The Digital Society and Trust

Executive summary As trust is a key ingredient of social relationships, sociology, the science dedicated to the study of social relations, provides the theoretical background for understanding engagement dynamics. The scientific constructs of trust and confidence may shed light on the rational and irrational sides of the brand-customer relation-ship, explaining customer behaviour and providing the bases for a trust strategy. Trust is based on reciprocity and it is a ‘bond between past and future’, leveraging past experience to anticipate the future. That’s why it is so important for brands to engage customers on the trust side: trust gives the customer a feeling of security, reducing risk and providing stability over time. Key in building trust is the management of information, expectations, reputation and security: any lack of information, any negativity in reputation or any breach in a security system may lead to a break in the whole loyal relationship followed by the viral diffusion of the negative perception. A trust strategy becomes a planned way to approach the trust issue: it is part of the brand strategy, contributing to the enlargement of the user base (customers currently using the product/ brand) and building loyalty on existing customers.