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Tech is amazing at getting attention. But building trust is still a job for humans.<\/p>\n
Consider how AI has changed marketing: analytics, targeting and follow-up are exponentially faster than they used to be just a few short years ago.<\/p>\n
But while these tasks are vital parts of keeping your company\u2019s outreach efficient, none of them change the actual decision point where a prospective customer decides to give you their business. Most people still want to deal with a human they can hold accountable \u2014 someone they can look in the eye when they sign a contract.<\/p>\n
And the more automated the world becomes, the more valuable that human connection is.<\/p>\n
The roofing industry is a perfect example. My virtual home services company, Roof Maxx, uses AI to streamline training and communications in our national dealer network, but those dealers make most of their sales by dealing directly with homeowners the way only another human can.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how we do it, and how you can follow the same principles to keep your brand authentic in a world that often feels like it\u2019s running low on trust.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Entrepreneur Daily newsletter to get the news and resources you need to know today to help you run your business better. <\/i>Get it in your inbox<\/i>.<\/p>\nAnonymity is authenticity\u2019s worst enemy<\/h2>\n
You\u2019ve been online at least once in the last decade or so, so you don\u2019t need me to tell you that it\u2019s getting hard to tell what\u2019s real from what isn\u2019t. We live in an era where it seems that practically anyone with an internet connection can create anything and attribute it to any source they want.<\/p>\n
I won\u2019t get into the whole host of reasons why that\u2019s problematic for society at large, but here\u2019s why it\u2019s bad for brands: When anyone can fake expertise from behind a screen, it becomes practically impossible for real experts to prove that they know what they\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a name for this phenomenon: the Trust Recession. And it started even before AI became mainstream. Data from Ipsos shows that trust in online experiences dropped 11 points between 2019 and 2022, a period of only three years. For the record, ChatGPT was released in early 2023, but deep learning has been around for decades.<\/p>\n
Even back then, AI factored into the reasons for this loss of confidence. A survey from the same study showed that policies to regulate the development and use of AI were concerns named by nearly 50% of responders, and that over 50% saw value in policies to control the production of online content.<\/p>\n
Need proof that this is real, or that it\u2019s still happening? Just look at Salsify\u2019s 2026 Consumer Research Report, which surveyed over 3,000 shoppers in the United States, the UK and Canada. It showed a 57% drop in online shopping over the past year and cited \u201cwidening trust gaps in product information\u201d as a key reason for consumers returning to brick and mortar stores to make their purchases.<\/p>\n
Our Roof Maxx dealers know everything there is to know about the product we developed to treat asphalt shingles. Many of our dealers are also roofers, and all of them are experienced at spotting rooftops that are strong candidates for treatment.<\/p>\n
Better yet, they can do this in person and at a glance. If one of our dealers is treating your roof and happens to notice that your neighbor\u2019s shingles are also aging and brittle, there\u2019s a good chance they\u2019ll be able to visit next door at some point during the work, introduce themselves and strike up a conversation about it.<\/p>\n
Best of all, your neighbor will already know you just hired them to treat your roof, so they\u2019ll already have some level of trust in the dealer\u2019s expertise. That means they\u2019ll begin the conversation in a more receptive state of mind than the skeptical one people often adopt when searching for information online.<\/p>\n
This kind of personalization works in roofing because spending money to improve the home you live in is an intensely personal decision. But you\u2019d be surprised at how many other types of businesses can benefit from this old-school approach.<\/p>\n
None of this is to say that online shopping or digital marketing are dead. Far from it, in fact. The ecommerce industry is actually growing every year. That\u2019s not the takeaway here.<\/p>\n
What I\u2019m saying is that even though more people around the world might be going online to shop, that growth isn\u2019t driven by an increase in trust. Since trust in online experiences is actually declining, what this means is that there\u2019s probably a limit on the kinds of things people will actually follow through with buying over the internet, especially if they can\u2019t talk to a human expert first.<\/p>\n
To back this up, let\u2019s consider average revenue per user. The typical consumer is spending around $1,200 USD in total online each year. That means people might be willing to take chances on t-shirts or novelty items, but they\u2019re not committing to major purchases.<\/p>\n
High-value, high-stakes items are bigger decisions. There\u2019s more for the average consumer to consider. And that means they need to talk with an authority they can trust to guide them to the right decision.<\/p>\n
So stay invested in your talent and make sure you\u2019re training your team with proper people skills. They\u2019ve always been valuable, and they\u2019re about to matter more than ever.<\/p>\n
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