What influences consumer trust?

Summary 

• We find consumer trust remains low within the supermarkets, broadband and the energy sector.
• Consumer trust is heavily influenced by whether people think a business acts in the best interest of the customer. 
• Consumers view ‘acting in the best interests of the customer’ as offering good value for money and transparency of prices. 

Introduction 

Consumer trust in energy, supermarkets and broadband sectors are at a record low, according to Which? research in November 2022. Despite small fluctuations over time, trust remains low across year-on-year comparisons. This is particularly true for the energy sector, which shows consistently and significantly lower levels of trust compared to the broadband and supermarket sector.

Trust is often explored by different organisations, for example, the Edelman Trust Barometer which focuses on trust in businesses, governments, NGOs and media. Which? frequently examines consumer trust across sectors to explore how it can fluctuate across time, specifically in response to major events. To understand what trust means to consumers, we asked households within our Which? Cost of Living Panel to complete an online task in November 2022 to explore what trust meant to them.

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Trust factors vary greatly depending on the sector

Past research examining trust identified four possible contributing factors:

• Ability - the company has the skills and competence to deliver a good product/service 
• Benevolence - the company doesn’t just serve their own interests  
• Integrity - the company is honest, fair and principled 
• Responsive -  the company is open and responds to consumer feedback

Our new research tested the importance of these factors within three different sectors: broadband, energy and supermarkets. To do this we presented consumers with a list of statements linked to the four factors and asked what each sector would need to do to build trust. 

We found the importance of these trust factors in influencing and building trust are not identical across the three industries considered, rather they hold different weight depending on which sector the consumer is thinking about. Integrity and ability are important for consumers when weighing up trust in both the supermarket and broadband sectors, while benevolence plays a strong influence in the energy sector. This suggests that consumers are more likely to trust broadband providers and supermarkets when they deliver a good quality product/service and are honest and fair about their prices. By contrast, for energy providers, consumers build their trust based on whether the provider meets the needs of the customers as well as their own, particularly when it comes to offering good deals.

Benevolence drives consumer trust across all sectors

Our research suggests that consumers see ‘acting in the best interests of the customer’ as offering good value for money and transparency of prices, especially in relation to companies' profits. This is particularly pertinent in the energy sector, given the current climate and recent media coverage around company profits.

  “What I see from the news they [energy companies] make plenty of money and can afford to reduce bills without the government stepping in.”

“ I would want to be with an energy provider that thinks about their customers and when things become difficult such as the rise of energy prices, they can help out their customers by letting customers pay in instalments if fallen behind.”

 “My most important reason is that a company doesn't just serve their own interest but also acts in the interest of customers. Companies do need to make a profit but that shouldn't be at the expense of the service they offer.” 

These attitudes around offering good value for money are also seen in the supermarket sector in relation to transparency of pricing. Those that express a lack of trust in supermarkets say it’s down to being confused about the prices offered. 

“[Supermarkets] make it extremely difficult for the consumer to make informed choices. Take a product with brands from multiple companies, then try and work out the best value.”

“Trying to work out what is the best value in a supermarket is like trying to solve Rubik's cube. Shelf labels use different weights etc per price.”

Competition and familiarity also play a part in consumer trust

Whilst our task focused on four factors of trust (ability, benevolence, integrity, responsiveness) identified by previous research, our participants identified other factors which contribute to trust. First is competition, which is seen particularly within the supermarket sector as playing a vital part in driving prices down, meaning consumers will get fair prices.  

“[I trust I will get a reasonably good deal because] supermarkets are competitive within their own field so prices should also be competitive.”

“The amount of competition supermarkets face means that they are less likely to overcharge for products.”

In addition to this, familiarity also plays an important role in building trust. This is especially the case if consumers have been using a company for many years without encountering any problems. 

“I feel that supermarkets seem trustworthy as they are often a familiar, family brand.”

Conclusion

Our research suggests that whilst the principle drivers of trust are different across industries, businesses acting in the best interest of consumers is important when building trust across the board. 

It is also unclear the extent to which the importance of the four factors is reliant on the current consumer climate. For example, consumers may be more likely to hold strong views against businesses reporting high levels of profit during a cost of living crisis when consumers are experiencing steep rises in the price of essential goods and services. As the context changes, we may find the four factors play different roles in the creation of trust in sectors.