22

MARKETING WEEK 9 MAY 2013

CONSUMERS DISTRUST BRANDS THAT PRESENT INCONSISTENT SERVICE ACROSS THEIR OFFLINE AND ONLINE PLATFORMS

GAINING TRUST CAN BE A MATTER OF SURVIVAL

MINDI CHAHAL

Consumers are more cautious when they are online compared to how they behave offl ine when it comes to trusting and interacting with brands, according to a new study by Research Now.

Across the entire group of people it surveyed, 85 per cent are more likely to trust a brand if they are in one of its shops or other areas of the ‘offl ine world’, than when they are online, according to the study, which spoke to 2,500 regular users of social media in the UK, US and Australia.

Consistency is vital for brands as the study also fi nds that a third of people have noticed discrepancies between a brand’s online and offl ine image. Virgin, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Tesco and US retailers JC Penney and Target are cited as being inconsistent.

Research Now’s Mike Murray, head of project consultancy, believes that this builds distrust, especially when consumers are not getting the same experience online as offl ine.

“The main thing is about clarity and people did seem very disappointed if something wasn’t the same in-store than online,” he says.

People also prefer engaging with a brand in

person at an event or in store, rather than via its website; 65 per cent agree that offl ine interactions are more fulfi lling than those online.

Marketers concur. Sam Blunt, brand experience and digital controller at Kellogg’s believes a consistent brand image is vital. “It makes sense to integrate communications across the different touch-points.”

Kellogg’s created a Crunchy Nut ‘restaurant’ in several UK shopping centres where people were given the choice of seven dishes; sampling in supermarkets followed. Created with agency The Lounge Group, the push encouraged people to visit the brand’s Facebook page and Blunt says the campaign helped Kellogg’s connect the online and offl ine worlds. Post-campaign research shows increased levels of brand advocacy and integrity that carried through to online, where consumers were happy to tag themselves in photos the brand posted on social media sites.

Maxitone, which produces protein-based products for fi tness, also turned to experiential marketing to build trust and educate people in a sector that is often misunderstood.

Which do you trust more – a brand’s online image or offline image?

Have you noticed any discrepancies in the way brands present themselves online versus offline? A third of people say there are inconsistencies

67%

27%13%15%

68%32%

33%

55%45%

Brands represented accurately both online and offlineInconsistencies between online and offline representation

People with low use of social People with high use of social

Charts show that those who use social media more trust brands online

KEYTotal

73%87%85%

S H O P P E RB E H AV I O U R

. . . . .

BUILDING TRUST

MW_090513_p022_024 22 07/05/2013 16:58

23

MARKETING WEEK 9 MAY 2013

Trust is at the heart of the John Lewis brand so we really focus on ensuring our online communications mirror our shop service. We create trust by featuring our shop partners [its staff are called partners] as much as possible in online communications, for instance inspirational articles on johnlewis.com, online ratings and reviews and interactive Facebook sessions.

We are very aware that customers expect to be able to shop securely with us. As well as all the behind-the-scenes systems we have in place, we are clear about when customers are entering a secure part of the website, placing the VeriSign logo in a prominent position. We also have a slightly different look and feel to the checkout section of the site.

Rachel Swift.....Head of marketing

fashion and beautyJohn Lewis

The study says more people trust brands offl ine than online, so we have to work hard to make sure that when people use our websites to research and book, we instil that trust so the guest knows they are dealing with the brand owner and can rely on the fact that what we say will be delivered.

Travel is emotive: people save a lot of money to go away and social media and review sites help them to gain that trust and user expertise from other people. We use TripAdvisor on our website; consumers can see what others are saying about our hotels – it’s not doctored by us.

Individual preferences can dictate how people contact us. The online industry has evolved but there are still areas where people would rather contact the hotel direct to speak to a human.

Tim Wade.....Director of marketingand ecommerce Best Western Hotels

The activity saw Maxitone’s experiential agency Circle organise partners including LA Fitness, England Netball and Nike+ Kinect, to have a presence at the event at Westfi eld shopping centre in White City, London along with staff who aimed to ‘break protein myths’ for consumers and explain the benefi ts of its products.

