Informed and Empowered
Building Trust with Consumers and Customers
At Unilever, we believe trust is the foundation of great brands. We must earn it every day and never do anything to compromise it.”
When its shoppers speak, Walmart listens. Over the years, consumers have increasingly demanded that one of the largest retailers in the United States pay more attention to environmental issues like carbon footprint, packaging, and waste. In response, Walmart has made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions dramatically. In looking over its vast supply chain—from source to shelf—Walmart found that a majority of its footprint comes from its suppliers and the consumer products companies it buys from. The retailer put a program in place requesting that companies like P&G, The Clorox Company, and many others participate by communicating their carbon footprint. Through a rigorous program, Walmart works with suppliers and partners to identify opportunities to reduce emissions, such as improving energy efficiency, transitioning to renewable energy sources, and reducing waste. Walmart also provides resources and training to help suppliers adopt more sustainable practices.
Walmart is considered a retailer, yet it is also a manufacturer of store brands. The multinational giant is in a unique position to enact real change. While committing to, investing in, and executing on a massive sustainability initiative—achieving net zero across its operations and supply chain by 2040—is good for the planet, what’s remarkable about this story is that most of the inspiration comes from shoppers. Walmart leadership recognizes that to build trust with its loyal customer base, it must listen like never before.
Stories are an important way that we humans make sense of the world around us and connect with others. They’ve been used throughout history to communicate information, share knowledge, and convey values and beliefs.
One reason stories can be so powerful is that they engage multiple areas of the brain, including those involved in language processing, sensory experience, and emotion. By activating these different areas, stories can create a more immersive and memorable experience than other forms of communication. While it’s true that today’s customers are looking for products that claim more, do more, and are in accordance with their worldviews, at the heart of these desires are stories and, more importantly, finding themselves in the stories they seek.
Brands and products are much greater than physical items—they represent stories in which people want to see themselves.22 For most brands today, it’s nearly impossible to develop stories without some degree of heterogeneity. For companies to tell the stories their customers want to hear, they need to diversify and personalize, both through individual worldviews and cultural nuance. This trend is driving conversations that previously happened at the brand level down to the product level. “Trust used to be centered around brands, built largely around advertising and one-way communications,” said John Cooper of Veeva Systems. “Today, brands are still important, but there’s a lot more focus on the product when it comes to trust.” For brands to be successful in delivering stories through personalization—sustainable packaging, healthy ingredients, organic, Halal, gluten-free—they must do it through products where consumers are focusing their hearts, minds, and wallets. Consumers have always wanted these things. Now, they simply have the platforms to voice it and the buying power to demand it.
22. “Brand identity and purchase intention: The role of consumer need for self-expression and product visibility,” Journal of Business Research, 2017.
Stories are so important to consumers that they’re willing to pay a premium for the narratives they want to hear and see themselves in. But this requires authenticity among today’s consumer products companies. Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, said, “You cannot take an American product and try to sell it in another country the way you sold it in America. You have to adapt to the local environment.” Trying to impose a product that was successful in one market onto another market without considering local context is unlikely to be successful. To gain trust with consumers globally, companies must take the time to understand the cultural and societal factors that influence consumer behavior in each market and adapt their products and marketing strategies accordingly.
Through Gallup polling in the United States, we find there was a shift in the 1960s from citizens largely trusting in big government to being more watchful of it (from 75 percent in the early 1960s to 50 percent in the late 1960s). We see this trend among many consumers globally, who have demonstrated more caution when it comes to the products they buy, especially those that go in our bodies, on our bodies, and in our homes. One report found that trust in the food and beverage industry was at 57 percent in 2020.23 Consumers today want more accountability from their brands and products—94 percent are more likely to be loyal to a brand that offers transparency, and 73 percent are willing to pay more for a product that offers complete transparency.24
23. Edelman Trust Barometer, 2020. 24. “Transparency ROI Study: Building Consumer Trust Through Ingredient Transparency,” Label Insight, 2019.
It’s clear that there is work to be done among consumer products organizations to continue gaining consumer trust, but this also represents an enormous opportunity. Companies in this space dedicated to their consumer base can now use new tools and platforms to prioritize transparency, demonstrate social responsibility, emphasize quality and safety, engage with consumers, and adapt to their changing preferences. Most important of all, consumer products companies can start to tell—and are telling— authentic stories that their consumers want to hear and ultimately invest in.
