{"id":24513,"date":"2021-03-04T11:14:41","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T16:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/?p=24513"},"modified":"2021-03-04T11:14:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T16:14:45","slug":"are-you-investing-in-or-spending-your-email-subscribers-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/are-you-investing-in-or-spending-your-email-subscribers-trust","title":{"rendered":"Are you investing in or spending your email subscribers’ trust?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t
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In a recent episode of Delivering<\/a>, we discussed the idea of building trust in email marketing. While the podcast looked at the mechanics of building trust through using authentication protocols like BIMI<\/a> and providing value to your subscribers, it also touched briefly on a concept pulled from the very first Litmus conference: trust banks.<\/p>\n

Back in 2013, Brendan Schwartz\u2014one of the founders of video hosting company Wistia<\/a>\u2014talked about the idea of a trust bank. Sitting in the audience that day, it struck me as a wonderful framework for understanding what we work on\u2014from product development to marketing, customer service, and more. But I didn\u2019t think it was a concept I\u2019d be revisiting nearly 8 years later, let alone one that\u2019s essential for marketers to understand amidst a global pandemic, social injustice, and one of the most challenging landscapes we\u2019ve collectively encountered.<\/p>\n

What is a trust bank?<\/h3>\n

The idea of a trust bank is simple: Every brand has a figurative bank in which people can deposit (or withdraw) their trust.<\/p>\n

When your brand does something good on behalf of subscribers, customers, or the world, then your trust bank starts to fill up. But, when you screw up\u2014like send a broken email<\/a>\u2014your trust balance is depleted as a result.<\/p>\n

Trust banks can be a useful framework for considering decisions and responses to events. Should you send an email with a misleading subject line? Participate in some performative allyship? Take the time to understand your customers and what they really need from you? The trust bank concept can help you answer those questions.<\/p>\n

Trust is the backbone of successful marketing<\/h3>\n

While marketing is, according to Merriam Webster, \u201cthe process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service,\u201d the underlying foundation of successful<\/em> marketing is trust.<\/p>\n

Potential customers are bombarded with marketing messages all day, every day. So much so that, a lot of times, your hard work and carefully crafted campaigns are completely ignored. So, what sets one marketing message apart from another?<\/p>\n

Trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n

More specifically, how much a potential or existing customer trusts the brand sending the message and whether or not they can believe what the message is saying. Do your claims sound reasonable? Do customers believe they\u2019ll get real value out of your product or service? Have they heard from friends, family, or the internet about your company?<\/p>\n

The answers to all of those questions (and more) will determine how much they trust what you\u2019re telling them and, in the long run, whether or not they\u2019ll do business with you.<\/p>\n

In email marketing, a lot of things can increase your trust balance, like:<\/p>\n