quick take: Leading facts that Increase vs Decrease Trust in Brands among digital shoppers

Online reviews do really make or break online purchase decisions, summarizes Trustpilot on their June 2019 research that found;
“Consumers would lose trust in a brand not only if they saw negative reviews – but even worse if the brand went one step further and deleted them”.
For a majority (95.0%) deleting a negative review played the biggest role in their distrust of a company, as did not have any reviews at all (81.0%).

When asked what factors would lead to an increase in brand trust, 3 of the 10 top factors centered around reviews. Nearly all respondents said positive customer reviews increased their trust in a brand, while 80.1% said they trusted companies that have a lot of customers reviews.

Interestingly, if a company responded to negative customer comments, that would drive up a trust for 79.9% of those surveyed.

Reviews are also a key way shoppers get to know a brand, according to Trustpilot. When asked how they familiarize themselves with an online company they haven’t heard of, most of those digital shoppers polled said they read customer reviews as a top priority. Reading reviews took precedence over comparing prices and searching for coupons as a top-priority.