Elaborate on one strategy your startup is using to earn and keep customer trust?
To help you adopt the best approaches to earn and keep customer trust in your startup business, we asked successful startup founders and business owners this question for their best insights. From avoiding strategies just meant to gain attention to including testimonials on all service or product pages, there are several ways to effectively engage your startup customers for them to feel your genuineness and give you their trust and loyalty.
Here are 15 ways these startup leaders earn and keep their customers’ trust:
- Avoid Strategies Just Meant to Gain Attention
- Stop Creating Mediocre Products
- Use Interactive Blogging
- Know Your Product in Depth
- Have a Clear Return Policy
- Give Customers Some Kickback
- Help Customers Resolve Issues Related to Your Products and Services.
- Engage Your Audience With the Story of Your Brand
- Send Feedback Email on Recent Purchases
- Hire Expertise With Evidence-Based Knowledge
- Add a Personalized Touch to Your Services
- Offer Live Chat Support
- Respond in 1 to 2 Business Days
- Build a Customer-Centric Business
- Include Testimonials on All Service Or Product Pages
Avoid Strategies Just Meant to Gain Attention
Avoiding hacks and attention-grabbing strategies is a priority for us. Always remember that your company’s marketing strategy is a reflection of the quality of your goods and services. Using deceptive practices like clickbait or overpromising just to get site visitors is a surefire way to lose their trust and their business. Do your best to be forthright about what you can provide and to ensure that your services at least live up to the standards your customers have come to expect. You may build a solid basis for a loyal client base in the long run if you earn your consumers’ trust in the beginning.
Billy Parker, Gift Delivery
Stop Creating Mediocre Products
It’s been seen several times where companies get too confident in their products, then start cutting corners. This is meant to reduce cost and make more money while the consumer suffers. However, this strategy is harmful to both brand and customers, and it’s short lived. Soon your clients catch up and leave for another and much better brand.
The solution is simple: do not cut corners and compromise the quality of what you offer.
If profit margins are low, then you might look into your marketing, other vendors, or even raising your prices. Do not choose to go the cheaper route because it can come back to haunt you.
Andrei Vasilescu, DontPayFull
Use Interactive Blogging
One element we employ to earn and keep customer trust is our interactive blog. With new products, we try to create blog posts to help customers understand the features, components, etc. in a straightforward manner. Comments are always encouraged, and our team is standing by to answer any questions. We pride ourselves on responding timely and being as honest and transparent as possible to provide the best customer experience.
Kevin Callahan, Flatline Van Co.
Know Your Product in Depth
Besides offering an amazing product or service, a way to gain and keep your customers’ service is to be an expert in the industry.
Knowing in-depth about not only your product but how it can help your customers, the difference between yours and the competitors can make a big impact.
Additionally, there’s no need to say what you sell is the only option. For every industry, it’s almost guaranteed that you can find something similar and with great quality. With that said, being an expert about the industry, in general, is the best place to be when it comes to growing your brand and your audience.
Yanna Berman, Urban Mamaz
Have a Clear Return Policy
In order to gain customer trust, your company should have a return policy that is both fair to the customer and feasible for your business. A great way to do this is by offering free returns. This sends a message that you are confident in your product and want to provide the best possible experience for your customers. Not only does this give you an opportunity to turn a one-time customer into a lifelong fan, but it also allows you to collect data about why the product was returned and improve your products or services accordingly.
Todd Saunders, BIG Safety
Give Customers Some Kickback
Giving the customer a little kickback is the best way to establish a positive rapport and continue to build that relationship. This can come in different forms: a free e-book as a lead magnet, a first-time buyer’s discount, or a free item at checkout. Customer trust is especially important for startups that don’t have the luxury of relying on their brand reputation, and earning it is simpler than you think. If you’ve got high-quality products, but no one is yet willing to take a gamble on buying from an unknown start-up, sweetening the deal is a great way to get people in the door. It’s a tried and true technique for a reason.
