Trust as a Metric: How to Measure Trust to Build Better Brands
Trust is the emotional heartbeat of successful brands. More than just a simple KPI, trust shapes brand loyalty and drives consumer decisions by engaging our intuitive, fast-thinking System 1 brain. While many brands focus on appearing “trustworthy,” the real power lies in understanding and measuring the emotion of trust itself. At The Rational Heart, we specialize in helping brands tap into this nuanced emotion to forge stronger connections and create lasting impact.
Why Trust Matters in Branding
In the realm of branding, trust serves as a powerful System 1 belief that directly shapes decision-making. For industries like financial services and insurance, where promises, not products, are sold, trust is the foundation of success. Think about it: brands like First Trust Bank emphasize trust in their very names because they recognize its undeniable importance.
Trust doesn’t just build loyalty; it cements advocacy and fuels retention. According to the 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer, 88% of consumers say they stay loyal to brands they trust, and 74% recommend them to others. At The Rational Heart, we see trust as more than a transactional tool, it’s an emotional bond that can transform relationships and drive business outcomes.
For example, consider trust as it relates to frequency of visitation for an international retailer, whose business is driven by frequently returning customers. Here the more frequently a customer visits, from less than monthly, to up to daily visits, the more Trust and even Admiration in the brand they hold. That is to say, the brand does not just need customers to say they trust it, they need them to feel a deep, more intense trust. And in return, this deep trust is reflected in more frequent visits to their stores.
The Complexity of Trust
Trust is an intricate emotion, influenced by its strength, intensity, and emotional triggers. Traditional approaches to measuring trust often fall short, relying on simplistic affirmations like, “Is this a brand you can trust?” Such methods fail to capture trusts’ rich depth.
Trust resides in our System 1 brain, where decisions are fast, intuitive, and emotion-driven. This is why cognitive measures, which appeal to System 2’s slower, analytical thinking, often miss the mark. At The Rational Heart, we know that understanding trust means stepping into the emotional realm where it thrives, not just asking if people “think” they trust a brand, but exploring whether they “feel” it.
How to Measure Trust
Trust is a critical KPI for brands aiming to deepen emotional connections. Yet, not all measurement tools are created equal. Consider this: ask someone to show you the face of anger, and they’ll grimace. Ask for joy, and you’ll get a bright smile. But ask for the face of trust, and you’ll likely get blank stares. Trust isn’t visible; it’s felt. That’s why traditional tools like facial coding fail to capture its essence.
At The Rational Heart, we take a different approach. By tapping into System 1 beliefs, we measure the strength and intensity of trust in ways others can’t. Our methods reveal not just whether trust exists but how deeply it resonates, offering insights that are actionable and transformative for brands.
The Benefits of Measuring Trust with The Rational Heart
Measuring trust unlocks opportunities to strengthen brand strategies and build emotional loyalty. Trust, when combined with joy, forms the foundation of brand love. However, brands often face one of two challenges: an abundance of joy but a lack of trust, or strong trust but insufficient joy.
At The Rational Heart, we help brands identify and address these imbalances. Take, for example, a recent client study. This client is looking to build its audience connection to it through Brand Love. Looking at the building blocks of Love, Joy and Trust, we see a large disparity in the intensity of these emotions felt for the brand. The audience feels more intense Joy in response to the brand, however, the majority of its Trust lies in low intensity Acceptance. From this data we see that in order to build more Brand Love, the brand will need to focus on intensifying Trust among the audience.
Using this approach ensures that brands don’t just analyze trust but actively feel and foster it, transforming customer relationships and driving long-term success. We can tell you whether your customers are feeling low-intensity acceptance, mid-intensity trust, or high-intensity admiration, and advise you on how best to message to each of those groups.
Beyond understanding the specifics of the Trust your audience feels in your brand, measuring Trust at such detail also has the benefit of helping brands build even more strategic emotional connections. That is because, as we saw above, Trust is a basic building block emotion for many emotions marketers seek to build with their audiences. So beyond understanding Love, Trust is a core emotion to Curiosity, which is the combination of Trust and Surprise. Or Confidence, the combination of Trust and Anticipation
Actionable Insights for Measuring Trust
If you’re ready to integrate Trust measurement into your brand strategy, here are some actionable steps:
Leverage System 1 Tools: Use methods designed to capture intuitive, emotional responses rather than surface-level affirmations.
Understand Drivers of Trust: Pinpoint what correlates with trust, such as reliability, security, and authenticity.
Refine Your Messaging: Use trust data to craft messages that resonate emotionally, emphasizing your brand’s authenticity and empathy.
Balance Joy and Trust: Address gaps between joy and trust to create a balanced emotional connection that fosters brand love.
At The Rational Heart, our tool and expertise are here to guide you through this process, ensuring that trust measurement leads to actionable insights and meaningful outcomes.
Building a Better Brand
Trust is a measurable emotion that shapes brand loyalty and drives consumer decisions. By recognizing trust as an emotional KPI rooted in System 1 thinking, brands can go beyond surface-level metrics and uncover what truly matters to their customers.
At The Rational Heart, we specialize in measuring trust in its purest form, as an emotion. By integrating our methods into your strategy, you can build stronger emotional connections, enhance loyalty, and gain a competitive edge. Ready to take the next step? Let The Rational Heart help you measure trust and build a better brand.
At The Rational Heart, we understand that emotions are at the core of successful business strategies. Consumers make decisions influenced by both logic and emotion. By quantifying emotional responses through our proprietary behavioral economics approach, we provide your business with a strategic advantage. Trust in The Rational Heart to turn emotional insights into impactful business strategies. Contact us today to discover how we can help your business thrive!