even though they haven’t done anything wrong. It’s actually your own perception of how they should present themselves that has caused the distrust. I know right, deep.
This means people have different levels of trust and the way it affects them is based on their previous experiences, both good and bad.
Imagine that you’ve started a conversation with someone you’ve never met before, and they suddenly ask you something personal. Your brain will do an instant calculation about how much information to tell them and what details to include – essentially, minimising your risk of vulnerability. The amount of information you’re comfortable sharing will depend on your past experiences.
To make it even more complex not everyone follows the same rules for gaining and losing trust. For example, flying around the world to some people would gain trust as you have gained knowledge and experience from your travels. In contrast, others would lose trust in you for unnecessarily adding to your carbon footprint at such a tipping point in our earth’s climate change. It all depends on your target audience and this is true down to the small details in the way brands present themselves. This is why branding is such a complex topic.
What does trust do for your business?
Trust in your business is one of the most important steps to take when it comes to drawing potential customers in and making the sale. Without trust, no matter how good your product or service might be, it can be difficult for people to make the decision to choose you over a competitor that they have more faith in. Building trust allows customers to feel more comfortable in choosing your business over your competition, and that you are the right choice for them.
An animated explainer video can be an incredibly powerful tool for quickly and effectively communicating the value of your product or service to customers. Through the use of high-quality visuals and a thoughtful eye for detail, an animated story can be crafted that resonates with customers in a short amount of time, giving them the assurance and trust they need to make an informed decision. Animation can also be used to drive home key points, making complex ideas more accessible and easy to understand.
How important is trust in conversion?
Trust is an essential element when it comes to conversion. It is about mitigating the risk that comes with making a decision or purchase. For example, if a customer was to buy a logo for only ten dollars, they would be more willing to do so if they trusted the seller to provide a product that meets their expectations. If the logo was of poor quality, it wouldn’t be much of a financial loss, and they could just try again. Trust is essential in this case in order to provide customers with the confidence to buy a product or service without worrying about the potential for disappointment.
An explainer video can be a great tool to help educate potential buyers about a product or service they are considering purchasing. By providing a clear and concise overview of what they are buying, they will have a much better understanding of the product, its features, and what they are and are not getting.
Trust In Animated Storytelling
Stories are perfect for building trust between people because they provide a way for us to connect with each other on an emotional level. When we hear stories, we can relate them to our own experiences, which helps us build empathy and understanding for one another. For this reason, it is important that the stories we tell be believable otherwise, we lose the connection that makes storytelling so powerful.
Animation is a great tool for telling stories because of its ability to bring characters and scenes alive, allowing us to create compelling visuals that bring us into the story like no other medium can. Animation can be abstract when the story is complex and more grounded in real life to make the story more relatable.
Trust In Animated Visuals
Our subconscious perception of quality has a profound effect on our ability to trust. It helps us to determine whether something is reliable and trustworthy, and it can leave us feeling confident in our decisions. Quality is often associated with a feeling of contentment or satisfaction, and when we perceive a product or service as high-quality, we tend to trust it more.
Animation can be an incredibly powerful tool to elevate the production quality of the user’s experience at that touch point. It serves as a visible signifier of the amount of attention to detail that you have put into your product and service. Quality animation is a great way to show your customers that you are serious about delivering a quality product or service.
So is it all worth it?
I’m a little biased, but yeah, it’s worth it.
In summary, trust is very important to your business and animation can be an incredibly powerful tool for quickly and effectively communicating the value of your product or service to customers.
Through the use of high-quality visuals and a thoughtful eye for detail, an animated story can be crafted that resonates with customers in a short amount of time, giving them the assurance and trust they need to make an informed decision.
Animation can also be used to drive home key points, making complex ideas more accessible and easy to understand. Quality animation is a great way to show your customers that you are serious about delivering a quality product or service. It serves as a visible signifier of the amount of attention to detail that you have put into your product and service, and it can help them to trust that your product or service is reliable and trustworthy.