Sara Alshamsi, Big Heart Toys
Help Customers Resolve Issues Related to Your Products and Services
One strategy my startup is using to earn and keep customer trust is helping customers in solving problems related to the product or service. Helping customers solve difficulties through superior customer service is a crucial step in establishing and sustaining customer confidence. Be sure you commit to solving any problems customers may be experiencing with your goods or services. You have to try to fix their issues immediately, and be courteous and sympathetic.
Multi-channel communication between customers and service reps is a key component of great customer service. It makes sure that customer care personnel provide prompt, consistent responses and that they develop creative solutions for every problem. Customers greatly value customer service professionals’ kind and sympathetic demeanors. A positive customer service experience can boost customer trust and increase the likelihood that they will interact favorably with your business in the future.
Raviraj Hegde, Donorbox
Engage Your Audience With the Story of Your Brand
Tell an engaging story around your brand and engage with your audience. Audiences crave making emotional connections, even when it comes to brands, and creative storytelling has the power to engage with them. Creating a story around your brand that consumers can relate to helps them better connect with your content and trust your brand. Telling a compelling story will engage consumers and drive business.
Zachary Hamed, Clay
Send Feedback Email on Recent Purchases
To earn and keep customer trust is best achieved by sending feedback emails on recent purchases. Customers are able to convey what does and doesn’t work for them in regards to our business. The insight gives us the information needed to improve our methods to ensure customer satisfaction. A company that implements the needs of its clientele will develop longer business customer relations.
Chris Coote, California Honey Vapes
Hire Expertise With Evidence-Based Knowledge
My firm hires and manages executive talent across numerous industries and functions, many of which are beyond the immediate experience of our staff. But for the Private Equity clients that make up 85% of our business, trust is born of expertise. For this reason, our evidence-based, tech-supported institutional knowledge is paramount. With it, our team of former management consultants and PhDs thrive in a mentorship model that extends our expertise far beyond the first-hand knowledge of any one person.
As a result, we’re well known as the “brainy” firm that gets it right the first time. And we keep our Private Equity clients coming back with our demonstrated expertise built on repeatable processes and institutional memory.
Tony Topoleski, ECA Partners
Add a Personalized Touch to Your Services
Every person availing the services of a company needs full dedication and care from the organization. Hence our mantra is to give everyone their desired attention and care. Regular talks with the clients, discussions on their product, and making out ways feasible for them builds their trust in us. Giving them top-notch results as per their standard keeps them coming to us for their work.
Furthermore, the policy of after-work assistance and regular updates brings them back to us for business and upscale results. To build a base of clients, the company should work for the people by their needs and the results they aim for. It gives the customers a sense of belonging and commitment to their work.
Alexander Reid, TriviaWhizz
Offer Live Chat Support
With Reditus we offer Live Chat support to everyone; website visitors, free users and paid users. When someone has a question, an issue or wants to book a call they can easily open up the chat widget. Our live chat gives our company a face, and builds trust that way with (potential) clients. As they know they know they can always contact us quickly, it gives them a ‘safe’ feeling to start using us. Next to building trust it will help you to receive more customer feedback and increase conversions from trial to paid (for software companies).
Joran Hofman, Reditus
Respond in 1 to 2 Business Days
One strategy we use to gain customer trust is making sure we respond in a quick and concise manner. When customers file a complaint or have an inquiry, we try to respond to them within 1-2 business days. The closer we get to responding in 1 business day the better. This helps the customer know we are reliable and that we are on top of their needs.
Ian Heyman, MDP
Build a Customer-Centric Business
Since day 1, and even when there were only 3 people in the company, we’ve been obsessed with customer success. I remember having the Intercom app installed on my phone and answering customer inquiries at 3 am just to help them navigate our platform. It was really exhausting, but we’re lucky to experience since the very beginning that going the extra mile with your early users will eventually pay off with trust and more revenue, of course. And today, obsessing with customer success is embedded in our core company values and one of our top priorities.
Katerina Bojkov, EmbedSocial
Include Testimonials on All Service Or Product Pages
Social proof continues to be an increasingly important factor influencing the decision-making process. Adding genuine testimonials on your high-value service and product pages remind visitors that other customers were able to successfully achieve the same benefits they are looking for by working alongside your company.
Kim Burdman, ZoeMazing Creatives
