How to Build a Brand Customers Trust

The last thing you want is for your customers to have trust issues. Trust begins long before a purchase is made, before a customer scrolls through a product range – even before they’ve read a review. 

A lot of it is subconscious, and happens as soon as someone first encounters your branding. When they visit your website, take in your visuals, and read your copy, you leave a lasting impression. A brand will often be trusted because it feels consistent, established, and authentic. Usually, it’ll have a recognisable something, that’s really the sum of a lot of things working together. 

If you want to make sure that your brand inspires trust in potential customers, then clarity is key. Your brand must know who it serves, what it stands for, and how it appears in the world. This clarity will inform every interaction – not just advertising, but with website copy and even the tone of voice in the customer support line. When customers can sense this pervading tone and consistency through every level of interaction, they’re far more likely to trust the brand. 

So, without any further ado, let’s jump into the specifics on how you can build a brand that customers trust. 

Creating a Clear Identity

A trustworthy brand always expresses itself honestly. The process of getting there should always start by defining your brand’s values. And no, not in a lazy corporate way where these values will only wind up paying lip service to broad, unspecific, positive vibes. I mean genuine values that, if you’re ever at a crossroads, can help guide your decision-making. This will also keep all employees on the same page about the brand and its mission – it can also help increase their sense of purpose and help to motivate them. 

This can even extend to the visual language of your branding. The colours, typography, and imagery of your brand should mirror the emotional experience that you want to create. Light, cohesive aesthetics create a warmer, more approachable ambience, while more minimalist,  monochrome visuals with bold typography can signify professionalism. Again, the most important thing here is consistency. When all of the elements of your branding feel like they belong together, customers will feel more assured. 

Consistency = Comfort

Speaking of consistency, as your reputation grows, so will the trust that customers place in your brand, but even established brands need to make sure that they’re giving customers a consistent experience. 

That’s because every time someone interacts with your brand, they are subconsciously assessing it, figuring out whether it lines up with their initial expectations or whether it even lines up with itself. 

This is why consistency needs to extend to every single touchpoint. Social media posts, email communications, product quality, and customer service all need to operate at the same standard and with the same personality, creating a sense of harmony, which makes the brand feel trustworthy. 

Even the smallest, most minute details matter. How you respond to an inquiry, the tone of packaging and packaging inserts, and the time it takes to respond to complaints all come together and tell customers that your brand pays attention to the details, and that attention builds trust. 

Social Proof and Building a Community

When we’re buying something for the first time, we’ve been trained to pay extra close attention to the opinions of others. That’s why positive reviews, testimonials and UGC (user-generated content) reassure first-time buyers that your brand delivers on its promises. 

On top of that, building a community around the brand will further bolster this trust. By encouraging users to share their own experiences and to engage with your content (particularly on socials), you can create a sense of shared identity among the customer base, which can, in turn, become a further extension of your brand that you don’t need to pay for. 

Trustworthy Marketing Examples

Xylem

The water infrastructure giant known for its clean water projects and ultrapure water utilises professional, authoritative branding with clean, clear visuals that reflect its products and services. 

Surreal

The cereal brand uses tongue-in-cheek branding and loud, vibrant visuals to stand out in a highly competitive market, where so many customers already have their favourites and really need to trust something new to give it a try. 

Brewdog

Now a major player in the European beverages market, Brewdog actually built most of its momentum by fostering a sense of community using social media, email newsletters, and IRL meet-ups. 

Conclusion

As I said earlier, your branding will create a lasting impression on buyers, and you want that impression to be positive by evoking a sense of trust and reassurance. If you have clear values, maintain consistency across channels, and encourage users to leave positive reviews (or even create your own community), you can create a brand that people feel they can rely on. 

_

Amy Jones is a freelance health and wellness writer from Manchester UK. She loves researching and writing about health topics, as well as keeping up to date with the latest health news and eco-friendly brands. Her passion for health and wellness stems from her innate desire to educate people on how to properly take care of their bodies, spot any early signs of illness and take the best preventative methods. When not writing, you can find her taking long walks in the countryside with her dog, listening to groundbreaking podcasts or browsing her nearest bookstore.