German discount grocer ALDI remains Australia’s most trusted brand, while Coles is one of the least trusted, according to Roy Morgan’s latest report.
The Top 10 Most Trusted Brands include Bunnings, Qantas and ABC, with some big disparities between the July and October surveys.
IGA, Samsung, Myer, RACQ have all fallen out of the Top 10, while Target, Kmart, ING and Toyota all saw their Net Trust Scores improve enough to secure a coveted spot in the October Top 10.
“Trust is vital to the success of any business, but the key message of the Roy Morgan Net Trust Score survey is that growing distrust can be a disaster, leading to customer churn, loss of market share and in some cases a long slide into oblivion,” said Michele Levine, Roy Morgan CEO.
“Understanding what drives trust with customers – and just as importantly with potential customers – is essential to brands wishing to improve their Net Trust Score. Trust is not just a ‘marketing’ or ‘comms’ issue – it goes to the heart of corporate culture and governance for every company.
Roy Morgan said that trust is vital in the era of fake news, and distrust is risky to a sustainable future for Australian businesses. Those brands with large distrust scores include Coles, AMP, Telstra, AGL and the big four banks.
“We have seen time and again companies making bad business decisions that don’t take into account the way people will feel about an action or policy. Whether it’s Facebook, the big banks or our major utilities, directors and their management teams need to think about the social drivers of trust and distrust – ethics, believability, integrity and transparency. The Roy Morgan NTS Report is a major step in helping achieve that level of awareness at all levels,” Levine said.
Net Trust Scores were highest in Supermarkets, Retail, Consumer Products sectors while lowest in Petroleum, Banking, Media, Mining industries.
