Speaking to Trust in B2B messaging

Communicating trust in B2B sales and marketing messages requires showing, not telling. Here’s one way to do it.

In many B2B sectors, Trust, or Trustworthiness, sits near the top of market’s vendor evaluation matrix. Given that trust is earned over time presents a barrier to prospects switching to vendors that they don’t have experience with. When vendors say Trust me, at best the market views it as marketing-speak, at worst it conjures up images of unsavory car salesmen.

At a high level trust equates to delivering what’s promised. This promise consists of a mix of discrete rational and emotional elements (e.g., ability to understand the customer’s need, expertise to provide the right solution, on-time delivery, confidentiality, financial stability, makes me feel valued, has my best interests in mind, etc.). The emotional dimensions need to be experienced to be credible. However, using the rational elements in value propositions and messages begins to build trust in the marketplace – it shows that the vendor understands what is important to customers and prospects.

Finding the right elements to emphasize becomes the challenge. Primary research offers different approaches that help marketers understand how to build trust with prospects. Quantitative research uses statistical analysis to measure the impact of specific attributes in cultivating trust. Qualitative research explores the personal dimensions of trust in B2B relationships. The following provides a high-level overview of how primary research can help identify the core drivers of trust.

Quantitative research

Statistical approaches such as regression analysis can measure the strength of the relationship between trust and specific service/product attributes, e.g. to what degree does billing clarity drive trust and how does its influence compare to other factors such as on-time delivery, or security.

The first step in regression analysis is to generate a list of attributes that likely contribute to trust; the more specific the attributes are, the better. Most B2B marketers start their lists with the intuitive ones such on-time delivery, product quality, no hidden fees, etc. But it is important to include factors along the customer journey that may seem small, but can have a big impact on trust such as accurate billing, things work the way they were described in the sales process, consistent account reps, does not go over my head to win business, etc. Some B2B marketers can generate diverse and comprehensive lists based on the team’s collective knowledge about the market, others find conducting a small set of customer interviews helpful.

The next step is to conduct a survey with customers/prospects to measure how the company performs across the discrete elements related to trust and overall trustworthiness. A regression analysis of the data will identify the strength of the correlations. A key benefit of regression is that it derives predictors of trust by exploring how customers view their vendors and relationships, rather than through importance ratings (what customers say is important and what drives their perceptions in the real world may be different). Once the core drivers of trust are identified they can be leveraged in sales and marketing communications.

Even if a B2B marketing team does not have the budget to conduct survey research with customers and prospects, going through the process of systematically identifying the possible drivers of trust can help the organization. It provides a framework for the team to conduct an internal assessment of how the organization performs across these dimensions and identify any critical gaps that should be addressed.

Qualitative research

Qualitative research approaches such as open-ended, in-depth interviews (IDIs) with customers and prospects can provide fodder for the personal narratives around trust. IDIs are a good methodology to understand how individuals develop opinions and to explore the emotional side of business decisions. In IDIs, individuals are asked to talk about experiences such as: When a vendor exceeded their expectations, let them down, provided peace-of-mind in a crisis, how these things affected them personally, etc. Their responses provide insights into the characteristics of vendors that customers deem trustworthy and their emotional connection to those traits. B2B marketers can use these themes, tonality, and vocabulary to develop value propositions and messages that resonate with the market and speak to them in their own words.

You can trust us because…

At the end of the day real trust is earned through repeated successful customer interactions. However, B2B vendors can credibly position themselves as trustworthy, by demonstrating that they understand what it takes to earn a potential customer’s trust.