This article comes from Dr Tiffany Raymond’s insightful talk at our 2024 Virtual Customer Marketing Summit, check out her full presentation.
Trust is the foundation of every successful customer relationship.
I'm Dr Tiffany Raymond, Head of Global Customer Advocacy at PayPal, and I’ve seen firsthand how essential it is to identify and resolve customer pain points to create optimal digital experiences.
Through working with our Customer Advisory Board (CAB) and engaging with merchants, I’ve gained a deep understanding of how trust, authenticity, and a human-centered approach can drive business success.
In this article, I’ll explore the key elements of trust, the importance of empathy in customer interactions, and the strategies we use at PayPal to ensure our brand remains trustworthy and aligned with our customers' needs.
Moving beyond AI: Focusing on human-centered experiences
First and foremost, we’re not here to delve into AI, despite its undeniable allure and transformative potential. It's easy to get caught up in the "bright shiny object syndrome,"; I'm a huge advocate for AI and its possibilities, but it's not the focal point.
Here at PayPal, we do utilize AI in some areas. For instance, I participate in a monthly call with our customer success team, where we analyze feedback from merchants. This feedback is processed by a large language model to identify trends and issues. However, month after month, the same issues arise. Quite frankly, our reporting process isn't up to par.
Despite collecting vast amounts of data from merchants, it doesn't seem to trigger the necessary actions to improve our digital experience. My hypothesis is that this is due to the data being too generalized and disconnected from individual merchants. It's just a collection of broad numbers, lacking the personal connection necessary to inspire action.
I believe we can all relate to the concept of numbers versus narratives. Consider the fires in Maui in 2023. You might read a statistic stating that 3,000 pets were lost in the fires, which certainly evokes empathy. But it was only when I read about a specific dog named Lucky that the reality of the situation truly hit home.
Lucky was found 30 days after the fires, wandering in a cemetery, and was eventually reunited with his owner, who had lost everything. This story took us from a statistic to a deeply human experience.
This is what happens when information is aggregated and dehumanized. We lose the connection that drives us to act.
This brings me to the privilege of our roles. Today, we’re focusing on being human-centered. At this moment, all of my customers, and hopefully yours too, are humans. Ultimately, we are humans serving humans.
Our work is special because we champion the human experience. This is an exciting opportunity and a responsibility we should embrace. We must lean into the uniqueness of our roles and recognize that we are, indeed, champions of humanity.
Eve Chatfield
Building trust in a human-centered world
Trust is a critical component of any relationship, especially between brands and customers. I find the Customer Trust Index from Forrester particularly insightful because it breaks down the seven elements of trust, providing a clear framework for us to consider.
As a brand, we must think about these elements of trust. Some of them, like competence and consistency, are fundamental — what we might call "table stakes." Competence shouldn't feel like an extraordinary achievement, nor should consistency. These are basic expectations that our customers have. Dependability also falls into this category of essentials.
We truly have an opportunity to excel when focusing on the elements of trust and elevate the customer experience with a human-centered approach.
To briefly touch on AI again, we see a growing erosion of trust. It’s estimated that between 10% and 30% of online reviews are fake. Despite this, 90% of customers still rely on these reviews when making purchasing decisions. This situation creates a significant amount of uncertainty around trust.
Consider the current election season and the impact of AI-generated robocalls in places like New Hampshire, which are already causing confusion and distrust. These challenges lead us to question what we trust and who we trust.
Given these uncertainties, it is crucial to use tools like the Customer Trust Index to guide our digital strategies. By understanding and prioritizing the elements of trust that resonate most with customers, we can create more meaningful and reliable experiences.
Human-centered trust-building practices can help us stand out in a crowded marketplace. It's about going beyond the basics and finding ways to connect on a deeper level, ensuring our customers feel valued and understood. This approach will help us foster loyalty and long-term relationships with our customers, strengthening our brand's reputation and success.
Charley Gale
The role of authenticity in building trust
Let's delve deeper into the concept of trust, particularly how authenticity drives value and is essential for creating impactful digital experiences.
Trust is foundational; if we don't feel safe or secure, we're not in a position to share openly or engage meaningfully.
One of the key areas where it plays a crucial role is in our CAB at PayPal. This is a well-established and mature community built on a foundation of trust that has developed over time. Within this board, trust is not just a buzzword; it’s a lived experience that shapes every interaction.
The trust of our CAB allows us to introduce and explore the elements of trust within our digital strategies. This community serves as a microcosm of what we aim to achieve on a larger scale across our digital platforms.
As we continue to develop and refine our digital experiences, we must always return to this idea of trust and authenticity. These principles should guide our decisions and interactions, ensuring that we foster environments where our customers feel safe, valued, and empowered to engage fully.
By prioritizing trust and authenticity, we not only enhance the customer experience but also create a more robust and resilient digital presence that can adapt to the ever-changing landscape of customer expectations.
Our goal is to extend the trust we've cultivated in our advisory board to every customer interaction, driving value and deepening relationships across all touchpoints.
