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Trust: the Essential Product you Can't See

Trust: the Essential Product you Can't See

The first of three essentials for building world-leading and engaging products

Cliff Oguzie
January 27, 2025

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A Year ago, I leased a new car. I waited 2 years to be able to get it, and was adamant I’d look after it more carefully than any other car I had ever owned. I cleaned the car regularly, in fact more regularly than any other car. I even cleaned it by hand, which I could never be bothered to do with my previous vehicles.

On a cold and foggy November night, after watching a firework display, I walked my family back to the car ready to set off home. Unfortunately in my eagerness to get out of the car park, I was distracted by the fog and turned into a low wall, causing major damage to the new car after only 5 months ownership.

Naturally I got my insurance company involved and they took care of the majority of the cost to repair the car and the wall. When it came time to renew my insurance, I shopped around and even though my current insurer was slightly more expensive than the cheaper provider, I decided to stick with the same insurer, why?

The online claim process was user friendly and easy to navigate.
They paid out and supported me when I needed them.
I felt reassured they would do the same again.

The insurer proved themselves to me when I needed them to and as a result gained my trust and my repeat business.

Trust is one of three core attributes I believe are necessary for an organization or business to deliver products that are “sticky” and addictive for their users. Over the next three posts I’ll explore each of them, starting of course with building trust…

Concepts

So, what are the areas organizations need to focus on to build trust with their customers and users?

Transparency

Consumers and users of your products want to know that you are open and honest. They want to feel assured that the service they’re buying from you is what they expected, and if it isn’t, they want to at least know why and what you will do about it. Candour builds trust!

Crisis management

Things will go wrong at some point, and when they do, users want to know that you’re in control and taking care of it on their behalf. They want fast, regular communication and ownership.

They also want to know that you have some skin in the game, for example if your business has not delivered on a promised service, they will expect some kind of recompense.

In an ideal world, things should not go wrong at all, so the less this happens, the better, but when it does, it’s an opportunity to show why you are better than the rest.

Consistency and familiarity

Customers tend to want reassurance about the service they are receiving each time they use it. This is part of the success of leading consumer chains such as fast food restaurants, supermarkets, coffee houses etc. McDonalds or Starbucks are great examples.

McDonald’s does not provide the best burgers and Starbucks don’t make the best coffee, but both offer a consistent customer experience and quality across every chain. This familiarity causes consumers to consistently return, as humans are creatures of habit.

Social proof

If you’re thinking of trying a new restaurant or purchasing a jacket from a boutique retailer’s website for the first time, it helps to know that someone you know has tried the service and would recommend them. Similarly, looking at online reviews is now a common part of decision making when buying a product.

Ethics

When a company aligns with your views, you’re more likely to buy from them. Patagonia is a great example, given it’s ownership structure.

Patagonia is 2% owned by a the Patagonia Purpose Trust, which represents all voting shares. The trust upholds the company’s mission and values and approves key decisions.

Holdfast Collective owns the remaining 98% of the company’s stock. This is a non-profit organization that uses Patagonia’s profits to combat climate change and protect the environment.

Whilst Patagonia is a for-profit company, it’s profits are used for social good. Such company structures attract a certain type of consumer, one who is willing to pay more for high quality products with a purposeful mission. It also builds significant trust in the brand and it’s values.

People that deliver projects, programs, initiatives etc aren’t just delivering features, we’re delivering vehicles for trust.

Building a trustworthy reputation is a tough challenge for any organization, made even tougher when organizations scale, having to provide the same high quality user experience to a growing user group.

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Where Trust Works

An Apple a Day Keeps Cyber Crime at Bay

Consumer electronics giant Apple has an ecosystem in itself that’s very sticky built around services, which is increasingly becoming its quiet growth engine. Before consumers get to that point though, they must have enough faith that Apple is worth them spending for extra services.

Apple has built a reputation around safety and security of your data. This shift is not accidental and being cynical, I don’t think it’s because Apple truly cares about securing our data.

The reason Apple pays so much emphasis on keeping consumer data private, is because they know deep down, that once consumers feel comfortable giving a company access to their data, that company can monetise it one way or another.

Similar to my insurance company example, consumers want reassurance knowing that Apple will look after their data such as payment details, and if things were to go wrong, Apple will take ownership.

Apple Pay, requires users to share all related bank account and credit card details for Apple to manage whenever they want to make payments on line and in-person using Apple Watches and iPhones. There was initial skepticism but consumers now trust Apple with all their payment details.

Research by Capital One Shopping indicates “in 2024, there are an estimated 61.3 million Apple Pay users in the United States; projections indicate that over 82 million consumer will use Apple Pay by 2030.”

PayPal’s Consistent Execution has Earned Trust

Similar to Apple, PayPal was one of the fintech pioneers of the past few decades and has endured the test of time through having security and customer safety at its “core”.

They pride themselves on protecting their customer from bad actors, to the point where 54% of PayPal customers rank security as one of their top 10 values.

When I want to make an online payment, the primary options I would rather chose are Apple Pay or PayPal. If I were to choose a preference, it’s usually Apple Pay but only because it’s usually slightly faster to get to the checkout. That said, I actually feel more confident in PayPal’s ability to secure my money, as they have proven for decades they can be trusted with such data.

PayPal processed $1.5 trillion in total payment volume in 2023. Doing this volume regularly without any notable processing issues in the media is enough to build trust in it’s brand and abilities.

Amazon Remains Obsessed with Customers

I once received a delivery from Amazon whilst I was away, so the Amazon delivery driver left a card through our door saying that the parcel was left in the garden. When I returned home, I searched high and low for the parcel for about 20 mins and eventually declared the parcel wasn’t there.

I called Amazon, who surprisingly responded quickly with minimal wait times. After I explained my situation to the customer service agent, I expected them to rearrange delivery of my parcel, however instead, the team member told me that whilst they believed the parcel had been delivered, they would give me a full reimbursement and I was free to reorder if I wanted.

I was happy with the response and accepted the refund. The next day, while clearing the children’s playhouse in the garden, I noticed a parcel tucked away with my name on it. Needless to say, the parcel had actually been delivered and was kept safe and dry in the wooden playhouse.

I did the right thing by calling up Amazon to tell them I had found my parcel and no longer needed the refund, however, the operator thanked me for my honesty and decided to uphold the refund whilst also allowing me to keep the items in the parcel.

I never forgot that experience, which increased my trust and confidence in Amazon as a company who appears to remain obsessed with delivering for their customers.

Before you go, have a think about what you and your team can do to build trust with your users and customers, such that retention and growth become a reality. I know there are ideas, features or tasks in your backlog waiting to be prioritised that will do just that 😉.

What the Headlines Say

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