How To Measure Customer Trust 📊

Hello and welcome to another week of What's CEXy. Apologies that this week's edition is a little late - an almighty 🐞 decided to attack my immune system over the weekend 🥴

Our joke was a HUGE success in the last edition of the newsletter, so here we go again!

• Q: Why was 6 scared of 7?

• A: Because 7 8 9 😂

And now onto the #CEXy content for this week... 🥁🥁 CUSTOMER TRUST.

😴 Sound Boring? If you want one good reason to learn more about customer trust, check out the graph at the bottom of this newsletter. More than 50% of customers say that it will become a major factor in their purchasing decisions in the next 2 years.

 So Why Is Customer Trust So Important? 🤔

We all know that the digital age provides customers with more choice than ever. This choice allows customers to treat brands like commodities, shifting their allegiance to a new brand as soon as trust is lost.

For this reason, we would argue that establishing (and maintaing) customer trust is the single most important factor for sustaining a competitive advantage long-term.

Trust drives customer loyalty.

Customer loyalty leads to increased lifetime value (LTV) & customer referrals, ultimately creating a flywheel effect for your business. From the eyes of your customers, trust enhances their decision-making process, increases their advocacy, and establishes an emotional affinity to your brand. 

And as data privacy continues to be put under the spotlight, trusting a brand has become a substantial factor in the consumers purchase decision-making process!

But How Do You Measure Customer Trust? 📏

We've thought long and hard about this question and believe that the answer lies within KPMG's Six Customer Pillars. 

Customer trust is complex. It is transient in nature and cannot be measured by asking a simple question such as "Do you trust [XX company]?"

According to our research and personal experience working in the CX space for the last 10 years, we have found that customer trust can be measured using a combination of 5 different levers:

1. INTEGRITY 👊 - You do what you say you will

2. RESOLUTION ⏳ - You keep me informed until you resolve my issue

3. EFFORT 🥷 - You remove unnecessary obstacles so I can achieve my desired outcome

4. PERSONALISATION 🤝 - You don't make me repeat myself

5. EMPATHY 🤓 - You understand my needs // are a trusted advisor

By asking questions relating to the 5 levers mentioned above, a Customer Trust Index (CTI) between 0-100 can be formed. The CTI should be calculated as a weighted average* of each lever.

*Weighting could be according to the number of questions within each lever, or the level of significance that your business places on each lever.

Customer Trust Index (CTI): 10 Questions You Need to Ask

Below, we list the top 10 questions that you should ask customers in order to build your Customer Trust Index (CTI). By asking these questions, you will be able to better understand each lever of customer trust, allowing your business to quickly identify blindspots. These questions do not necessarily need to be asked in a single survey however it is important that you have a representation of each lever when building your  Customer Trust Index.

Ask questions on a 5-point or 7-point likert scale, from Strongly Disagree (1) - Strongly Agree (7).

Lever #1: Integrity 👊

• Q1: We always do what we say we will

• Q2: We always act with a customer first mindset

Lever #2: Resolution ⏳

• Q3: If we commit to a timeframe, we deliver to it

• Q4: We keep you adequately informed whenever you have an issue

Lever #3: Effort 🥷

• Q5: We make it easy for you to achieve your desired outcome

• Q6: You can easily get in contact with us

Lever #4: Personalisation 🤝

• Q7: We understand your history; you don't have to repeat yourself

• Q8: The content you receive from us is always relevant

Lever #5: Empathy 🤓

• Q9: You always feel comfortable coming to us for answers

• Q10: We always seem to understand your particular situation

• Q11: My account manager always cares about the situation [B2B Only]

Disclaimer: We understand that specific questions we are recommending above may not be entirely relevant to your organisation (e.g. B2B companies may want to ask a question around account managers) however the most important thing to consider when building your Customer Trust Index (CTI) is that you have questions which measure the 5 levers listed above. Questions could be asked across an array of different relationship & transactional surveys that your business currently sends.

If you would like assistance in setting up your Customer Trust Index (CTI) or have some general questions regarding the methodology, simply reply to this email!

Graph of the week 📈

UK Customer Satisfaction Index 2022 report highlights the factors which will be more important for consumers over the next 2 years. Interesting to see customer trust as an emerging factor ...