Joe Martinez reflected on Domino’s Pizza, circa 2009. “Why?” he said. “Because they sucked.” Indeed.
The food was bad. A gross employee video went viral. It was sad times for Domino’s that year. Then the company dropped $75 million on a trust campaign. This wasn’t BP-style. It was a total mea culpa. What happened? Their stock went up. “Trust is very important.”
Every December, Gallop runs a poll of professional trustworthiness. Advertisers, car salespeople, and telemarketers are viewed as the least honest and ethical, year after year. Your ads have to really work to build trust with potential customers.
The text in our ads doesn’t always match our customer experience in brick-and-mortar shops. We’d run out of the building if salespeople treated us like some ads treat us. “How often do we still see ads that say, Buy! Buy! Buy! Now! Now! Now! Today! Today! Today!”
So just calm it down.
“We’re focusing on value messages,” Joe said. “… If I need someone to clean my house, I don’t need to know what a cleaning service does.”
Use your ads to answer objections. Convince searchers to buy by explaining why you’re the right choice. Stop blending in with the same keywords as everybody else. Ad extensions have a direct effect on your conversations. Use them to explain why searchers should choose you.
Google takes your money. Customers give you money. Focus on the people. “Google doesn’t click on your ads and convert,” Joe said. “People do.”
Ad Extensions Build Trust
There are plenty of extensions that can build trust with searchers, Joe said.
- Google recently added price extensions to local search. This gives searchers the what and the why. “This is more than eCommerce,” Joe said. “It’s good for B2B, too.”
- Seller ratings get a 17 percent higher click-through-rate than ads without ratings.
- Consumer ratings boost CTR up to 10 percent. You have to partner with Google for this.
- “Even if you don’t do paid search, look at Google consumer surveys,” Joe said. The feedback can be valuable for understanding your customers. If your rating is too low, it won’t show in the search.
- Review extensions can also boost CTR by 10 percent, but they’re hard to get and they expire after a year.
- Become a Google Trusted Store if possible.
Lifetime Value, Lifetime Relationships
If ads set them up, landing pages knock them down. Avoid being Wikipedia. If people are searching for your service, odds are they know what your service is. Explain the why instead. Make sure your site matches your ad. Did you promise free shipping? You better … deliver. (See what we did there?)
Think about ads as lifetime value. “I want that user to feel good,” Joe said. “I want them to come back.” But you have to be a trustworthy company for that relationships to go on. You have to deliver quality products, good customers service, ongoing engagement, and the ability to track customers. If your customer has a good experience, do you reach out to them to say thanks? If your customer has a bad experience, do you reach out to make it right?
How to Build Customer Trust
Joe said when thinking about your ad text and landing page text, consider the nine gates to customer commitment:
- Authenticity
- Believability
- Credibility
- Feasibility of relationship
- Customized solutions
- Safety
- Comfort
- Superiority
- Value
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