Embracing empathy and listening to build trust
We've discussed how competence, consistency, and dependability are fundamental elements of trust. These are what I refer to as "table stakes" — the essential qualities any company must possess. However, to truly engage with our merchants in a human-centered way, we must go beyond these basics and focus on empathy, which is a key element of the trust index.
When we met with our CAB last May, we had an enlightening discussion about PayPal's evolving value proposition. It was fascinating to hear each member's perspective. We ended up with a dozen unique definitions of who we are as a brand. These definitions were influenced by the specific products and services each merchant used within our community.
This experience was a wake-up call. It showed us that while each description contained elements of truth, none fully captured PayPal's value proposition from a holistic perspective. Our diverse range of products and solutions make it challenging to encapsulate our brand identity in a single definition.
This highlighted the need to address this internally as a company. We had high-value customers and executives in the room, and because we operated from a place of trust, we could engage openly and listen intently. We didn't dismiss their insights or insist they were wrong. Instead, we viewed this as a learning opportunity.
The trust we established enabled us to take the next step in our journey —engaging and listening with genuine intent. This is a fundamental aspect of a human-centered approach.
An interesting anecdote illustrates how trust operates across different levels. Just last week, one of our merchant advocates reached out to me with a thought-provoking question:
"How do you know when enough is enough?"
This question wasn't about business metrics; it came from a personal project. The merchant advocate had been working on an opera and sought my perspective as a fellow creator on when to release it to the world.
This question was deeply personal and required space for vulnerability. Our conversation was lively and enriching, allowing us to explore the creator's perspective on completion and release. This exchange exemplifies the network effect of trust.
By fostering an environment of trust, we create spaces where open dialogue and vulnerability are welcomed. This approach strengthens our community and enhances our ability to grow and evolve as a company.
Elevating customer feedback through human stories
The process of gathering feedback from our merchants involves customer success managers tracking insights and feeding them into a model. This model helps identify issues and areas for improvement. While this process is effective in highlighting areas that need attention, it often lacks the depth and personal touch that truly drives change.
It's like the story of the 3,000 missing pets: we see the numbers, but we miss the individual stories —like Lucky in the cemetery— that bring those numbers to life.
The beauty of having a CAB is that it brings executives into the room to hear these personal stories firsthand. However, if you don't have a formal board, you must find ways to humanize those numbers.
You need to identify unique stories that highlight individual struggles, which are symptomatic of the larger issues. These stories bring depth and empathy to the data, making it more relatable and actionable.
Hearing twelve different merchants describe our brand and value proposition, each with varying perspectives, was a profound moment of accountability for us. The realization that none of these descriptions accurately captured our company sparked a desire to clarify our brand identity.
We want to say, "Here's who we are," and present this unified vision to the world in a way we haven't done before. This clarity will not only strengthen our brand identity but also help us communicate our value proposition more effectively.
Elevating feedback from data to action requires us to bridge the gap between numbers and narratives. By infusing human stories into our analysis, we can better understand the complexities and nuances of customer experiences. This approach allows us to take meaningful action that resonates with our customers and strengthens our relationships.
Focusing on individual stories means we can transform raw data into powerful insights that drive change and foster trust. This human-centered approach ensures that we remain responsive to our customers' needs and continue to evolve as a company that values authenticity and empathy.
The importance of providing a response
One crucial aspect we often overlook during this process is the importance of providing a response. Just as trust is foundational, circling back to people with a thoughtful response is an essential element of this process.
It maps directly to transparency and demonstrates integrity — key components of the trust index beyond the basic table stakes.
During our next meeting with the CAB, we made it a priority to respond to their feedback. We acknowledged their role in highlighting the need to redefine our value proposition and showed them how we had taken action based on their input. Instead of presenting a finished product and claiming it was perfect, we shared our progress and actively sought feedback on what resonated and what didn’t.
This approach opened up a broader discussion about the challenges many of our merchants faced in defining or redefining their own value propositions. It became a collaborative session where ideas and strategies were exchanged. This transparency further strengthened the trust between us and reinforced the value of open communication.
By being responsive and engaging in open dialogue, we enriched our relationship with our customers. We knew our reporting had room for improvement, and we lacked a strong B2B value proposition.
However, it wasn't until we approached these challenges from a human-centered perspective that real action was taken within the organization.
This experience demonstrated that being customer marketers and advocates is a powerful way to drive change and empower the organization to focus on what truly matters. Our role is not just about responding to feedback; it’s about using that feedback to drive meaningful improvements.
The BEEP framework
To encapsulate this approach, I like to use the acronym BEEP:
- Build trust: Establish a strong foundation of trust with customers.
- Engage and listen: Actively engage with customers and listen to their feedback.
- Elevate: Raise issues to the forefront before providing a thoughtful response.
- Provide a response: Deliver a clear and transparent response, showing accountability and commitment.
By leaning on the BEEP framework, we remind ourselves and our organization of the value we bring. We act as advocates for our customers and the unique contributions we make. This approach reinforces that we are indispensable and highlights the irreplaceable value we bring to the table.
As we continue to embrace this human-centered approach, we can drive positive change within our organization and ensure that our role remains vital and impactful. The unique value we bring is rooted in our ability to connect with people, build trust, and foster relationships that stand the test of time.
