Why You Should Focus on Building Trust With Your Consumers in the COVID-19 Era

As businesses find ways to pivot to survive the pandemic, many are scrambling to both attract and retain consumers during this time. Because so many people are still staying at home or limiting their social exposures due to COVID-19, it’s harder than ever to really connect with new or existing customers or clients. However, there are ways to help build trust within consumers, even from a distance.

Focusing on Your ‘Why’ Will Help You Better Connect With Consumers

How you communicate with your audience during uncertain times like these will make all the difference in your business.

“One thing we recommend, especially in this environment … [is] to lead and include your messages around your brand and your reasons to believe in what you do and why you do it, as opposed to just asking people to buy,” said Drew Patrick, owner and president of Michigan Fields and CEO of Skidmore Studio.

He noted that, while marketing and conversion messages are important and have their place, they shouldn’t be the only way you connect with your audience.

“You can't forget to have … 60% of your messaging be reasons to believe in why you do what you do,” he said. “Whether it's consumer or B2B, it applies to both.”

Maintaining Relationships With Your Suppliers Will Ensure a Loyal Customer Base

Yvette Jenkins, founder of Love Travels Imports, stated that a good part of her business is about people and maintaining those business relationships.

“I think that has been a really key thing as we've navigated these unchartered waters,” Jenkins said. “We had built these trusted relationships with the artists and groups [we work with], and a big part of our passion is to make sure that these people have income.”

“Technology really made a huge difference in how we were able to work with them,” she added, noting that using tools like Whatsapp has helped her quickly communicate, share information and talk internationally without any issues or chargers.

However, because they weren’t considered essential workers in their areas, some of her suppliers were greatly impacted by the shutdown. As a result, “I had to be able to work with one group, [and] if they couldn't do things, be able to be flexible and work with another group,” she said.

“I was just really blessed … with the sense of community that my customers have because they have bought into this as well,” Jenkins said. “We had a lot of community goodwill, and I think that is what at least has helped us so far [to] deal with these kinds of things.”