Key business strategies for building customer trust

Key business takeaways:

• Maintain consistency with your products or services so customers trust the type of quality you’ll provide with every experience
• Be receptive to feedback to improve how all customers perceive your business
• Adopt a customer-focused mindset that puts them at the forefront of your business decisions, from packaging to marketing

Developing strong and lasting relationships with customers is a crucial aspect of any small business. A major part of this is building trust. After surveying business leaders and consumers, PwC found that “49% of consumers have started or increased purchases from a company because they trust it, and… 44% have stopped buying from a company due to a lack of trust.”

From telling your authentic story to sharing positive reviews, there are a number of ways you can create a trustworthy foundation with your customers. Hear from four industry leaders as they discuss the focuses and strategies that have worked for each of their businesses, ranging from a local beauty studio to a household name brand. Plus they each share a final piece of advice for fellow business leaders.  

Creating a customer-focused program to drive loyalty

Allison Bentley, GNC
senior director of merchandising initiatives and consumer insights

Key insights: Allison Bentley, senior director of merchandising initiatives and consumer insights for GNC, is in charge of the company shift from being product focused to customer focused. Being customer focused includes thinking about customers first when making all decisions—from products to experiences—with the goal of ultimately creating satisfaction and loyalty. Bentley said that over time, customer needs and preferences have shifted and the key to their success has been adapting.

In Allison’s words: “Our challenge in particular is that consumer trends and preferences are constantly changing when it comes to health and wellness and evolving mostly for the good through education that’s out there. This is a challenge, but also it allows us to really focus on the transparency of our products, the efficaciousness of them and innovation, which really allows us to be seen as a trusted resource to provide health and wellness solutions. A key way of doing this is listening to them. It is bringing them along and creating this amazing opportunity to connect with them and help them in their health and wellness journey.”

Allison’s trust-building tip: “One key thing is making sure that the education and knowledge about the products or services you’re providing [customers] are easily findable, whether that be on your online website or your mobile app. [Consider] how they’re going to be engaging with it and [make] sure it’s user-friendly.”

Appealing to a broader audience without abandoning core values

Meredith Ruskin, Kona Brewing Company
vice president of marketing

Key insights: Currently, Kona is viewed as more of a niche brand for heavy beer drinkers, making other prospective audiences less likely to try the product. Meredith wants to make small changes in packaging and marketing that will show more people that Kona is a product that they might enjoy. But it’s important to retain the same elements that regular customers recognize and love, so Meredith said the main colors and ideas of the brand are here to stay.

“When thinking about expansion, we’re really thinking about how do we create broader appeal and make the brand more accessible but stay true to its values? What we know today is that even though people love this beer, a lot of people don’t want to try it because they think it’s a craft brand. So we are making very intentional choices to show people that this brand can transcend the world of craft and really be a go-to beer for anyone. We are evolving the packaging from some of the more intricate illustrated styles that you often see in craft some to something more modern, more sleek, easier to decode, more representative of a lifestyle.”

Meredith’s trust-building tip: “My tip is collaboration—not just with your customers, but I’d say it starts with your people. You’re never going to have every answer yourself on how to relate to every single customer. But if you’re able to build bridges and collaborate with partners in different local areas, you’re going to be so much stronger by knowing who to ask for help.”

Embracing the customer-is-always-right mentality

Alli Webb, Drybar
Founder

Key insights: To make customers happy, Alli said she makes sure to acknowledge critical reviews and communicate to make things right. Through running her former business, Drybar, and her current one, Squeeze, she said she has learned to listen to what customers want and adapt the business model accordingly. Her key tools for loyalty and customer satisfaction are transparency, communication, and extra care for her staff.

“We would call customers all the time that had a bad experience. Even when you would get a really bad review online that was public or on Yelp, I always wanted the opportunity to write and say, ‘We are so sorry. We messed up. We dropped the ball. We want to make this right.’ Just having that public acknowledgement, of course, you’re always acknowledging the good, but also acknowledging the bad and showing that humility as a business owner… just being open to the feedback and being just open to fixing it and showing some humility online, I think goes a long, long way with your other customers who also might not have had a great experience but want that public acknowledgement as well.”

Alli’s trust-building tip: “I think it’s transparency. It’s staying connected, responding to as much as you can, networking, going to as many things as you can, staying top of mind for people. Talk to every person and anybody who will talk to you about your business. You never know who you’re going to tell that’s going to know somebody.”

Being an inclusive space where diversity is celebrated

Alex Bradberry, The Sparkle Bar
Owner

Key insights: Alex makes it a priority to give customers a consistently great experience so they trust her makeup studio for quality services—and may even spread the word to their family and friends. Additionally, to attract new customers, she said The Sparkle Bar engages with local businesses that have similar target audiences. In Alex’s experience, people who get their makeup done may also be interested in buying pressed juices, so these types of businesses come together to support each other and share clientele. Because of these business strategies for referrals, The Sparkle Bar is able to thrive without a large marketing budget.

“Once you have that client in the door, it’s super important to delight them, and to the point where they’re going to evangelize on your behalf. For us, the referral is the highest compliment that we can ever receive. To create experiences that are super positive or people are wanting to come back and tell their friends, and to the point where their friends think of us for the next time they have something special. When you don’t have a huge marketing budget or PR or a lot to spend on SEO, you are required to get collaborative and really create awesome experiences that are consistent throughout.”

Alex’s trust-building tip: “Wear your brand, tell everyone who will listen what you’re doing, be willing to do a lot of community givebacks as well. Being a part of networking groups and building community among other entrepreneurs and business owners like yourself is super important. It’s really important to collaborate with others and to be willing to take on the feedback so that you can continue to grow.”

For more insights, watch their session below from Yelp’s 2023 Women in Business Summit—available on-demand along with all other sessions from the day.