How to Build an Omnichannel Strategy That Drives Customer Trust

How to Build an Omnichannel Strategy That Drives Customer Trust

It’s no secret that consumers demand greater transparency, better communications, and personalized customer service from the brands they love. Companies that prioritize the customer experience–by balancing both data security with the advancements of personalization–win customer trust by the droves.

Unfortunately, most companies struggle to build a foundation of trust with customers.

Nearly 80% of B2C leaders believe customers have somewhat or very high trust in their company’s brand, but only 52% of consumers feel somewhat or very high trust for the brands they purchased or used. To address this gap, technical leaders should aim to design and embed trust throughout the entirety of the omnichannel experience. With this, they’ll meet (and exceed!) customer’s needs.

In this blog you’ll learn:

• Four things customers want from brands they trust
• The four components of customer trust
• How to build an omnichannel strategy that drives trust and loyalty

For a deeper understanding of omnichannel and customer trust, download our newest eBook: The Executive Leader’s Guide to Customer Trust.

Four things customers want from brands they trust

Customers want brands to follow through with their promises. They want greater transparency of what companies do with their personal data and control over how it’s used.

Additionally:

1. Trust is built through consistent engagement. Customers want to feel trust not just in the interactions they have with brands, but throughout their customer lifecycle. This is all about consistency of omnichannel experience, rather than one-offs. This effort is cross-functional and involves different teams, (marketing, sales, merchandising, IT, product and engineering, supply chain, etc) not just customer service.
2. Trust = ROI. Customers don’t trust brands with their personal data, unless it’s used to enhance services and offerings. Customers reward brands that treat data with respect and use it to better their experiences. What’s more, 68% of customers will spend more with the brands they trust.
3. Treat customers fairly. Three out of four consumers say that the most important factors in building trust are quality products/services and fair prices. This is back-to-the-basics for companies who struggle with insight into what consumers want from them. Afterall, in any relationship, honesty and fairness are the building blocks to loyalty.
4. Better, speedier customer service. Customers want their issues resolved quickly, they want to speak to a live person, and they want it to be easy to find information they need. Companies that focus on making it easier for consumers to do business either face to face or by building human connections into their omnichannel strategies, will find the repeat business their bottom lines crave.

So how can technical leaders start building trust within their omnichannel orchestration? The key is in the four drivers of trust.

The key components of building customer trust

There are four key components to building customer trust and when used effectively, companies will win over and retain loyal, happy customers who will willingly spread the word.

These are:

1. Humanity: Customers want the expediency of talking to a live person when they have a problem they need to resolve. When doing business with you, customers implicitly ask the question “do you even really care about me?” Businesses that offer human touchpoints, empathy, and genuine care for customers reap the rewards of customer loyalty.
2. Transparency: Transparency directly impacts consumer trust, and brands can earn their customers’ confidence by clearly communicating how they use data to build better customer experiences. For example, when a customer fills out a subscription form that asks for their phone number, you should clearly communicate and give them the choice of subscribing to SMS alerts or marketing messages.
3. Capability: When customers purchase a product or service, they want to make sure what they receive meets their expectations. Customers want to make sure their purchase is the best value for their money.
4. Reliability: This is where brands build consistency and dependability. Reliability shows brand longevity, as customers fall back on businesses who consistently deliver on their promises. With this component, customers trust that the product or service they receive will deliver on what was promised.

How to build an omnichannel strategy that drives trust and loyalty

To build trust throughout the customer journey, technical leaders should think through their communications channels and their orchestration. Which channels work best with which trust component and how can companies deliver these consistently through their communications?

Here are a few ways to get started:

Show you care with voice calls        

Voice is the #1 channel for customer service and it offers the immediacy users want from brands. Take Twilio customer MercadoLibre. As the company scaled, it found it needed to expand its customer service channels outside of chat.

The seamless and easy integration of Twilio Programmable Voice within MercadoLibre’s CRM gives support agents immediate access to the customer’s question, profile, and call controls all within the same browser interface.

Now, with specific customer information in hand, agents can instantly respond to questions, facilitate a transaction, or route a call to an expert agent or seller to make the sales experience easier and faster.

Showcase your brand’s intent with SMS

SMS is a high engagement channel, with a 98% open rate and a 45% response rate. SMS messaging provides both a human touchpoint and establishes transparency in how brands handle user data. By following best practices, companies exhibit both customer consent and compliance with regulations.

The need to improve the customer experience with direct communications prompted Panera Bread to look to SMS as a seamless, consistent channel of communication across website and mobile app orders.

Twilio’s Programmable Messaging was cross-functionally vetted by the technology, business, and digital experience groups, who agreed to adopt it quickly.

“Implementing Twilio was an easy lift from our perspective,” says Raj Anbalagan, SVP of Digital Technology and Innovation. “We were able to realize our vision for improved customer experience very quickly.”

As a result, Panera Bread saw SMS enabled at 2,000+ locations to enhance customer engagement and 49% of sales through digital channels in Q1 2022.

Build trusted relationships with Email

When it comes to ROI, email has a proven return on investment of $36 for every dollar spent. It is a valuable communications channel for businesses as major components of trust can be delivered through a brand’s email strategy.  Email can communicate a brand’s transparency much like SMS, but it can also deliver capability and reliability (which signal brand competence.)

Twilio’s SenGrid Email API powers Klaviyo’s multi-channel marketing platform, enabling brands to curate experiences for their customers. When retailers launch new campaigns, they can select which sending channel they prefer. The combination of SMS and Email is the most powerful play, particularly for abandoned cart reminders or a welcome series.

Build a human connection with video

Video solidifies human connections with customers. Consumers want to feel authentically connected (even in our digital world) and video is one of the best ways to achieve that.

Optimized video experiences are extremely important in building virtual environments that make a lasting impression. For brands that want to personalize and extend their brand experience, Twilio Video adds a layer of immersive customization that sets them apart from the competition.

As we found with wellness and fitness brand Barry's Bootcamp, the quality of their virtual solution needed to match the energy brought on by their in-person classes. The ability to customize their customer’s environment and create better person-to-person workouts, extend their brand experiences, and increased their connections to customers. As a result Barry’s saw a 6x increase in their membership rate and 3x increase in retention.

Build customer trust into multi-channel journeys

For companies to build customer trust, they must remember that trust is built across journeys, not just interactions. Each touchpoint in a customer’s omnichannel journey should be used as a way to deliver brand value.

Lauren has more than 10 years of digital marketing and editorial experience. She has a journalistic approach to writing, providing audiences with educational and informative customer engagement insights. When Lauren is not writing, she is usually chasing after her lively two-year-old. She can be reached at lpearson(at)twilio.com.