Without customers’ trust, any company can crumble, so earning and maintaining this must be a priority, regardless of your industry niche or operational scope. If you’re a decision-maker who’s less than satisfied with the level of faith customers put in your business at the moment, there are lessons to take from elsewhere and apply in-house. In fact, regulated digital markets are arguably the best at this, so here’s the lowdown on what they get right, and why it matters.
Privacy Comes First
Digital markets like fintech and online gambling are subject to the strictest rules governing customer privacy, so businesses within them have to make this a founding principle of the platforms they build and the services they offer. In other words, there’s no point bolting on privacy at the end; it has to be fundamental.
For instance, a provider of live casino games for Canadians must adhere to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the rules of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) to meet federal-level requirements, while also complying with the ins and outs of provincial regulations laid out by bodies like the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). Customers know this and therefore have high baseline confidence in properly licensed and regulated operators in this market.
The lesson here is that you shouldn’t treat ethical practices or security as a cleanup operation for your product team. When you design products with customer well-being, security, and data minimization in mind from day one, you reduce data-breach liabilities and build a reputation for reliability.
Transparency Takes Center Stage
Another offshoot of stringent regulations in specific modern consumers is that operators within them cannot afford to keep their terms of service out of sight or mired in technical language that the average user cannot interpret. Instead, they must be upfront about how they communicate with customers, especially regarding data collection and deployment.
In other words, trust is built when consumers feel they aren’t being tricked, and leaders should shift from a culture of disclaimer compliance to radical transparency. That means explaining to your customers exactly what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how it benefits them, not just your bottom line. If a consumer understands the value exchange, they are much more likely to trust your brand.
Customer Control Inspires Trust
Telling your customers exactly how you’re going to harvest their information and use it as part of your business operations only gets you so far, because modern consumers also want to take the reins of their own destiny whenever they interact with the organizations that serve them. So, you’ll see brands in regulated digital markets making it easy for users to control what goes on, even if this means that they have to give up a degree of power to achieve this.
When you make it easy for customers to opt out, modify their preferences, or even take their business elsewhere, paradoxically, they become more loyal. Hoarding data or making it intentionally difficult for customers to cancel a service breeds resentment and distrust.
These lessons are only the start of what’s possible if you take note of how digital-first businesses court customer trust. Take this as a leaping-off point to make positive changes to your own business.
