What Is Brand Trust? Why It’s Your Most Valuable Asset

Brand trust is one of the simplest and most important concepts in marketing communications. Simply put, it's the confidence consumers have in your brand, particularly in your brand's intention and ability to follow through on its promises.¹

What is the value of brand trust? There is a large amount of data suggesting that brand trust is critical to marketing success in today's landscape. A recent Statista survey found that around 80% of millennials prefer to buy products and services from brands they trust.² Research also suggests that about 40% of Americans will never return to a brand once they've lost trust in it.³ Meanwhile, a 2025 Consumer Research report from Salsify found 87% of respondents said they'd pay more for products from brands they trust.⁴

This blog post will dig into the concept of brand trust, exploring why it's important and how it can be earned.

Brand trust is the amount of respect and loyalty customers have for your brand, or how strongly they believe you can deliver on your promises. It is a public perception often shaped by a combination of personal experiences and company communications, which means it is significantly influenced by marketing communications. Brand trust is not necessarily measured by repeat purchases or long-time usage, but rather how customers feel about your brand, and how willing they are to give their time, money, energy or information to you over other companies.

“We, as humans, tend to trust what other humans say and do, so trust is easy to develop but extremely difficult to maintain—and ridiculously easy to lose,” wrote Don Schultz, who is commonly referred to as the “father of IMC.” He joined the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications faculty in 1977 and later became department chair and associate dean. “In this interactive marketplace, marketers must be totally trustworthy, continuously, to gain and maintain the consumer’s trust and any ongoing relationship. There is simply no other path.”⁵

In today’s landscape, brand trust is based on the following:⁶

• Quality of products and services
• Public perception (ratings, reviews, etc.)
• Customer service experience
• Brand mission, values and reputation
• Data security and privacy
• Political or philanthropic efforts

Other similar concepts that overlap or relate to brand trust are brand affinity (or “brand love”), brand loyalty and brand equity. Some marketers may use these interchangeably, but experienced CMOs know that each has its own set of criteria and standards of success. Depending on how long your organization has been established and your marketing strategy for building trust, you might invest more time and effort into one category than the other.

Brand trust is one of the integral components in brand loyalty, making it an essential contributor to the long-term growth of a brand.⁶ Customers stick by brands they trust, and they tell their friends and family about the brands and products they like. This kind of loyalty supports customer retention, gives a brand pricing power (remember, customers will pay more for the brands they trust) and promotes organic growth.

Ultimately, positive brand trust should be reflected in tangible and intangible business outcomes such as higher Lifetime Value (LTV),⁷ reputation enhancement through more positive word of mouth and better brand resilience.

Brand trust can be identified and measured. Customers exhibit brand trust through repeat purchases, positive reviews and referrals. Brands can measure brand trust using a variety of methods, including sentiment analysis,⁸ customer engagement (on social media, for example) and customer experience metrics such as Net Promoter Score.⁹

The following sections discuss the fundamental steps to building brand trustworthiness.

Consistency is essential in building brand trust.¹⁰ A defined and consistent tone across all of your brand's messaging helps customers to recognize and trust your brand.

Some coveted brand trust examples, such as Apple, Mailchimp and Uber, win high praise from marketers for their recognizable and consistent brand voice.¹¹

If brand trust is about consumer confidence in your brand's ability to make good on its promises, then honesty and transparency are the cornerstones of brand trustworthiness. Tell people what you're doing, why you're doing it and admit when you got it wrong.

Perhaps the standout example of the last decade is KFC's "FCK" campaign after a supply-chain crisis shuttered 900 of the brand's UK restaurants.¹²

People like to feel heard. Responsive support for customers builds trust by showing the brand cares about what people think. Happy customers who have positive experiences with your brand contribute to "social proof"—a shorthand way of describing the way humans (as social animals) often model choices and behavior on what they observe to be working out for others around them. In this context, that's reading a positive review and letting that influence a purchasing decision.¹³

Brands can also generate credibility and trust through social media engagement. User-generated content, for example, functions as a powerful, authentic endorsement for a brand. Don't overlook the significance of brand experience as a tool for building brand trust.

Brand trust has to be earned, but it can also be squandered. One of the quickest ways to lose brand trust and damage your brand image is to overpromise and under-deliver. Unmet expectations are toxic for brand trust.

Brands that stay true to their values resonate with consumers as authentic and trustworthy. The 2011 "Don't Buy This Jacket" campaign¹⁴ from Patagonia addressed consumerism, which is an issue that the brand wants to confront head-on. This ad features prominently in many discussions of how to build trust in a brand as a standout example of integrity in brand messaging.

Ultimately, assume consumers are listening to what your brand says. If you say your brand has a mission, it's important to follow through and deliver on it, not just market the message. Brands that consistently act in line with their values are rewarded with high brand trust and the customer loyalty and increased LTV that comes with it.

The Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Professional program from Medill is designed to develop elite communicators who understand the importance of brand trust and know how to guide brands toward exceptional outcomes from their messaging.

Explore our online course information and admissions requirements or contact us directly for more details. When you're ready to take the next step in advancing your career in marketing communications, schedule a call with one of our admissions outreach advisers.