The Bedrock of Customer Experience: Trust
It doesn’t matter if you’re in SaaS, retail, healthcare, or hospitality—trust is the foundation of every relationship, and your relationship with your customers is no exception. Without trust, even the best-laid plans for customer experience are bound to fail. I’ve seen this play out on both sides of the table. As a Customer Experience leader, I’ve worked with many companies struggling to align their promises with delivery. As a customer, I’ve felt firsthand disappointment and frustration when trust is broken.
One story that stands out, though sadly not unique, involved a relationship with a Program Management SaaS company during my tenure as VP of CX and Service Design at an EdTech agency. Managing an expansive portfolio of client projects, we had particular and sensitive criteria for budget and time tracking tied to billing. After months of deliberation, establishing prioritized criteria, gathering use cases, attending product demos, and setting new budgets, we finally chose a tool. We staffed up an implementation team — an investment in itself — and began the onboarding process.
About a quarter of the way through our data transfer, we made a jarring discovery: the new tool couldn’t meet one of our core needs. Our software partner had either failed to truly listen or misrepresented the tool’s capabilities. The demos didn’t reflect the reality of the tool’s functionality. In the end, our full leadership team agreed to cancel the implementation, and the software partner lost more than just our business—they lost our trust. Fortunately for us, our previous software partner simultaneously received a major investment and was able to add critical features to their roadmap. We were able to recover our investment and avoid an expensive and time-consuming transition after all. All’s well that ends well—for us, at least. As for the partner, we cut loose? They eventually went out of business.
This experience taught me something important, a lesson I’ve seen in action over and over again: even the most well-intentioned organizations can lose trust by failing to align promises with delivery. It's a reminder that trust isn't just about intent—it's about execution.
Trust Isn’t Built on Dreams
As a CX consultant, I often see SaaS companies fall into a common trap: selling the dream of what their product could be, rather than focusing on what it is today. I don’t believe our program management software partner set out to deceive us. Instead, they were so caught up in the vision of their future product that they struggled to connect with the problems we needed solved in the present. Selling a vision is easy, especially for passionate product teams, but customers don’t have the luxury of waiting for a vision to materialize—they need solutions now. Selling dreams creates a gap between expectations and reality that can be devastating to both relationships and reputations. This gap erodes trust, and as we'll explore next, trust is the cornerstone of every successful customer relationship. When it comes to trust, a sales pitch rooted in reality will always take you farther than a fairy tale.
The Key to Long-term Customer Success
At its core, trust means doing what you say you will do—it’s the glue that holds all relationships together. In customer experience, trust is everything. If your customers don’t feel they can rely on you to deliver on your promises, no amount of innovation will save you. Remember, it’s not about you; it’s about solving their problem. If they can’t depend on you to fix it, they’ll find someone who can.
Beyond solving immediate problems, trust is also a powerful tool for building longevity into your business. Think of it like capital — the more you have in the bank, the better equipped you are to weather inevitable ups and downs. But trust, like capital, must be spent wisely. Trusting customers become advocates, driving growth and sustaining your business over time. They’re also more likely to invest further — spending more money, time, and loyalty to your brand. Without trust, however, customers hesitate, which can stall business and hinder long-term success.
Common Pitfalls in Building Trust in Customer Relationships
Building trust isn’t always easy, and many organizations—whether serving businesses or individual customers—fall into common traps that erode confidence. Some common missteps:
Lack of Collaboration Between Teams: Trust starts from within. In B2B, when sales teams don’t fully understand the product, or when marketing and operations teams aren’t aligned, it leads to overpromising and underdelivering. Similarly, in B2C, disjointed messaging between marketing campaigns and in-store experiences can erode trust. Alignment across teams ensures a unified and trustworthy customer experience.