Activity was linked online via a Facebook page and Twitter hashtag ‘thank you protein’, to make sure the offl ine activity was continued online.

Kate Wells, senior brand manager at Maxitone says: “Women tend not to understand the importance of protein so we need to help them understand. The experiential at Westfi eld was designed to do that as well as raise awareness of us. We used social media to encourage people to visit us and sample our products.”

This level of trust in online claims and ads matching the actual experience feeds through to other service-based brands, in particular hotels.

As more consumers spend time researching hotels before booking, there is added pressure on these brands to maintain consistency in online messaging, image and service

When you ‘like’ a brand on Facebook, do you think about how people might perceive you?

When you experience a brand online, is it as fulfilling as your experience offline?

Does this influence the brands you ‘like’ on Facebook?

Yes 45% No 55%Yes 43% No 57%Yes 44% No 56%

Yes 80% No 20%Yes 77% No 23%Yes 78% No 22%

No 62%

Yes 38%

No 68%

Yes 32%

No 65%

Yes 35%

Source: Research Now

KEYTotal Males Females

MW_090513_p022_024 23 07/05/2013 16:58

24

MARKETING WEEK 9 MAY 2013

Trends: shopper behaviour | building trust

compared to the reality of the hotel experience.Richard Lewis, chief executive of Best Western

Hotels UK talks about the decision-making moment that happens online, saying this shows the internet has changed how we decide to buy.

Lewis says: “In the hospitality industry, it’s had a powerful effect of being able to raise expectations of consumers and guests before they travel, and that in turn has raised the level of delivery that the hotels need to achieve to meet the expectations.”

So Best Western shows its different property types, ‘from mansions to castles’, says Lewis, and is getting those messages across to consumers. “We need to celebrate that difference and have consistency of service delivery. The guest is obviously expecting to have certain levels of product and service delivery but within that we have to celebrate the difference so the traveller and guest gets a real experience.

“In many cases that is why we travel, not to get the same product again and again but to go and have an experience, especially for leisure.”

Research Now’s study also reveals that there is peer pressure when people are posting on sites

such as Facebook, with 78 per cent who ‘like’ a brand aware that this says something about them as a person and may have an effect on how they are perceived by others.

It also suggests that marketers must be careful about how they use their branded Facebook pages and make sure staff answer queries there, says Murray. “Brands are trying to keep up their image on social media as an open environment. They are keen to keep up [their customer services] and maintain a healthy brand image.”

The survey also looks at whether respondents trust security settings online and if they have altered any of their posts on social media as a result of negative feedback.

The study shows that some people have a lax approach to security, with 19 per cent using the same password across all social media sites and 25 per cent sharing some passwords.

On the other hand, 56 per cent report that they use unique passwords for each social media site and more than 80 per cent are aware of restrictive settings and know how to apply them.

There is still a way to go before people will trust

the management and control of their online data. Twenty-eight per cent of respondents believe their security settings could be changed or reversed accidentally and almost a quarter do not believe that if they set updates and photos to ‘friends only’, this genuinely means only friends can see them.

Consumer concerns around brands online lies in privacy and consistency, not only in brand image but also in values, service and price – all of which consumers expect to match the offl ine experience. Social media can play a vital part in building trust in terms of customer service, brand transparency and linking offl ine campaigns to online content.

Best Western Hotels director of marketing and ecommerce Tim Wade says it is about having the right values and ensuring they are communicated correctly. “It’s vital as an organisation that we do that and we deliver on those values, whether it’s online or offl ine. It’s less about an image consistency than a values consistency.”

However, the research shows that many brands still have a lot to do in order to marry all of these consumer touch-points.

Above: Best Western is using TripAdvisor on its website. Right: Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut ‘restaurants’ increased brand advocacy

MW_090513_p022_024 24 07/05/2013 16:58