Famous4Blog
2007 Issue 5 - Reputation, Reputation, Reputation - Who can we trust?
As highlighted in a CBI (Confederation of British Industry) report, ‘the purest treasure mortal times afford is spotless reputation’ but how hard is it to achieve?
One of the most in-depth surveys of its kind has been carried out this year on the influences of trust and reputation in buying behaviour for Marketing. Based on the views of over 2,400 adults in the UK, it was backed by BT, RBS, EDF Energy, London Underground and Orange. It stated that just 57% of consumers are inclined to trust companies with resistance to marketing at its peak, with only 6% admitting to trusting any form of advertising.
Highlights
- Boots is Britain's most trusted brand due to its longevity and familiarity with an 85% trust rating with Google is hot on its heels at 84%, Microsoft at 69% and cosmetics retailer The Body Shop at 66%
- Telecoms came under scrutiny due to hidden costs and outsourcing to foreign call centres with Ofcom reporting a record number of complaints because of organisations failing to be transparent in marketing or selling telephony services
- Financial services companies were trusted only by a third of consumers
- Technology overall scored highly with consumers believing that technology improves their lives and were willing to discard worries over data protection
- Men vs. women? Middle-aged men were most likely to mistrust companies until they actively earned their trust whereas 71% of women trusted companies until there was a problem