Recommend This!: Delivering Digital Experiences that People Want to Share

Chapter 14

Maintaining Credibility

All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth come only from the senses.

—Friedrich Nietzsche

Why do some people go to Ogilvie’s and not Home Depot or Lowe’s? What is it about any retail store that draws more attention than its competitors?

One could argue that it’s about price. People go to one store over another when the prices are lower (which could also account for the growth of giants like Amazon and Walmart). But the flip side exists as well—some people will pay more money for a product even though it is relatively the same. It’s clear that price is not the only deciding factor.

According to James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II in their book Authenticity, it’s how authentic the business is that brings people to it (and even fuels their willingness to pay more money for a product). The authenticity of a business (versus the authenticity of its associates in their dealings with customers) is comprised of a variety of factors, one of which is credibility.

When people think about going to one store over another (or one website over another), it’s partly because they feel that the business knows what it’s doing. They can trust that the sales associates have the requisite product knowledge. They can trust that the website has the content they need and works as expected. They believe that the business has the expertise to answer questions and provide information.

The business, in the consumer’s eye, is credible. Of course, a need ...