Why Enterprise Merchants Need Product and Shipping Protection to Build Brand Trust

Brand trust is the foundation of customer loyalty. But it’s getting harder to achieve, especially for enterprise merchants.

Virtually all business executives understand the importance of brand trust. PwC surveyed 548 of them in early 2024 and learned that 93% agree: “building and maintaining trust improves the bottom line.”

In reality, there’s a huge gap between what these executives want and how their trust-building efforts are playing out in the market. 

In a 2024 Pew Research Center study, only 29% of US adults say large corporations have a positive effect “on the way things are going in the country these days.” This means two-thirds of adults have a bias against big companies, which makes building trust even more difficult.

So what can you as an enterprise merchant do? There’s no single solution. 

It takes a series of positive experiences for brand trust to take root. One of those experiences should be connecting consumers with the benefits of product and shipping protection. To understand why, it’s important to unpack brand trust further.

What is brand trust?

Brand trust is the point at which a customer believes a merchant will continue to offer products and experiences that meet their expectations. This belief can be lost after a single negative experience.

What are the threats to brand trust for enterprise merchants?

The biggest threats to brand trust for enterprise merchants stem from consumer perceptions of how large companies operate. 

Threat #1: Impersonal customer service

Impersonal customer service is a great way to erode brand trust. In a 2023 study, call center software provider TCN discovered that 73% of U.S. consumers “are likely to abandon a brand completely after only one poor customer service experience.”

And while many enterprise merchants offer exceptional customer service, some fall short for two reasons: high support costs and bureaucracy. With thousands or even millions of customers, it can be extremely expensive to give each customer the immediate, personalized service they want.

Then there’s bureaucracy. It can slow innovation and decision making in vital departments like customer service.

In a 2021 Forbes interview, branding expert Martin Lindstrom said bureaucracy is rampant: “Having investigated 120 companies worldwide, I estimate that 35% of time is swallowed by bureaucratic red tape….” 

By the time heavily bureaucratized merchants decide they need omnichannel customer service, for example, a swath of their customer base will have switched to smaller, more nimble brands.

Threat #2: Public scrutiny

Because enterprise merchants are, well, large, the press is more likely to cover any scandal or mishap. Customer data breaches are frequent targets.

Many who see such stories develop the bias that large companies are more prone to these mishaps than small ones, which of course isn’t true. But this bias drives the lack of brand trust confirmed by the Pew study above.

Threat #3: Poor communication of core values

Many enterprise merchants are or belong to publicly traded companies. For some consumers, “publicly traded” means these companies only care about profits. This perception makes it critically important for these merchants to publicize their commitment to key social issues.

Take the environment. According to the 2024 study from PwC, 41% of consumers say it’s “very important for companies to disclose their environmental impact.” But only 36% of business executives say they actually do that.

That’s a communication problem, and it can tarnish a company’s reputation.

Poor communication is also a threat when customer experiences don’t match what’s advertised. Say you claim in a homepage banner that product returns are easy, but a customer spends thirty minutes on hold trying to request one. That’s not easy, and you lose consumers’ trust.

What are the pillars of brand trust?

Enterprise merchants wishing to boost brand trust need to consider the role these four values play in your marketing strategies.

Pillar #1: Empathy

You embody empathy when consumers feel that you care about them and their individual pain points. 

This value plays out most often in customer service. An empathetic agent can calm an angry customer and hopefully give them a reason to buy again. 

Consumers can also experience empathy through your self-service resources. Purple Mattress includes a three-page FAQ to answer many of the most granular (and personal) questions consumers might have:

Such an extensive FAQ shows you care about customers’ time. They no longer have to call or email customer service and wait for an answer.

Pillar #2: Transparency

Transparency is honesty. It means you, as a business owner, share your policies and priorities in easy-to-understand terms. And you make it easy for customers to locate this information.

A key concern for consumers — and one that touches brand trust — is how you use and protect personal data. 

The booming fitness tracker market has raised the data-privacy stakes even higher. Almost half (48%) of these consumers, according to a 2023 Deloitte study, worry about data privacy. That’s eight percentage points higher than 2022.

Fitness tracker Fitbit starts their data-privacy policy statement with this sentence: “We believe that transparency is the key to any healthy relationship.” They write the rest of their policy in layman’s terms. 

