Development of trust marketing in the digital society

Abstract

The development of a digital society, rapid access to information sources changes the consumers' behaviour in terms of goods and services purchased online. In these conditions, the key to business development is trust: trust in web sites, information and brands represented on the Internet. Trust promotes consumers’ decision-making with regard to interaction and changes the approaches to marketing activities of business entities. The study identifies the factors that contribute to the development of trust and focuses on the importance of communication and consumer values, including the digital culture. The stages of trust marketing development, which are based on the principles of the theory of trust and consumer behaviour in a digital environment, are specified. The research was conducted with the involvement of online users through an on-line survey in April-July 2018 and included 2,038 respondents. Research questions were formed on the basis of focus groups, which included active Internet users. The research concerned Russian-speaking and Ukrainian-speaking Internet users. It reflects a certain socio-cultural environment of the Internet and gives impetus to continue the research focused on the multicultural comparison. This research gives an idea of consumers’ confidence in the digital environment and defines the conceptual aspects of developing trust marketing in relation to interaction, communication, consumer values and development stages. As the results of the study revealed, changes in consumer behaviour in the Internet environment, lack of direct contact with staff members enhance the value of trust in the company or brand. Therefore, trust marketing becomes the most demanded concept of modern marketing. According to this concept, marketing tools of enterprises in a digital society should be configured to establish trust relationships with consumers. This generates changes in the behaviour of enterprises themselves. The practical aspects of this research are to provide business stakeholders with guidance on developing trust marketing in a digital society based on consumer behaviour understanding. The social consequences of trust marketing development are the digital citizens' satisfaction with their livelihoods by increasing confidence in business and the state, minimizing the risks in the digital environment.