How to build customer trust fast, on a startup budget

Trust isn't built with expensive ads.

There's a dangerous myth in startups: That trust can be bought. Nonsense. Big budgets don't buy trust. (Does anybody trust Meta? Ryanair? Wells Fargo?)

The good news? This isn’t about working harder. It’s about narrowing the problem. 

The trick is to stop thinking about "trust" as a big, fuzzy abstraction. Break down the problem, think of it as a specific set of people with a specific set of doubts. And here’s how you win them over.

First, diagnose the doubt 🔬

Customer anxiety breaks down into 3 types:

1. Category anxiety: "I don't trust anyone in this space." One bad experience in the industry might’ve poisoned the whole category. (Common in: supplements, used cars, weight loss, airline booking)
   

2. Brand anxiety: "I've never heard of you…”

They’d rather overpay for a brand they know than take a risk on someone new.  (Common in: money transfer, SaaS, restaurants)

3. Use anxiety: "I'm not sure this will work for my situation." "Is it compatible with…" "Will I be able to stick with it?" 

   They’re not doubting you. They’re doubting the outcome.

Which one is stopping your customers?

Second, address it head-on 🔨

Don’t boast generic "five stars" and “you’re amazing” testimonials. Call out the specific doubts and answer them directly.

• In your positioning, speak directly to the category-level doubt: E.g. "Get the best 5G coverage in the nation, and your unused data never expires."

• In testimonials, have customers name the anxiety: "I always worry about supplements, do they really work? But when I tried Product X, I  noticed an immediate improvement."

• In FAQs, phrase questions the way a skeptical customer speaks: "Does this work in production?" "Has this been independently verified?"

But don’t blast these messages to everyone…

Third, target the right people 🎯

You don't need the whole world to trust you. Trust is a middle-of-funnel problem. It matters to the people who’ve already heard of you and are deciding.

Retarget site visitors or warm prospects and show them anxiety-busting messages. Build trust into your nurture email sequences, organic content, and sales decks.

I once posted our worst customer reviews to LinkedIn and emailed them to my whole list. I was nervous, but my audience appreciated the honesty – because I was addressing doubts they already had.

You don't need to spray cash to build trust.

Narrow down the problem: 

• Which people?

• Which layer of anxiety?

• Which doubts?

I hope this helps!