When talking about trust in the context of business those of us in business tend to think in terms of big themes such as integrity, honesty and transparency. If asked to describe a ‘trusted’ organisation we might reply it is one with a purpose beyond profit; treats its customers, employees and suppliers fairly; pays its fair share of taxes; and walks the walk when it comes to corporate social responsibility.

 

In short, we conjure up a paragon of corporate virtue akin to Chaucer’s idealised (and perhaps satirical) description of the perfect medieval knight.

 

No brand would survive long if it set out to cheat and exploit and, of course, ideals are worthy aspirations to work towards. But, when we listen to how our customers talk about trust in the context of their experience of a brand, we find that they often do so in far more prosaic language.

 

For customers, trust means not having to think too hard about choosing a brand because they feel confident in the outcome of that choice. Such confidence, if sustained, leads to choice becoming a habit - which is a pretty good definition of customer loyalty.

 

But, where does this confidence come from?

 

Quite simply from the boring, day-to-day stuff hidden within the weeds of the customer experience. Are there seemingly trivial aspects which in fact contribute to an erosion of trust? Are your policies and processes designed for the brand’s benefit rather than the customers? Are you unwittingly making it difficult to be a customer?

 

Conversely, are there things already enhancing customer trust that you are not even aware of?

 

It is at this ‘MicroTrust’ level that any customer experience can be optimised and the beauty of this approach is that in can be achieved with often minimal cost and effort. Once you know how.