Saying Yes to the Wrong Customer: Not every customer is a good fit. Chasing every deal to hit targets — whether acquisition quotas in B2B or customer volume goals in B2C — can be a costly mistake. Misaligned promises lead to frustration on both sides, creating friction between internal teams and undermining customer confidence. Saying “no” to the wrong opportunities is a long-term investment in trust and resources.
Poor Expectation-Setting: Many customers experience what I call “effort shock”—the unpleasant surprise of realizing how much work is required to get value from a product or service. In B2B, this often happens during onboarding, when a lack of upfront clarity about the process erodes confidence. In B2C, it can happen post-purchase, when a product doesn’t work as advertised or policies are unclear. Clear, transparent communication about what customers can expect builds trust and allows them to plan effectively, no matter the context.
What Good Looks Like
While I’ve shared an example of broken trust, there are countless positive examples to learn from as well. Whether it’s setting clear expectations with clients about risks during a complex project or offering policies that protect customers from product failures and fraud, strong trust-building practices are all around us.
Let’s shift from B2B to B2C for a moment. While trust is built differently in these contexts—B2B relationships often hinge on long-term alignment and collaboration, while B2C focuses on a series of positive transactions — the foundational principles are the same. Does this brand or service provider do what they promise? Do they act with my best interests in mind? And do they deliver consistently?
One example that comes to mind is Target. Over many years of shopping with them, I’ve learned to trust their policies and staff to resolve any issues I’ve had with products. Their return policy is flexible and consistently applied, ensuring that I never worry about being stuck with a product that breaks or fails to meet expectations. What makes Target stand out is not just their policies but their consistency. Over decades of interactions, I’ve learned what to expect in quality, support, and service. Knowing I can rely on Target’s consistency removes stress and uncertainty from my shopping experience, which is why I return again and again. Is it always perfect? No, but after decades of transactions, I have perceived a strong pattern of service and product consistency. It’s that reliability that has earned my loyalty.
On the B2B side, I’ve implemented numerous software products with vendor partners, and the most successful relationships were with teams that clearly outlined timelines, scope, and risks upfront. They provided regular updates, demonstrated a deep understanding of my team’s priorities, and delivered tailored solutions accordingly – and when the couldn’t they were honest about their limitations. This combination of transparency, accountability, and alignment earned mine and my teams’ loyalty over time and led to long-lasting partnerships.
How to Build and Sustain Trust in CX
Honesty in Capability: Be transparent about what your product, service, or offering can and cannot do. Customers—whether individuals or businesses—value honesty over promises that go unmet.
Focus on Current Strengths: While it’s valuable to share your future roadmap or goals, anchor customer conversations in what you can deliver today. This sets clear expectations, especially in B2B relationships where unmet promises can have long-term ripple effects.
Alignment Across Teams: Ensure all customer-facing teams—sales, support, product, and service—are aligned in their understanding of capabilities, commitments and policies. Misalignment creates confusion and damages credibility, whether you’re guiding a client through onboarding or explaining a return policy.
Proactive Communication: Keep customers informed about changes, updates, or potential issues. In B2B, this might mean proactively addressing risks in a project timeline. In B2C, it could mean notifying customers about delayed shipments or unexpected product issues.
Consistency in Service and Support: Whether it’s an onboarding program, technical troubleshooting, or a routine transaction, consistent service reinforces trust. Customers need to feel confident that they’ll receive the same quality of care and attention every time they engage with your brand.
The Non-Negotiable Foundation of CX
In the end, trust is not a feel-good concept or a trendy buzzword—it’s the cornerstone of your customer experience and a measurable driver of long-term success. By addressing common pitfalls and committing to transparency, consistency, and reliability, organizations can create relationships that inspire loyalty, advocacy, and sustainable growth. Because without trust, there are no meaningful customer relationships—and without customers, there is no business.
AI Transparency Statement: I use GenAI (ChatGPT & Grammerly) for insights and initial drafts, which I fully rewrite and refine. The tool helps with grammar and structure, but all content is carefully crafted and finalized by me to reflect my voice and vision.