Meaningful connections: What today’s consumer products companies are doing to build trust with consumers and customers
A wide variety of studies have proven that any move toward transparency is a good thing for customers (e.g., Walmart) and consumers (e.g., Walmart’s shoppers). Being transparent can happen at the company level or at the product level, and it’s wise for consumer products organizations to be actively pursuing both. At the organizational altitude, many companies publish earnings reports, make diversity and inclusion information available, and report their senior leadership compensation. Consumers can now refer to several annual reports that rank CPG and F&B companies according to their trustworthiness—Edelman Trust Barometer, BrandSpark International, Food Industry Association Trust Study, The Hartman Group Trust Study, and Consumer Reports Annual Brand Reliability Survey, to name a few. Every region around the world offers a means of measuring trust among consumer products organizations and their brands.
Consumers hear about these organizational initiatives, and they are the positive narratives they want to hear, yet most consumers only engage regularly at the product level. Consumer products leaders have to prove to consumers that what they’re saying is true and deliver on their promises. If promoting a specific property of a food, then the promise needs to be fulfilled, and the customer needs to experience that promise, or the trust is broken. If even one small ingredient or material changes, many consumers will know. Failure to communicate even the smallest change can erode consumer trust. Perhaps the best transparency test in consumer products-related industries comes in the form of recalls—this is where the rubber meets the road. While there are numerous examples of poorly handled recalls, Pine-sol, a Clorox Company product, offers an example of how to “do transparency” right.
In September 2021, The Clorox Company announced a voluntary recall of certain Pine-Sol products due to possible bacterial contamination. The recall was initiated after testing showed the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a type of bacteria that can cause infections in people with weakened immune systems. The Clorox Company stated that there had been no reports of illness associated with the products at the time of the recall.
Still, it took the action of advising customers to stop using the affected products immediately and to dispose of them in accordance with local regulations. Customers who had purchased the affected products were also encouraged to contact The Clorox Company for a full refund. The company stated that the recall was limited to specific production codes and that other Pine-Sol products were not affected. The Clorox Company also worked with retailers to remove the affected products from store shelves. In addition to the recall, it issued a press release and posted information on its website and social media channels to inform customers of the issue and the steps they should take. The company also offered a toll-free number for customers to call with questions or concerns about the recall.
This example highlights the importance of transparency. The Clorox Company was able to get in front of the unfortunate development, even though it was costly. The optics of a recall can erode trust in the beginning, but in the long run, transparency builds more consumer trust when people remember that a recall was handled responsibly.
“Our customers are our most important asset. By listening to their feedback and responding to their needs, we can build trust, loyalty, and long-term relationships. We are committed to putting the customer at the center of everything we do,” said Brian Cornell, Chairman and CEO of Target. Creating mechanisms that shift monologue to dialogue—from one-way messaging to conversations—is a powerful way to build trust with consumers. Consumer products companies have embarked on a mission to let the voice of the customer be heard across a wide range of outlets. Customer service hotlines, AI-powered chatbots, online contact forms, social media, and email all help to give consumers a safe, open forum to sing praise or lodge complaints.
In its Asian territories, Unilever relies on an initiative known as “Listen, Analyze, Act,” which involves monitoring social media and other online channels for customer feedback and then using that feedback to make improvements to its products and services. Unilever also has a dedicated customer care center in India that customers can contact to report complaints or ask questions about its products. The company has implemented several technology-enabled solutions, including chatbots and virtual assistants, to provide quick and efficient support to customers. In addition, Unilever regularly conducts surveys and focus groups with customers to gather feedback and insights into their needs and preferences. The company also works closely with retailers and distributors to ensure that its products are meeting the needs of local consumers.
Investing in consumer feedback mechanisms creates new touch points and opportunities. Like any financial currency, consumer products companies spend real money and effort and get it back in the form of the trust currency through earned media like social, blogs, press, reviews, and consumer conversations. Feedback mechanisms also help consumer products organizations gain valuable insights that they can then use to address mistakes or innovate new offerings.
When it comes to product ingredients or sustainability, it’s often all in the logo. According to one study, 95 percent of Americans reported they are aware of one or more food certifications, and 59 percent reported they purchase one or more foods with certifications. Nearly 75 percent noted that one or more food certifications are important when choosing which products to buy.25 The fact that consumers are increasingly looking for these third-party certifications on the products they buy carries special implications for consumer products companies, whose wares are front and center on store aisles. Third-party means just that—many consumers are no longer content taking the word of the product seller but instead seek validation from parties they consider unbiased.
25. “Sustainability, certifications and claims: What resonates with consumers?” Food & Beverage Insider, 2020.
To some, this trend alone confirms a certain lack of trust in consumer products organizations. Yet to others, it simply demonstrates that consumers are becoming savvier in their purchasing behaviors and either seek a second opinion or want their products to meet high standards. Certifications such as Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, and USDA Organic can provide assurance that a product meets certain environmental and social requirements, while certifications such as Non-GMO Project Verified and Gluten-Free can provide assurance about a product’s ingredients and allergens.
