Customer Trust: Why It Matters and How to Measure It

Measuring customer trust is one of the biggest challenges businesses face today. Trust is critical to building strong customer relationships, but many companies struggle to define it, let alone measure it in a way that drives meaningful change.

In this episode of The Modern Customer Podcast, I sit down with Megan Burns, a Fortune 500 advisor and keynote speaker with over 20 years of experience helping companies like Microsoft, Verizon, and DHL rethink how they approach trust. Megan’s approach challenges conventional thinking, emphasizing that trust—not just experience—is the cornerstone of every successful customer interaction. Megan shares actionable strategies for breaking down silos, simplifying complexity, and creating trust that scales.

Key Highlights from the Conversation:

02:37 | CX vs. Customer Trust: Megan explains the fundamental shift from customer experience to customer trust, highlighting trust as the ultimate goal of every customer interaction.

04:39 | The Limits of Empathy: As businesses grow, complexity can overwhelm even the most empathetic teams. Megan discusses how systemic challenges often outweigh individual efforts and what companies can do to simplify operations.

08:16 | Consistently Good, Strategically Amazing: Why businesses should focus on delivering reliable, predictable experiences with occasional, strategically placed moments of delight—rather than trying to "wow" at every turn.

11:28 | Creating a Customer-Centric Culture: From perspective-taking exercises to direct customer conversations, Megan outlines actionable steps for building a culture that puts customers at the center of decision-making.

14:39 | What Companies Fear About Customer Feedback: Megan dives into the fears many businesses have about exposing employees to direct customer feedback and how to shift the culture to embrace constructive criticism.

17:33 | Why Trust Drives Growth: Trust reduces friction, fosters collaboration, and lowers operational costs. Megan explains how trust can be a competitive advantage for companies willing to invest in it.

19:15 | Measuring Customer Trust: Practical advice on assessing trust, from direct customer surveys to analyzing behaviors that signal reliability and transparency.

?? Actionable Insights:

Megan highlights that building customer trust doesn’t require perfection—it requires intention. Leaders can start by:

• Mapping customer journeys to identify friction points.
• Prioritizing consistent reliability over constant “wow” moments.
• Encouraging open, direct customer conversations to foster empathy and understanding.
• Measuring trust through key behaviors like transparency, reliability, and plain communication.

?? Tune in now to discover how to build a culture of trust that empowers your teams and delights your customers.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.

Don't miss Blake Morgan's new book, "The 8 Laws of Customer-Focused Leadership." To learn more visit www.8CXLaws.com.