How Online Food Companies Can Proactively Instil Trust Among Customers

Food and beverage e-commerce has flourished in recent years, satisfying a long-running demand for greater convenience and an increased need for delivered goods that arose from the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether it’s subscription meal kits, fresh vegetable boxes, or sweet treats that you can’t get at the supermarket, e-commerce food businesses are now an essential staple in many people’s lives.

In such a saturated market, proactively building consumer trust is now more important than ever. With such a wide array of choices on offer, shoppers are likely to be cautious when buying foodstuffs online for the first time, especially if it’s on a subscription basis.

If you’re starting a new food e-commerce business, or you’ve been established for a long time and simply want to increase trust as part of a marketing drive, then this post is for you. Here’s an overview of the importance of trust in e-commerce, and 6 of the best ways that online food companies can proactively instil trust among their customers.

The importance of trust in e‑commerce food companies

It’s no secret that having a high level of consumer trust is a major boon for any e-commerce business. Having a brand that people trust will give you a clearer picture of your most valuable customers, which will be useful for marketing purposes, stimulate word-of-mouth marketing, and keep customers satisfied from the very first touchpoint.

While consumer trust can undoubtedly give you a competitive advantage, it’s much harder to secure now than it has been in times gone by. The e-commerce sector swelled over the course of the pandemic, with total e-commerce sales soaring up to 4.7 times higher than pre-pandemic levels across the world.

These trends may look encouraging on the surface, but the Covid e-commerce boom also had a detrimental effect on brand loyalty and general consumer trust. This report from Geektime highlighted that Amazon took down a staggering 10 billion counterfeit listings in 2020, and that a 2021 survey of consumers revealed that nearly three-quarters of consumers would stop buying from a brand that breaks their trust.

Though consumers have shifted towards an online-first mindset, they’re also on high alert in a way that’s never been seen before, putting immense pressure on brands to separate themselves from fraudulent, low-quality, or otherwise untrustworthy brands.

5 ways for food companies to instil consumer trust

To succeed in today’s challenging market, food e-commerce businesses must do everything in their power to fortify and build trust in their consumers. Here are some of the most effective steps that food e-commerce companies can take to instil greater trust in their customers.

1. Showcase your company values

For many products outside the food and beverage industry, company values are a minor footnote in the eyes of most consumers. As a food business though, your customers will want to know about the principles that guide your decisions, for both selfish and ethical reasons.

Having clear company values and putting them front-and-centre in your customer-facing content can go a long way towards nurturing a greater sense of trust among your target audience. If you have a mission statement or codified values that show what your business stands for, then make sure this is making its way out of your internal communications and onto your website and social media platforms.

Things like making sure your employees have a living wage, commitments to reducing food waste, and using fair trade agreements or climate-friendly supply chains can all help to foster a greater sense of trust with your customers. They can also act as a powerful marketing tool for untapped audience segments.

Aside from this, going out of your way to shout about company values can also remind your workers of the good causes they’re working towards, with potential benefits in the way of employee retention and future talent acquisition.

2. Build and highlight third-party endorsements

Gaining and showcasing endorsements from the right independent bodies can act as a kind of supercharged social proof, especially if you’re running a relatively young business and you need a quick way to build trust with your audience.

When your brand is endorsed by review aggregators, industry watchdogs, and other external sources, it will show your customers that you’re trusted by the organisations and bodies that matter, giving you an instant rise in credibility, validating the quality of your product, and in some cases, allowing you to leverage untapped sources of exposure.

Partnering with third parties to gain consumer trust accolades, like Trusted Shops’ very own Trustmark, will give you an instantly visible vote of confidence on your website, letting any new visitors know that you’ve been vetted and approved by an independent observer. As long as you meet the relevant criteria, gaining these kinds of trust accolades is a quick and easy process that will instantly improve your brand’s trustworthiness in the eyes of consumers.

Going back to the point about transparency, showing that you comply with policies and regulations set out by established third parties can also help to alleviate potential customer concerns, and frame yourself as a brand that can be trusted.

For example, if you use a HACCP food safety system in your production lines, or have a policy of working with farmers who comply with the government Sustainable Farming Incentive, highlighting these things to your customers through whatever channels you have at your disposal will instantly boost your credibility.

3. Be transparent in everything you do

Source: shutterstock.com/Iryna Imago

No one will trust a brand that’s behaving like it has something to hide. One of the most effective things you can do to improve trust in your e-commerce food company is to audit all your marketing drives and other customer-facing content to ensure you’re being as transparent as possible.

In the context of a food business, broadcasting information about where and how your ingredients are produced, your practices in vetting suppliers, and anything you’ve done to invest in specific communities, can all help to keep your customers informed, and highlight your company as one that’s always happy to put their cards on the table.

Aside from these steps, viewing your business like any other and following established transparency best practices will help distinguish your brand as one that can be trusted. 

Maintaining clear and accessible channels of communication between yourself and your customers, making sure your prices and policies are easy to understand, and using social platforms to give the public an inside look at your business, can all be great ways to enhance the transparency of your brand. 

Furthermore, when things go wrong and you’re faced with disappointed or angry customers, it’s essential to own your mistakes and address complaints directly in order to strengthen consumer trust and maintain brand loyalty.

4. Actively seek feedback

One of the easiest ways for you to show your customers that you truly care about them and that you’re determined to be a brand that they can trust, is by going out of your way to ask about their experience with your brand.

When customers can see that they’re being listened to, it will remind them that their happiness is your priority and that they won’t be given the short end of the stick for the sake of your profits. 

Wilton Wholefoods displays service ratings (4.97) and their 3rd party trustmark in the Trusted Shops Trustbadge in the bottom-right side of the screen. Above that, you can the product ratings and reviews.

Aside from helping to nurture a greater sense of trust between you and your customers, actively collecting feedback will also help you keep a finger on the pulse when it comes to customer satisfaction, and recognise any issues in your products or standards of service as soon as they arise, empowering you to develop your business in a way that will delight your customers and supercharge your bottom line!

Creating social media polls, sending follow-up emails asking for reviews, and making your own review platform highly visible and accessible, can all be great ways to gather feedback. Having said that, responding through these channels can take up enough of your customers’ time that many people will wave them off. 

To ensure you’re getting pointers from as large a segment as possible, make sure you’re providing your customers with even easier ways of voicing their opinions, like simple pop-ups asking whether or not site visitors are enjoying their experience.

5. Humanise your brand

Humans are social animals, and we’d much rather interact with our fellow people than a faceless business with no human qualities whatsoever. With this in mind, taking steps to humanise your brand can go a long way in developing greater trust among your customers, and reminding people that your company is built and operated by people, not a logo.

Filling your content with professional-quality photos that show your staff behind the scenes, putting out social media posts and press releases penned directly by your senior management, telling your brand’s story at a human level, and engaging in two-way communication with your customers, can all be great ways to develop a more natural relationship with your audience, and nurture a stronger sense of trust.

Although customers can get fatigued by this kind of content, and it’s important to let your products have enough of the limelight, making simple changes to ensure your brand feels more human can be a huge boon to your consumer trust.

Final thoughts

Consumer trust can often feel like a nebulous and daunting subject for any e-commerce brand, but it’s essential to address for your overall success. We hope these pointers serve you well as you develop your brand, and work to build stronger, longer-lasting relationships with your customers.