Eargo, the direct-to-consumer hearing-aid company, is putting brand trust at the heart of its strategy as it encourages consumers to buy a product they cannot easily test before making a purchase.

Shiv Singh, Eargo’s CMO, discussed this subject during a session at CES 2020, an event held by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) in Las Vegas.

“For us, trust is everything because you’re buying such an expensive product that you’re putting in your body without having a chance to actually test it,” he said. (For more, read WARC’s in-depth report: How Eargo is building a direct-to-consumer brand in a complex, expensive category.)

“Just by virtue of our business model, we sell this virtually invisible product without giving someone a chance to actually play around with it.”

The reliance on trust is doubly important given Eargo’s target is an ageing audience – often Baby Boomers – that has never been more questioning about new products and services.

“Our customers are high-net-worth individuals, typically 45 and older. And they’re sensitive to scams,” Singh explained to the CES assembly.

For this cohort, he asserted, “predictability and consistency matters” – an insight that has exerted a significant impact on Eargo’s approach.

“We’re being predictable in how we communicate, when we communicate, and how we stay in sync through that entire customer journey – not just to the point of purchase, but for the lifetime of the product.”

To guide the marketing of technological advancements such as the line of Eargo products, Singh cited Morton Deutsch, the social psychologist, who famously advised: “always give more than you expect in return.”

“That is a very simple concept. But it’s the most fundamental concept in the theory of trust,” continued Singh, who has previously been a marketing leader at blue-chip marketers like Visa and PepsiCo.

“When you’re working with your customers – you’re acquiring them, you’re nurturing them, you’re forming lifetime relationships with them – ask your sales teams, your product teams, your customer-care teams, ‘Can you give them more than they would expect?’

“That’s how you build that trust relationship. And that’s how those customers will be there for you.”

Sourced from WARC