In a post-truth era, most of us have become deficient in one critical area: trust. It’s effecting the way people look at leaders, how businesses approach consumers and even how we inherently feel about those around us. To understand people’s expectations and perceptions of trust in today’s world, Havas conducted a global study of 9,000 people in 24 markets, as part of its thought-leadership series, Prosumer Reports. Here’s what we learned:

Trust is one of our most important values

Think about it, our day-to-day lives are built on trust. Without the assurance that people and organizations, for the most part, are going to do what we expect of them, things would be chaotic, and nothing would get done.

Societies are built on it, too. Trust is the social glue that holds together communities, cultures, and countries. In fact, most of us would argue that a good barometer of a nation’s health is the extent to which its citizens trust one another.

In very few we trust

Because trust is so important, the fact that it’s increasingly lacking in our world has become arguably the biggest issue of our time.

And unfortunately, the situation doesn’t look like it’s getting any better. Whereas 77% of baby boomers said their inclination is to trust a person until proven wrong, just 61% of millennials said the same. One can’t help but wonder whether growing up alongside email phishers, magnanimous Nigerian “princes,” and Russian bots has had a lasting impact on this first generation of digital natives.

What we see from these findings is that our circles of trust are small indeed. Our system of trust has become broken and a new model of trust has emerged. In the past, people’s trust extended from those within close physical proximity (family, friends) to their wider communities and then even further outward to include groups with which they had something in common (race, ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, etc.). Today, this sense of connectedness does not appear to extend nearly so far. Our windows of trust are getting smaller.

Trust is at a tipping point

There was a period of time not too long ago when people seemed to be shifting their trust from experts to their peers. We believed that new horizontal business models like Uber, Airbnb, and Trip Advisor, would bring back trust because these services allowed us to source information and recommendations from ordinary people like ourselves. Recently, however, these new models have given us reasons to lose trust in them. Headlines about racism on the Airbnb platform or a couple finding a hidden camera in their rental. Horror stories of Lyft rides gone wrong. Rumors of businesses gaming the system on review platforms like Yelp and TripAdvisor. Instances like these have caused these models to lose some ground. The 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer verifies this shift. The report states that just 54% rated “a person like yourself” as very or extremely credible—down 6% from 2017.

If we are beginning to lose faith in our peers, we can just go back to trusting the authorities…right? Unfortunately, we won’t be moving right back to a vertical trust model because leaders that we deem worthy of trust are in dangerously short supply.

However, there has been some resurgence of experts as voices of authority. Again looking at Edelman’s Trust Barometer, we see that technical experts and academic experts have increased 4% in just one year in the share of people who consider them very/extremely credible. While trust in leadership is lacking, we are becoming more open to listening to the voices of those with verified expertise.

What this means for brands

1. Operate with transparency and amplify positive experiences

   Two-thirds of people cited transparency as key to a company’s ability to establish trust. Part of being transparent is admitting mistakes and being open about how they are being addressed. It’s fact that it takes 12 positive experiences to compensate for a single negative one. In the age of social media, it’s critical to handle issues that arise promptly and publicly. It’s also critical to look for ways to amplify and celebrate positive experiences.

2. Make use of the powerful voice of your employees

   When people are deciding how they feel about a company or brand, they pay close attention to what it’s employees have to say. When asked “whom do you trust most to honestly tell you how a company operates?” 60% of people in the study said it’s employees. Smart companies recognize the value of their employee evangelists, treat them accordingly, and make it easier for them to spread the good word.

3. Share your vision and bolster it with facts

   Knowing that today’s consumers inherently feel more distrustful, it’s important that your motives are clear to those who are unfamiliar with your brand. Today’s consumers want brands to build a brighter future in some way, whether that’s innovation or standing for something, and they demand factual evidence for how you’re doing it. Forty-four percent of people say that supporting causes is one good way for a company to build trust. It allows brands to broadcast their values and build meaningful connections with those who share them.

4. Get a little closer

   Just as people feel most strongly connected to those in close proximity to them, so, too, are they more apt to trust a company that is local. Companies can and should make efforts to connect with their local community but it doesn’t have to be limited to just physical proximity. In our view, the key to appealing to “local” sensibilities has less to do with distance or scale than with a company’s ability to establish a meaningful presence in people’s lives. Understanding your customer’s unique interests, wants and needs and relying on them to tell you what they want to see from your brand is a good place to start.

Learn more about the study and Havas’ global thought leadership series, Prosumer Reports here.

Source: Havas, Prosumer Report: The Future of Trust, December 2018