By Murray Classen, Account Director
Trust is foundational to business success, and direct mail outperforms other channels in driving consumer choice, according to new research published by Marketreach. The report, The Trust Factor, has been endorsed by the Advertising Association and includes a foreword from noted journalist Emily Maitlis.
‘Without trust, no relationships are possible, either personally or in the commercial world,’ the report begins, noting that trust directly drives 13% of consumer consideration of brands and is a major influence on brand usage and loyalty. The report then outlines the eight pillars of trust in order of importance as 1) Reliability (2) Reciprocity (3) Aligned Interests (4) Stake (5) Familiarity (6) Fame (7) Frequency of Communication and (8) Tenure.
The research was conducted through a rigorous, multi-stage methodology, including literature review, expert interviews, an ethnographic study of 20 consumers and a nationally representative study of 4,000 UK adults measuring 125 potential trust attributes.
In her foreword, Maitlis quotes the US commentator Thomas Friedman in describing trust as ‘the only legal performance-enhancing drug’. But as the research notes, brand trust is also a two-way street; 60% of consumers will stop using brands that break their trust. Says Maitlis: ‘If the Uber lets you down, if the eBay package doesn’t arrive, if the seatbelt jams or the restaurant gives you food poisoning, then our trust is shaken, broken – sometimes destroyed.’
That is why it is essential for brands to communicate with consumers in the most effective way. For advertising and other communications to be effective, the channel choice and the figurehead delivering it must both align with brand and audience. The research finds that the success of a campaign depends on trust being delivered by the messenger (52%) and the medium it is delivered in (40%). With those in place, the final 8% of impact is down to the power of communications to deliver an advertising message that stands out, confirming what we have always known, advertising alone cannot fix and untrusted brand.
Using conjoint analysis to understand consumer preferences, the report finds that direct mail has more than twice the impact on trust of the next closest channel. In the research, 54% of respondents say that they ‘completely’ or ‘somewhat’ trust the channel – followed by TV adverts (51%), app notifications (51%), emails (49%) and press adverts (48%), with social media lagging behind (35%). This shows the enduring ability of physical media to cut through in a world of AI-driven noise, as recently highlighted by Foresight Factory.
Cameron Russell, Head of Marketing at Marketreach, says: ‘Trust drives brand choice — and Marketreach’s latest report proves it. It reveals that when consumers trust a brand, 92% take action and 74% spend more. With direct mail emerging as the most trusted channel, this report offers brands a strategic framework – including the eight pillars of trust – to build trust and unlock commercial growth.’
The full report, including details of Marketreach’s new Trust Explorer tool, which helps brands to pinpoint the trust factors and channels they should focus on most, can be downloaded here.