Eyeglass merchant Warby Parker epitomizes another example of transparency-in-action. They refuse to work with suppliers that exploit their workers and post their statement on the topic in their website footer.

Pillar #3: Dependability

Dependability and transparency go hand in hand. If you say you hold suppliers to a high ethical standard or that you work to minimize your environmental footprint, you need to deliver on your brand promise. That’s the definition of dependability, and it grows brand trust.

Canada’s Dufresne Group owns multiple furniture brands. One of their community initiatives is Dream Big, where they build beds for those in need and donate a portion of each mattress sale to the underserved. And they document their dependability.

Pillar #4: Quality

Consumers today expect brands to deliver quality in every touchpoint, whether through a product, service, or brand experience. If that quality is consistent across multiple customer interactions, it builds brand trust. 

Here’s an example. From its founding in 1999, Zappos has delighted millions of customers by making returns — among other things — a high-quality experience. Returns weren’t just free; they were easy.

Now owned by Amazon, Zappos invites customers to drop off items at any Whole Foods Market, where store associates process the returns. 

To measure the impact of these and other initiatives on brand trust, Zappos uses a metric called Net Trust Score (NTS). They ask customers, “On a scale of 1-10, do you believe we have your best interest as a customer in mind?” At a 2023 conference, head of marketing insights Alex Gunov said the company’s NTS was positive.

How do product and shipping protection grow brand trust?

Product and shipping protection help shield consumers from the negative effects of accidental product damage that occurs in the home or during transit. They’re essential benefits for any enterprise merchant looking to turn a first purchase into a second. 

Why? They embody the four pillars of brand trust and help mitigate the threats these merchants face. Here’s how.

They anticipate customer needs.

From the moment a consumer buys a product online, like a sofa, excitement begins to build. The customer envisions how it will look in their living room, how it will complement other furniture, and the added comfort it will bring into the home.

If the fabric rips during shipment, or the consumer spills a plate of spaghetti with red sauce on the sofa shortly after arrival, that excitement turns to frustration. 

Offering shipping and product protection shows you empathize with consumers in these situations. You turn frustration back into excitement when consumers receive a new sofa or a professional repair. 

They clearly describe what’s protected — and what’s not.

A customer considering whether to purchase product or shipping protection wants to know what’s included in such protection. Brand trust suffers if a claim gets rejected because of an exception hidden deep in the fine print.

The Dufresne Group, an Extend merchant partner, is fully transparent about what Extend protection includes. They link to protection information at the point of purchase, making it easy for the customer to find what they need.

Better yet, the protection terms appear in easy-to-understand language. You still might struggle with poor communication in other areas of your business, but protection terms won’t be one of them.

They process claims at scale.

Because enterprise merchants have thousands of customers, it’s crucial for product and shipping protection providers to process claims quickly without sacrificing the quality of the experience.

Extend merchant partners have access to Kaley, an online claim adjudicator. To start a claim, merchants’ customers simply enter their email address, provide some information about the accident or issue, and Kaley returns a claim decision in real time.

In the rare event that customers need more assistance than Kaley can provide, Extend supports its own call center. 

Merchants see no added strain on their own support teams. And customers receive personal attention with respect to claims.

They encourage positive online reviews.

When a replacement product arrives quickly or a scheduled repair goes smoothly after a quality experience with Kaley, customers start to feel they can depend on your company. 

This feeling of dependability not only cultivates brand trust, but it puts these customers in a good position to leave positive reviews when prompted.

In a 2022 survey, PowerReviews learned a “positive experience” motivated 92% of respondents to leave a review. 

These reviews generate social proof, which plants the seed of brand trust in new customers at the beginning of their customer journey. 

Partner with Extend to build brand trust and complete the loyalty loop

Product and shipping protection lay the foundation for repeat purchases by keeping your products in customers’ hands. And if the quality of your products matches the quality of the claim experience they’ve had, they’ll start to trust that you’ll continue to keep your promises.

When you do keep your promises, you’ll have more than loyal customers. You’ll have brand advocates. That’s how the brand trust created by product and shipping protection helps customers complete the loyalty loop.

Ready to learn more about building brand trust? Here are seven strategies to consider.