Over the past ten years, trust hasn't just climbed the ladder of consumer values; it's practically pole-vaulted to the top.
Thanks to the wild world of social media and influencers, the never-ending drama of politics, and the growing chorus demanding real action on sustainability (side-eye to those businesses pretending to be green), trust is now the make-or-break for brands. And let's not forget the AI revolution – as tech gets smarter, consumers are demanding more than just innovation. They want transparency, authenticity, and a bit of real talk. In this digital age, if you're not keeping it 100, you're not keeping your customers.
Now, everyone knows that predictions are hard. But sometimes it’s even harder to resist the temptation. So, we’re going to make a prediction: this year, the issue of trust (particularly online) will become more pertinent than ever.
Not just in relation to the everyday things we do online, like shopping or banking, but trust in the people and institutions that govern our societies, too.
This year will continue to be dominated by the US presidential election. The past two such elections were hotbeds of online campaigning. Social media was an important tool for engaging with voters, news organisations, and campaign teams. Sadly, it was also used to sow discontent and disinformation – phrases like ‘fake news’ and ‘post-truth era’ became part of everyday life.
More than three dozen countries, with a total population of around four billion people, will hold a major election in 2024. According to a 2021 survey from the OECD, only around 40% of people trust their national governments. The same survey found that levels of trust in government among younger people are even lower.
Whether or not you subscribe to the view that democracy is under threat, it’s reasonable to assume that trust is about to come under fire – from all directions.
Beyond the political arena
As much as we now take things like ecommerce and banking apps for granted, trust is the absolute foundation of the online economy. Whether we’re talking about the physical or the digital, business or personal, from the political realm to where you choose to buy your lunch, we’re all looking for the same thing. A reason to trust.
But according to Wired: “Bots are polluting the internet. Fake online users make up as much as 40% of all web traffic."
On social media platforms, the blue tick became synonymous with verification, although some of the shine may have worn off that recently. More broadly, the use of HTTPS along with TLS/SSL certificates to show a website is using up to date encryption, has helped consumers feel confident about online shopping. Privacy statements, cookie usage details, data protection regulation – you name it, there is a lot of great work that’s been done to make it possible for consumers to verify who they are dealing with.
The problems of fakery, however, persist. Like some dreadful, digital version of Whack-a-Mole, almost as soon as one avenue is closed off to them, those who seek to trick, trap, and generally try the patience of consumers online, find other ways to pop up when least expected.
Openness and transparency
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill has now (as of January 2024) reached the committee stage in the House of Lords and is expected to enter the statute books before the end of the year.
If and when it is passed, this new Act will, the government says: “Ensure that consumers and traders continue to benefit from reviews that represent a genuine experience, while stamping out the purchase and sales of fake reviews, and ensuring firms take an appropriate level of responsibility for reviews on their websites.”
A separate report from the UK Department for Business & Trade suggests that: “For all ecommerce platforms widely used by UK consumers, we estimate that 11% to 15% of all reviews for (consumer electronics, home and kitchen, sports and outdoors) are fake.”
Put simply, to stay on the right side of consumer law, it’s in everyone’s interests to start getting this stuff right sooner rather than later. That means we all need to be able to verify that the opinions and information we’re being fed can be safely consumed.
That applies just as much if you’re a marketing manager trying not to waste money advertising to bots, or a shopper relying on reviews from so-called ‘shoppers like you’ as part of your decision-making process.
If your business isn’t currently being robust about something as simple as cracking down on fake reviews, it’s not too late to make an addition to your list of 2024 objectives.
Start by examining your current reviews strategy and try looking at it through the eyes of a brand-new customer. How recent are your reviews? Are they easy to access and easy to understand? Is it possible to filter or refine them? And is it abundantly clear that those reviews were left by verified customers? We’ve created a handy guide on the importance of understanding consumer behaviour for business insights which might be worth a quick read too.
Helping people find trustworthy information is one of the things we do best at Feefo. It’s also one of the things we’re proudest of. If that sounds like something that might help your customer reviews strategy run like clockwork, why not drop us a line?
