In his blog post “Trust Can’t Be Broadcast” David Cushman writes about new social media and its effect on the level of trust in ads. The clever title alludes to the fact that people are connecting on deeper levels and need to now more than ever to be understood by corporations.
Enter Edelman’s annual Trust Barometer. Each year PR firm Edelman releases a Trust Barometer which is a trust and credibility survey. According to the release there is a decline in over-all trust in businesses. To show how important trust is to a reputation and eventually how much money that company makes, the release showed that:
- 77% said they refused to buy products or services from a company they distrusted
- 72% criticized a distrusted company to a friend
- 62% trust companies less than they did a year ago
What I found extremely interesting about this year’s Trust Barometer is that trust is so low today that it’s actually lower than it was during the Enron fiasco, the dot-com bust, and Sept.11. That, readers, is extremely low.
The connection between trust and reputation will never get old. The statistics show it! Bad information about a company spreads like wildfire and companies lose money and respect – two very important things.
March 29, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Ansa,
This is very interesting to me. I’m wondering what the correlation between the high level of distrust and this time period is. Maybe its all the bailouts? Maybe it’s the constant marketing? Do you think the distrust will continue to increase? What do you think could get companies to start gaining their trust back? I’m not sure what studies show this information but I’d love to read another post on this if you could find some more insight.
March 29, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Ansa,
The Trust Barometer by the Edelman Public Relations firm explained interesting statistics about our credibility and trust in corporations. The statistics of the survey do not surprise me, and I agree with many of the findings.
Today, it is important for companies to realize that their reputation and level of trust are extremely influenced by customers’ comments and opinions, especially those online. The computer company, Dell, is an excellent example of online reputation. One comment can create the best or worst reputation. The online identity of a company not only affects how much money they make, but also the future success of their online presence in the world of Web 2.0.