Where do you stand on the customer trust spectrum?

Trailing on trust

What to make of it: Compared to thousands of CEOs from 89 countries and territories who responded to our 25th Annual Global CEO Survey, your perception of your customers’ level of trust is low. You have some work to do, and that’s OK—there’s always room to build or repair trust. A useful starting point may be digging in on three drivers of customer trust from our survey that were most tightly linked with business performance: CEO perceptions of their customers’ propensity to (a) switch to a competitor’s products or services, (b) resist (or buy into) new updates or changes to a company’s products or services, and (c) provide feedback on whether the company’s products or services meet expectations. Although it’s just a first step, asking tough questions about these issues may help you identify opportunities for quick wins. For example, ask your top team: “What are we doing to guard against customer defections?” “How can we encourage our customers to come with us as we evolve our offering?” “How can we better engage our customers in dialogue about our products and services?”