This is crazy, but here is the point: you can create the greatest invention of retail technology that the world has ever heard of, and they will not use it.
I know, right? Having created all that engineering genius, all those red-eye twenties working on debugs, all that innovation–and customers are there with their crossed arms, and their raised eyebrows, and their waiting-until-the-other-shoe-falls-on-their-heads. It’s frustrating. But this is the point, it is totally understandable as well.
We are now living in a time where the headlines about data breaches, failed tech releases, or promises are made every other week and, it turned out it be a slight stretch on the part. So, once you have a fresh piece of retail tech product on the market that promises to turn everything around can you truly fault people for being skeptical?
The most successful tech leaders in the retail field have figured something out that has not been adopted by its competitors. They do not win them because they can end up with better technology (although they frequently do so). They are winning since they have solved the puzzle on something much better: systematic trust-building.
The Underlying Issue: The Retail Tech has Its Problems
The current state of retail tech is no secret. Customers are concerned about their information. Implementations that have failed to work out have burnt retailers. And people keep on moving so quickly that nobody can keep trusting with innovation.
This does not get resolved with traditional marketing. There is no way out of a trust problem that can be fought simply by advertising. It is comparable to telling someone that you are trustworthy by constantly screaming at the person that he should trust you. It doesn’t work.
What Top Leaders Do Differently
The real retail tech leaders winning now? They have based their complete strategy on a single principle transparent communication on a large scale.
However, here is the key to its effectiveness, they are not only open about the good stuff. They are extremely frank, as to what their technology cannot do. They put their failures on show. They train the market rather than merely selling to the market.
Think about that for a second. The last time an actual tech company admitted that their solution was not well suited to a particular use case was a while ago. It’s rare. That is what develops trust, however.
How They Actually Do It
But what does this be like in actual practice? It is no single spectacular move. It is a multi-faceted strategy that is regular.
They lead with substance, not sales pitches. The best retail tech leaders are invited to the stage at industry conferences, however, it is not there that they are doing product pitchings under the guise of thought leadership. They are sharing research, talking about challenges in the industry, and even assisting their competitors to develop an insight into new trends. Why? People are not forgetting that since when you always accord value and you do not expect anything in return, then people tend to remember that.
They conduct business with the right people. Most of these leaders also work with a dedicated retail tech PR agency which is knowledgeable in the specifics of the space. It is not the matter of making their name ubiquitous, but putting their message in the proper contexts with the proper relation. They are getting featured in magazines that their readers will read and they are establishing connections with journalists who will do the space sincerely.
They build real communities. I mean, I am not referring to a social media following. I am referring to user communities where customers can be frank with regards to what is working and what is not. Actual Customer advisory boards that impact on the product decisions. Communities where individuals can post their actual experiences and not exclusive success stories.
The point is that these communities are not regulated. They’re empowered. And, of course, it means that occasionally
They put their words and their actions in line. This is huge. Their customer success teams are not reading off the paper rather they have the power to be frank concerning limitations. Their product roadmaps can be seen. By providing feedback customers will be able to see the impact provided on real development decisions.
Why This Works So Well
This is where the interest arises. Trust is not a nice-to-have, but rather a competitive moat.
It pays off hugely when things go haywire when you invest in trust at the initial stages. And in technology, things will not be right. However, once you have established that base of openness, people have your back. They stay with you during the dark ages as opposed to running at once.
There’s also a network effect. The retail industry is an industry with close associations. People talk. And when you just have a sold to go promoter of your technology, he/she is not just a customer but he is a mouth piece where he is able to influence dozens more in his network.
The Mistakes That Kill Trust
Naturally, there are many ways of getting this wrong.
The most common one is over-promising, which occurs in the sales process You feel like saying yes to everything so that you can get the deal done but you would just be placing yourself in a worse position. Silencing down when things are going wrong is another murderer. It is at such points when you should be the most open but it is also when most companies close their mouths.
The biggest mistake? The art of transparency as a campaign. You see the companies which become intensely outgoing and communicative three months long due to the instruction of some consultant and go back to their habitual ways. That is viewed as a farfetched thing by people.
Transparency must be a culture and not a strategy.
A Basic Start in Trust-Building
In case you are reading this at the time you are wondering, Well, this all sounds good, but where do I begin?–here is the good news. You do not necessarily need to redesign everything immediately.
Begin with an audit of the current position. What do your trust indicators tell you? See your NPS scores, opinions, and re-buys. Name your top 3 largest credibility gaps.
Then identify one area where you can improve on transparency this month. Perhaps it is putting out a more real-life case study with the problem that you encountered. Perhaps, it is the creation of a user group. Perhaps it is just giving your team the courage to be more talkative directly to customers.
What is meant by this is to just begin somewhere and be regular.
The Bottom Line
This is no longer an industry where retail tech companies are solely competing on features and functionality. You’re competing on trust. And faith does not happen in a flash, it happens in chunks.
The currently winning leaders are not the leaders with innovative technology. It is they who have learned how to develop systematic trust in open communication. They are the ones who consider honesty as a competitive edge.
Now here is the question that I would like to ask you: How can you make your transparency work better this week? What can you have all the more candorously than one conversation? What is one weakness that you can openly admit?
Since this is the truth: in a world where everyone is hype-ing everything and promises everything that others can deliver, just being a good person is radical.