Convenience = TRUST

In my previous blog 'Convenience is King' I stated that there is a new king on the omni-channel throne: convenience. Customer convenience is by far the most important goal that retailers and other B2C players should focus on. Focus on convenience ensures good service and quality.

On the other hand, poor quality or poor service cause inconvenience to a customer, but this is often invisible. Only a small number of customers give feedback (for example on complaint.nl). Most consumers don't think the inconvenience is bad enough to complain online. They will just go to a competitor next time.

Focus on trust

Especially for retailers and intermediaries who advise in the choice between multiple providers and products, such as travel agencies or insurance intermediaries, there is another focal point inextricably linked to convenience and that is trust (Trust). After all, something can be so easy, if there is no confidence that you will receive the best advice, consumers will prefer to do their own research or ask for multiple opinions (from competitors, for example). The latter is of course not convenience but inconvenience. And also increases the chance that the customer who actually wanted to do business with you will end up with the competitor.

Independer's journey

In short, when trust is lacking, that convenience gets in the way. The other way around: if there is trust, the intermediary can focus even more on convenience and thus achieve an even higher turnover. A good example of this is the online insurance platform Independer, which makes an inventory of consumer demand and provides the most suitable offer. In the early years they showed an overview of all insurance policies in order of the most suitable. The consumer then checked all insurers on the list because they did not yet dare to trust Independer 'on their blue eyes'.

Over the years, the platform has built trust through total transparency on, for example, their weblog. Everything is shared there, from marketing budgets to conversion campaigns and their results. When they felt that consumers had enough confidence in their recommendations, they decided to show only three more insurance policies. The consumer can still click through to view the entire list, but few do. This resulted in a significant decrease in choice stress and an improvement in convenience. And that is reflected in the much higher conversion.

Incidentally, not only Independer enjoyed that limited confidence, it applies to all companies with an online business model. Consumers thought - and still often think - that the provider raises a price when they look at it a second time, although this has never been proven by research by Radar and Travelvalley, among others. But it does show how persistent mistrust is of trust and how precarious you have to deal with customers. Trust comes on foot and goes on horseback. It takes time to build it up.

Handle customer data properly

That most people go for convenience is evident from the fact that they click unread on agree with most terms of use. They assume that they will be treated properly and - often deliberately - stick their heads in the sand. It is therefore up to the companies to treat customers properly.

On the one hand, proper handling relates to proper handling of customer information. A theme that is hot in the run-up to the European GDPR regulations, in Dutch the General Data Processing Regulation (AVG). This law states that companies must treat personal information properly and confidentially: you must be able to show what data you store about customers, for what purpose, who has access to it and what exactly you do with it. Customers have the right to be forgotten. And suppliers have a duty to delete data as long as it is no longer usable for the intended purpose. In most organizations it requires a major adjustment of the internal processes. Data management will be key.

Admit mistakes

Treating your customers properly, on the other hand, means that you do everything you can to resolve errors. The first step is to admit that a mistake has been made. And most companies find that quite difficult. The terms of use are another good example of this. One message radiates from all those conditions: "I cover myself as a supplier." It is very easy to hide behind these conditions, but you do not do justice to the customer. Because even though a supplier is legally entitled to do so, the customer is inconvenienced by the error and will certainly not return if the problem is not rectified properly.

If the supplier shows his human side, an error can even be an opportunity to build trust. After all, everyone knows: where people work, mistakes are made. That just happens, you can hardly complain about it. You only have reason to complain if nothing is subsequently done to correct the error. And on the contrary: nothing gives more confidence than a correctly resolved error. That trust in turn provides convenience and the company benefits from it. That no longer has to pay mega budgets to Google to win the same customer over and over again.