What is trust? It’s the belief in the dependability and security of another person or entity. When you’ve built trust with your users, you’ve also built yourself a critical financial edge. But in the digital age, the old ways of building consumer trust no longer exist or are greatly diminished. New ways have emerged in the form of a fully integrated digital banking platform serving all devices.
What Users Want
Building trust involves anticipating what users want and then providing it. Your users want convenience, security, an intuitive platform and personalized service. Nothing creates trust and helps your credit union or digital bank gain users than fulfilling these demands consistently and seamlessly.
Things change. Users realize that. They also want good communication regarding changes, upgrades, and anything relating to the platform and their accounts. Building trust means consumers don’t worry about the integrity of the platform. They know it is as safe and reliable as possible.
Transparency
Transparency is absolutely essential. Without it, building trust becomes impossible. Research shows that consumers are most frustrated by companies “setting false expectations.” In other words, those companies misled their users, and that trust is broken for good.
Most users want assurance that their personal information is never sold. As the Harvard Business Review (HBR) points out, “a dark process of monetizing consumers’ digital lives that has quite simply backfired for companies.”
However, transparency is only possible when you have the data. Companies need quality data sources for analytics and business decisions. These same strong sources are shared with users, making personalization possible.
That means only accepting data to which the consumer has consented, not information acquired through third-party brokers. Let consumers know about their data rights – the majority are unaware of such rights. Provide a privacy policy for consumers written in plain English, so users can understand every aspect of how their data is used.
The ROI of Consumer Trust
In the digital age, consumer trust corresponds with corporate profits. Never underestimate the ROI of good consumer relations. As per McKinsey, it is known that personalization delivers between five to eight times the ROI on marketing spend. Sales increase by 10 percent and up.
Measuring ROI as it pertains to consumer trust requires changes to traditional methodology and metrics. The idea is always maximizing financial outcomes, but attaining these goals relates to customizing the user experience as much as possible. It means ridding your business of the pain points that turn consumers off. Eradicating those pain points through a suitable platform boosts ROI considerably.
Users must prove confident that they can use your platform at any time, no matter the volume on a particular day, and not worry about the system failing. Simply put, your platform must always focus on consumer needs to build consumer trust.
Protecting the Consumer
Consumer trust revolves around feeling secure, so state-of-the-art security plays a huge role in the trust-building process. Users must trust companies to protect their data. High-profile breaches at well-known companies and financial institutions make them only too aware of their data’s vulnerability.
For approximately 90% of users, data security is the most critical feature offered by a platform. When enhancements are made to the system, consumers should receive instant notification. Consumers must trust that data protection is always a priority.
At Lumin Digital, we know what your users want, as well as how you can provide it and build trust along the way. At every stage of the digital journey, you receive first-rate tech support. Your business cannot build trust with users unless there is complete faith in your platform.
Lumin Digital does not provide a “digital-first” solution, but a solution focusing on users and their needs, by way of innovative digital tools. Your users receive a customized experience unavailable elsewhere. It is the key to building consumer trust in the digital age.
Jane Meggitt’s work has appeared in dozens of publications, including USA Today, Zack’s, Financial Advisor, nj.com, The Houston Chronicle and The Nest. She is a graduate of New York University.
References:
- https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/pdf-47/accenture-trust-digital-age.pdf
- https://deloitte.wsj.com/cmo/2020/01/23/how-to-safeguard-trust-in-the-digital-age/
- https://hbr.org/2018/06/to-regain-consumers-trust-marketers-need-transparent-data-practices
- https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/personalizing-at-scale#