Danone has pledged to use the B Corp certification on all its global brands by 2025. The B Corp certification is awarded to companies that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. By using this certification, Danone aims to provide consumers with greater transparency about the social and environmental impact of its products. Danone has also committed to using other third-party certifications on its products, such as Fair Trade, USDA Organic, and Non-GMO Project. These certifications help to reassure consumers that Danone’s products meet specific standards for sustainability, health, and social responsibility. To drive awareness and education, Danone has launched a website called “One Planet. One Health,” which provides information about Danone’s sustainability initiatives, including its use of third-party certifications, as well as information about the health benefits of its products.
There are hundreds of certifications available to consumer products companies today. The Danone example shows that it’s not just about applying a label, it’s about making a deliberate decision on the right certification for your product and demographic, providing education around these certifications, and remaining committed to fulfilling the promises that live behind the label.
The pandemic created significant disruptions in the CPG and food supply chain, leading to shortages of some products and changes in consumer behavior. Many CPG, F&B, and Specialty Chemical products suddenly became scarce; it seemed that one day the world woke up to a shortage of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, baking supplies, canned goods, and meat products. When a consumer goes to buy one of these products, and it’s not on the shelf, it’s easy for trust in the companies that provide the products to fade. Some consumers expressed frustration not only with the shortages but with the perceived lack of transparency from companies about supply chain disruptions. Additionally, the pandemic created new health and safety concerns that many consumers wanted companies to address.
Many CPG and food companies responded quickly to the pandemic by implementing new safety measures and adjusting their operations to meet changing demand.
Some companies also donated products or money to support relief efforts, which helped to build goodwill with consumers. At one of its major factories, Procter & Gamble ramped up production of both toilet paper and paper towels by 20 percent, even as it revamped its operations to keep its roughly 600 workers healthy. “The more we can serve our consumers, the better it is for everyone,” said Rick McLeod, a P&G executive. “If they can just see some product in the store, it will help. There’s a sense of pride of being able to deliver that thing that’s so needed right now.”
The Clorox Company was one of the CPG companies that experienced a surge in demand during the pandemic, as consumers sought out cleaning products and disinfectants to protect against COVID-19. The Clorox Company doesn’t traditionally purchase bulk ingredients, yet made large, expensive investments in acquiring ingredients and chemicals so that consumers could get what they needed in a challenging time. It was then able to ramp up production of its cleaning products and increase the number of shifts and workers.
It made significant donations of cleaning products to schools and hospitals. It launched a public education campaign to help people understand how to use its products against COVID-19, even as it implemented a number of safety measures to protect its workers. During the height of the pandemic, The Clorox Company was one of the most trusted brands in North America.
“When product demand went through the roof for many consumer products in the early days of the pandemic, I feel that a strong culture of agility and teamwork, supported by a foundation of proactive planning and strong systems and processes, was the make-or-break for companies successfully responding to the pandemic,” said Randy King, former Chief Science Officer at New Chapter, Inc. (a Procter & Gamble subsidiary).
“Retailers and consumers wanted to know that the products they needed and trusted were going to be available, and while there was some level of understanding of the early challenges, the companies that were really prepared to respond quickly and with high-quality solutions built confidence.”
In general, the pandemic created a highly challenging environment for companies. Many consumers likely understood that some disruptions were inevitable. But the crisis also highlighted the importance of trust and transparency for companies, and those able to respond quickly and effectively to the crisis likely strengthened their relationships with consumers. Consumer products companies can take a page from effective responses to the pandemic—because crises could happen again—and companies can use these occasions to build consumer trust.
As we’ve seen in this section of the report, consumer and customer trust can be as fragile as the supply chain itself. Promoting transparency at all times; giving customers a platform and voice; demonstrating openness to third parties; and simply being there in a time of need all work to grow trust with an often cynical audience. Here are some questions consumer products leaders might ask regarding growing trust with customers.
Are we transparent about our products and their ingredients, as well as our production and supply chain processes?
Are we consistently meeting our quality standards and customer expectations for our products?
Are we proactive in addressing customer concerns and complaints, and do we communicate openly and honestly with customers about any issues?
Are we committed to ethical business practices, such as fair labor standards and sustainable sourcing?
Do we have a clear and effective system for handling product recalls or safety concerns?
Do we actively seek and respond to customer feedback and use this feedback to improve our products and customer experience?
Are we willing to invest in customer education and engagement to help them make informed decisions about our products?
Are we building strong relationships with industry organizations and regulators to demonstrate our commitment to safety, quality, and compliance?
Are we effectively leveraging technology and data to improve product safety, quality, and customer experience?
Are we investing in employee training and development to ensure our team members are equipped to deliver a consistently high level of customer service and product quality?
