Recent research out of the UK indicates online peer reviews are the most trusted source of information in choosing a holiday package.

This is consistent with evidence from sources like the Edelman Trust Barometer and Data Monitor’s research on trust in the marketplace yet it is a more generalize consumer behavior. Why? Because other customers’ values are more likely to align with ours. When they discuss their experience they put it in a context that has meaning and value to us.

Marketing, however, is increasingly seen as self-serving hype. What can marketing do? Shift their focus from selling “things” to promoting the experiential value—from the customers’ perspective. A recent billboard promoting Birkenstock shoes makes the point. A picture of a comfortable looking shoe was accompanied by the following message. “They adapt to your feet, not the other way around.”

Of course, saying so doesn’t make it so. Marketing needs a deliberate strategy for building trust.
 
For more insights on this, download “Customer Trust and Loyalty,” a free paper from The Whetstone Edge, LLC (www.TheWhetstoneEdge.com/papers/customertrust.pdf).
 

Posted by John Todor on Friday, February 16th, 2007 at 2:50 pm.