Persuasion decoded

Kent Grayson has spent decades studying why we trust some sales pitches and doubt others. This week, the Kellogg School of Management marketing professor breaks down the three ingredients of trust and explains why AI is about to make one of our favorite tactics a lot less believable. 

—Elena

By age 10, kids can already spot a sales pitch. 

Stanford researchers Marian Friestad and Peter Wright found that children build sophisticated "persuasion knowledge" long before adulthood.

 

What Actually Earns Consumer Trust? 

 

Does noticing a sales pitch make people trust it less?

No, consumers judge each tactic on its own. Kent and Mathew Isaac, a former Kellogg PhD student, surveyed more than 400 consumers about 20 advertising tactics for their study "Beyond Skepticism," in the Journal of Consumer Research. Price-matching and full-refund guarantees scored among the most trusted tactics, even though consumers knew they were sales pitches. "Limited time only" claims scored near the bottom.

What makes a brand trustworthy?

Three things: competence, honesty, and benevolence. Can you do the job? Do you keep your word? Do you have the customer's interests in mind, not just your own? Splitting trust into these three buckets helps a brand find exactly where things are breaking down, instead of just sensing that something feels off.

Is there more than one way to earn that trust?

Kent says there are two. Character-based trust comes from believing a brand is honest, competent, and looking out for you at its core. It's the trust a founder story builds. Assurance-based trust comes from knowing there are rules and penalties in place. It's why people take medication from pharmaceutical companies they don't even like. Most brands lean on some mix of both.

Is AI about to break the founder story?

Kent thinks so. He says marketers are close to generating a fully convincing, entirely fictional founder story on demand, exactly the kind of content that used to feel refreshingly real. His fix is to build trust where AI can't fake it. Bring real people, like influencers, into product development early enough that their enthusiasm is genuine, not scripted.

 

Listen in on our discussion.

 

"How to Make Ads That Even Savvy Customers Trust"  

This is the Kellogg Insight writeup of the study referenced at the top of the episode. It breaks down which of 20 common ad tactics, from price-match guarantees to celebrity testimonials, earn consumer trust and which ones backfire. 

Read the article.

 

Respect the audience. 

"The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife."

— David Ogilvy

This newsletter comes from the hosts of The Marketing Architects, a research-first show answering your biggest marketing questions. Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.