Chapter 3

Building trust with verified customer communications

Red isometric design of a smartphone with check marks and settings gear icons.
Red isometric design of a smartphone with check marks and settings gear icons.

Customer communications are experiencing a massive trust deficit. A staggering 94% of global consumers have security concerns with communications, with their top fears including phishing , malicious links, and spam. 

Businesses must take action to win back customer trust. Customers want to be able to verify if a communication is legitimate by checking the company’s official app/website (46%), seeing clear branding and logos (43%), and by having two-way verification (42%).

But businesses can do even more to put their customers at ease. To start, make your identity obvious. Instead of sending communications from random numbers or addresses, use branded channel tools that show your logo and name immediately.

What consumers fear most about branded communications

These tools include:

  • Email

    Use BIMI to show your official logo in the inbox

  • Text Messaging

    Use RCS to provide a "Verified" sender profile and rich branding compared to generic SMS.

  • WhatsApp

    Get the Verified Badge (Green Tick) and set up a professional profile.

  • Voice calling

    Use Branded Calling so your company name shows up on the screen, not just a random number.

Tip:

Consistency matters. Tools like Twilio’s Sticky Sender ensure your customers get texts or voice calls from the same number every time, so they don't have to wonder why a new number is reaching out. 

By mapping a specific long code or short code to a specific recipient, you move from being a faceless sender to a trusted contact. 

Consumers on what would make them trust business communications 

The hard truth about voice calls

Voice is currently the hardest channel for building trust. Only 29% of consumers say they trust phone calls from brands, compared to 45% for email and 44% for text. This lack of trust is a performance killer: half of all consumers simply won't answer the phone if they don't recognize the number.

If you aren't using Branded Calling to identify yourself before the customer even picks up, you’re likely losing half your audience before you can even say "hello."

Illustration of a red rotary dial telephone from a side angle.
Illustration of a red rotary dial telephone from a side angle.

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