Five ways to keep belief moving in the right direction
Five ways to keep belief moving in the right direction
Belief is hard won and easily lost. It forms before trust, travels between people and remains up for grabs long after a buyer thinks they have a favourite.
So don’t treat belief as yours. Keep earning it.
Here are five ways to give buyers fewer reasons to doubt you – and more reasons to keep you in the running.
1
Stop saying trust
Trust comes later. 93% of buyers agree belief can form long before trust is earned, so stop asking marketing to do a job only delivery can finish. Give buyers enough evidence, expertise and confidence to believe you’re worth the next step. Then prove them right.
Key stat:
say belief can form long before trust is earned.
2
Compound your wins
Winning over one person is easy. 82% say building confidence and buy-in among multiple stakeholders is one of the hardest parts of a technology decision. Your case needs to survive rooms you’ll never enter, questions you’ll never hear and priorities you don’t share. Make your evidence clear, useful and easy enough for someone else to defend.
Key stat:
say building confidence and buy-in among multiple stakeholders is one of the hardest parts of a technology decision.
3
Don’t publish if it doesn’t prove
Buyers aren’t short of information. 80% have more of it than ever and still find it harder to know what to rely on. Adding another ten pages to the pile won’t save them. Cut the filler, make the evidence easy to find and give every claim something solid to stand on.
Key stat:
say it is becoming harder to know what information to rely on.
4
Make AI worth your while
Buyers are already using AI to interrogate your content, with 52% using it to summarise or question long-form documents. So use AI to sharpen the work, not become the work. Your advantage is still the thing a machine can’t manufacture on demand: specific expertise, original thinking and something genuinely useful to say.
Key stat:
use AI to summarise or question long-form documents.
5
Never assume you’ve won
Favourites aren’t winners by default. Around three-quarters of buying decisions remain open to change once direct engagement begins, while 52% lose confidence when they encounter generic, recycled or unoriginal content. Every interaction is another chance to strengthen your position – or give someone else an opening. Keep showing up with specificity, honesty and proof. Complacency is a very efficient way to turn preference into doubt.
Key stat:
lose confidence when they encounter generic, recycled or unoriginal content.
A dynamic belief system
Last year's research established that belief comes before trust. This year, we've started to understand what shapes it. Our findings suggest four distinct influences that determine whether confidence grows or fades.
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Differentiated Ltd, Floor 2, Duke Street Studios, 10-14 Duke Street Reading, Berkshire RG1 4RU
Visit our website differentiated.co.uk
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