The Leadership Agenda
Explore nowOur diagnostic uses questions from our 25th Annual Global CEO Survey to plot your consumer trust profile over six key dimensions. Take the two-minute test to reveal your company’s profile and compare it to the average score of thousands of CEOs.
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CEO average: 3.46
Our customers would switch to a competitor’s products/services (e.g., if ours are unavailable or if a competitor offers a discount/promotion).
CEO average: 3.38
Our customers would recommend our products/services to family or friends.
CEO average: 3.73
Our customers would resist new updates or changes to our products/services.
CEO average: 3.26
Our customers would provide feedback that our products/services exceed expectations.
CEO average: 2.95
Our customers would update their personal preferences with our company to receive a more tailored experience.
CEO average: 2.98
Our customers would choose our products/services primarily because of the company’s values (e.g., environmental, social responsibility).
What to make of it: Compared to thousands of CEOs from 89 countries and territories who responded to our 25th Annual Global CEO Survey, your perception of your customers’ level of trust is high. That’s saying something, because senior executives as a group are optimistic when it comes to customer trust. In a separate, recent PwC survey, 87% of business leaders said they believe consumers highly trust their company. In contrast, just 30% of consumers in that same survey said they highly trust companies. So keep up the good work but guard against over-optimism.
What to make of it: Compared to thousands of CEOs from 89 countries and territories who responded to our 25th Annual Global CEO Survey, your perception of your customers’ level of trust falls in the middle of the pack—which may offer some comfort, but also can provide a false sense of security. Don’t succumb to that: look harder, and see where you really are. Self-assessment can take a variety of forms. A machine learning–based review of media coverage related to trust showed leaders at a global asset management firm that they were getting less credit than they’d expected for innovative alternative investment approaches that they had viewed as key strengths and potential differentiators. Executives at the firm used those insights to craft a trust-building action plan.
What to make of it: Compared to thousands of CEOs from 89 countries and territories who responded to our 25th Annual Global CEO Survey, your perception of your customers’ level of trust is low. You have some work to do, and that’s OK—there’s always room to build or repair trust. A useful starting point may be digging in on three drivers of customer trust from our survey that were most tightly linked with business performance: CEO perceptions of their customers’ propensity to (a) switch to a competitor’s products or services, (b) resist (or buy into) new updates or changes to a company’s products or services, and (c) provide feedback on whether the company’s products or services meet expectations. Although it’s just a first step, asking tough questions about these issues may help you identify opportunities for quick wins. For example, ask your top team: “What are we doing to guard against customer defections?” “How can we encourage our customers to come with us as we evolve our offering?” “How can we better engage our customers in dialogue about our products and services?”
A recent PwC survey of more than 5,000 business leaders, employees, and consumers revealed a sobering disconnect: 87% of executives think consumers have a high level of trust in their business, whereas only 30% of consumers say they trust companies. How much does this trust gap really matter? A lot, according to data generated by another PwC report, the 25th Annual Global CEO Survey. CEOs’ answers to the questions in the above diagnostic, taken from the survey, were used to create a customer trust index, which, when analysed alongside company financial data, yielded a striking correlation: high scores on the trust index went hand in hand with better performance outcomes.
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