Trust vs brand recognition in e-commerce decisions

The best product doesn’t win. The best brand does. Harsh? Maybe. Real? Abso-FLIPPIN-lutely. For most of the 20th century, product quality was king. But today, in mega-saturated markets, that’s no longer true. Buyers don’t choose the best product. They choose the brand they know, trust, understand and most importantly: remember. Remember the “remember" for this post. If I had a dollar for every time I heard, “We have the best product but they’re still beating us...” I’d be writing this from a yacht, not a standing desk. DISCLAIMER: A shit product will always be a shit brand. But in today’s market, A good product is just the baseline. Here’s why brand wins, broken down in 6 take-home-with-you points: 01 – The over-choice problem When features blur, consumers choose what they know. 75% are more likely to buy from a company they recognise (LinkedIn/Edelman) 88% say supplier offerings are hard to differentiate on features alone (Gartner) A strong brand isn’t just helpful, it’s how buyers cut through the noise...and B2B right now has way too much noise, the bad type. 02 – Brand recognition = $ Buyers don’t start from scratch, they start from memory. Brand memory, not product memory. 90% of B2B buyers choose from a shortlist of known brands (HBR) 75% are more likely to buy from a brand they recognise (LinkedIn/Edelman) If you’re not in the mind, you’re not in the market. 03 – Branding reduces perceived risk In B2B, buying isn’t just logical. It’s political. Strong brands = less perceived risk = reputational cover if things go wrong. Strong brands pay 1.7–3% less interest on debt (Brand Finance) Why? Because banks, investors, and yes, your CEO trust them more. 04 – Brand > Features VHS beat Betamax: worse specs, better branding Coca-Cola outsells Pepsi: even though Pepsi wins blind taste tests Salesforce outgrew SAP: by spending 45% of revenue on marketing IBM wasn’t always best-in-class, but it was the safest choice Apple… don’t even get me started Winning = good product + great brand. 05 – The psychology behind it all Buyers use shortcuts, especially in complex decisions. Brands make (product) decisions easier. Familiar names trigger emotional safety In B2B, emotional messaging increases purchase intent by 3× (Google/CEB) Rational? Maybe. Emotional? Always. 06 – Strategic shift: intangibles are the advantage In 1975, 17% of the S&P 500’s value came from intangibles Today? It’s 90%+ In 2024, brand awareness became the #1 priority for B2B marketers (Dentsu) Brand isn’t just a comms function. It’s business strategy. Bottom line: If your brand isn’t remembered, it won’t be chosen. Product is the ticket to play. Brand is how you win the game.

Execs want ROI on brand awareness. Fair. The issue is they track it with last-click attribution, direct response, or some formula that doesn’t map to pipeline. Brand doesn’t work like that. → Brand = Trust The more people recognize and trust your brand, the easier it is for sales to close deals. Trust isn’t built in a single touchpoint b/c it happens over time, across multiple interactions. → Look at the right signals - Self-reported attribution (“How did you hear about us?”) - Direct and organic traffic trends - Branded search volume increases - More engagement from your ICP on social - Higher conversion rates - inbound vs. outbound These show if brand efforts are working without relying on broken attribution models. → Brand awareness lowers CAC Companies with strong brand presence don’t have to buy as many clicks because people already know them. Done right, brand awareness reduces customer acquisition cost, shortens sales cycles, and increases inbound pipeline. That’s ROI. Just not always instant. If leadership still doubts brand, look at who’s winning in your space… 99% of the time the chances are everyone already knows their name. Brand awareness isn’t a vanity metric. But most B2B teams measure it like one.

I've met 300+ CMOs of eCommerce and retail brands. Most of them want long-term profitability but they do not talk about two intangible concepts enough: Brand awareness and Trust. And I think the bigger challenge is convincing your CFO of their true value. Let me explain: --------------------------------- → 1. Think of trust as the fuel for loyalty and retention. Customers who trust your brand stay longer and recommend you to others. For example: We worked with a high-end beauty brand that invested heavily in top-of-the-funnel campaigns highlighting their commitment to sustainability. The result? Initially, their ROAS dipped but over 12 months, they achieved: - A 25% increase in repeat purchases - A 30% boost in customer lifetime value (LTV) → 2. Quantify brand awareness and trust with financial metrics Use tools like: - Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM): To show how brand campaigns drive long-term growth - Incrementality Testing: To measure their true impact Present the insights in financial terms: - Contribution margin - Incremental revenue Bottom line: When you tie trust and awareness to real business outcomes, you turn intangible brand equity into measurable value. --------------------------------- How are you showcasing the financial impact of trust and awareness in your organization? Let’s discuss.