by David Meyer
If you’ve read my last couple of SBM articles (and really - who hasn’t?), you’ve seen how trust is the new currency and substance beats style in content. Now let’s tackle what’s next: your customers’ journey.
Let’s be brutally honest. Most customer journeys are designed around what businesses want – not what customers need to believe. In other words, as we like to say at Spoke, “It’s not about what you want to say; it’s about what they want to hear.”
Here’s how to rebuild every touchpoint to establish trust that converts.
First Impressions: Stop selling. Start proving.
The old attention-grabbing playbook is dead. Today’s customers demand evidence.
Replace homepage hyperbole with specific results. Don’t tell me you’re “innovative.” Show me exactly what you’ve solved for others like me. Lead with outcomes, not adjectives.
Eliminate the generic demo request. “Book a demo” asks for commitment too soon. Instead, offer value that proves your expertise: “See how we increased conversions by 32% for companies like yours.”
Make your pricing transparent. Nothing destroys trust faster than hidden costs. Customers don’t fear premium prices – they fear unexpected ones.
The goal isn’t immediate conversion. It’s establishing yourself as a business that respects customer intelligence.
Middle Journey: Documentation beats declarations.
When prospects engage, they’re actively looking for reasons to trust – or not trust – your claims.
Replace testimonials with customer artifacts. Don’t tell me someone was “thrilled.” Show me the actual results, their before/after metrics, or the exact deliverable you created.
Share failure alongside success. Document when things didn’t go as planned – and how you and your team adapted to right the ship. Nothing builds trust like seeing how a business handles imperfection.
Let customers see your thinking. When sharing case studies, walk through your decision-making process. Expertise is demonstrated through reasoning, not just outcomes.
Decision Stage: Remove the friction, not the deliberation.
As customers near a decision, make believing in you the easiest choice:
Make your contract human-readable. Pair your terms with plain-language explanations. Show you have nothing to hide.
Outline exactly what happens next. Detail the first 30 days: who they’ll meet, what you’ll deliver, and how you’ll measure success. Concrete process beats vague promises.
Offer a genuine guarantee. The businesses most confident in their value don’t need contractual handcuffs.
Post-Purchase: The trust work has just begun.
Systematize expectation management. Create touchpoints to recalibrate expectations when needed. The most respected partners initiate tough conversations before problems grow.
Make methodology transparent. Don’t just deliver results; explain how you’re achieving them. When customers understand your process, they trust the outcome more deeply.
Turn customers into collaborators. Involve customers in developing solutions. Ask for their expertise. Make them partners, not just recipients.
Full Disclosure: We’re all finding our way on the journey.
In all transparency, we are still working to meet these ideals and the other thoughts in this article. So don’t feel left behind if you are, too. Most of us are works in progress when it comes to the customer journey – but it’s more than worth the effort.
Next month, I’ll break down how to measure trust as a leading indicator of growth and which metrics genuinely signal customer belief versus empty engagement.
Because in today’s market, trust isn’t just an asset. It can be the key asset that determines which businesses survive.