What does brand trust mean to you? In the past, this idea was tied to practical things — durability, safety, a consistent product. But today, it takes more than simply offering a high-quality good or service in order to secure a consumer’s confidence and loyalty. A basic level of excellence is a given. Instead, as recent marketing surveys have shown, more than ever before, brand trust is closely aligned with values. Edelman’s Brand Trust in 2020 report (recently highlighted in Marketing Brew) is full of stats that illustrate changing attitudes towards brands and indicate a craving for authenticity over out-of-reach aspiration. To wit: only 24% of U.S. respondents said that celebrities are credible spokespeople for brand trust, whereas 59% said they’d trust a “person like themselves.” Seventy percent of U.S. respondents said trusting a brand today (i.e. in the midst of a global pandemic) is more important to them than it was in the past.
The data from Valassis’ annual consumer intel report (recently featured on AdWeek) tells a similar story among U.S. shoppers. Forty-three percent of all consumers are more likely to purchase products from brands whose values align with theirs. Among younger generations, this is even more important — 47% of Gen Z and 55% of millennials are inclined to spend with like-minded brands. The survey found that social issues like sustainability and worker’s rights are more important to younger generations than older ones. The COVID-19 era has heightened inequality at every level of our country, and while finances are at the forefront purchases for many, shoppers are also more attuned to the social and environmental impact of what they choose to buy.
It’s notable that neither of these surveys touched on privacy, one of the most glaring issues digital brands are facing today. Last week’s Big Tech antitrust hearings with the CEOs of Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple all remotely conferencing in to face questions about data and privacy may have made the issue more visible in the short term. But right now, for many consumers (according to the Valassis survey, 70% of all consumers are “looking for ways to save”), accessibility and cost override concerns about privacy. Amazon, a brand that few trust but many have become dependent on, saw huge gains in the last quarter. With more and more retail moving online, collecting consumer data will become even easier.
As with the growing currency of social values among consumer brands, tech companies might soon need to demonstrate their willingness to be held accountable in order to grow their users. Given the nature of tech products, building trust will likely need to go beyond physical shifts like worker protections and into technical changes like revealing their algorithms. TikTok, arguably the most polarizing tech company among generations, (see: recent calls among government officials to ban the platform, or sell it to Microsoft) has already pledged to do this. In order to attract and retain younger users, tech brands will need to show that they, too, can be trusted.
