Trust effects every relationship we have and influences even slight encounters. The importance of trust is rarely argued, but unfortunately, trust is not routinely a conscious, top-of-mind part of the decision-making process. Trust is an interactive exercise and involves two parties (i.e., producer/consumer) who each demonstrate degrees of risk and responsibility. However, trust is only as valuable as it is visible, which is why we need to achieve trust transparency in our organizations and consumer relations.

Trust transparency in the dietary supplement industry is paramount because of the nature of both action and expectation. Organizations in the dietary supplement industry are not selling widgets that people externally utilize and discard. Supplements are products that people ingest with the expectation of an improved quality of life. The risk/responsibility ratio is incredibly high to both the manufacturer and the consumer. As a result, more attention to the issues driving trust is imperative.

Consumers want to trust supplement manufacturers or providers to relate with their needs, wants, concerns, fears, etc. They want to know how these concerns are being met and want education beyond what is found on the label. Consumers want to know the promises provided by the product or service meets or exceeds expectations and is valuable. Purchasing decision models reported by various survey organizations summarily cite three primary decision process drivers; Trust Transparency defines this process as RED:

• Relate—Buyers want their needs understood and the problems/risks solutions easily communicated.
• Educate—Buyers want facts and education to support the solutions provided by the product or service.
• Deliver—Buyers expect and evaluate the product performance as well as the experience of the purchase.

How to Relate
Trust begins with communication and connection. Learning what customers want has never been easier as social media now provides real-time learning opportunities ranging from Facebook to peer reviews post sale. A recent Raymond James research report conducted in December 2016 indicated 52% of online shoppers began their research on Amazon. Search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. ranked a distant second with 26%. Inventory, price, and reviews were listed as the primary reasons for starting the buying process at Amazon. A report by Slice Intelligence stated 43% of all online sales in 2016 went through Amazon.

Internet Retailer reported a fifth consecutive year of double-digit e-commerce retail growth. 2016 reached a record increase of 15.6% growth with e-commerce retail sales, accounting for 11.6% of total retail sales. All this information combined supports the theory that paying attention to consumer feedback on your product and your competitor’s product is equally important to determine trends in the marketplace. This information also supports the theory that most retail purchases still occur at brick and mortar stores, but the delta between the options of traditional and e-commerce retail purchases is rapidly changing.

How to Educate
The establishment of trust to gain customers is well founded in almost all purchase decisions regardless of the product. The reinforcement of that trust through facts and education in the dietary supplement industry lends itself to greater brand loyalty. A 2013 Parthenon study indicated brands with the highest loyalty among consumers as Swanson, Now Foods, Jarrow, Doctor’s Best, and Nature Made. These brands had a common characteristic of being heavily focused on consumer education. Lower-priced brands had the lowest levels of brand loyalty.

In speaking to the need for education in the nutrition industry, the April 2008 Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ) Report noted the solution, according to United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) President Loren Israelsen, is editorial coverage. “A story says more about a product than a label claim ever can. Motivated customers seek out such information, but most will need the help of retailers and manufacturers to understand the true benefits of cutting-edge herbs and supplements.” There is no better way to achieve an impactful story than through science.

What Mr. Israelsen did not state nine years ago was the importance of the ingredient manufacturers to contribute to that story through the support of science. A 2017 ConsumerLab.com survey of over 9,500 respondents listed the most popular dietary supplements as vitamin D, fish oil, CoQ10, and probiotics. The report also listed melatonin and curcumin as leading supplements. In a search of PubMed articles referencing human studies, it is clear the more popular supplements have the most cumulative references.

These numbers indicate research contributes to the success of an ingredient. In all cases, 2016 research declined from 2015. Branded ingredient searches provided almost no references. The concern is the current decline in research can have long-term consequences. Branded ingredients are likely directly or indirectly supporting the studies that exist, but they are not individually getting credit. Ingredient manufacturers should collectively support human studies to continue to provide increased awareness and education. Together, ingredient manufacturers can share the cost of these human clinical studies just as the impact of results are shared in the marketplace. Additionally, the consumer typically determines the need for a particular ingredient and subsequently determines the benefits of the brand.

How to Deliver
Trust is ultimately valued and achieved through actions including product quality and customer service. All aspects of the supply chain impact consumer confidence. A retail brand or ingredient category in the dietary supplement space can maintain the highest degree of customer service, consumer education, and product quality, but the impact of a competitor that provides inferior quality or adulterated product can impact the entire industry.

Self-policing is more important in the dietary supplement industry, which is often mischaracterized as being unregulated, than in most other industries. While it is regulated, the laws that do exist are inadequately enforced. Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of the dietary supplement industry maintains a level of ethics and quality that leads to a high degree of overall consumer confidence.

Tragedies such as the L-tryptophan crisis of 1989 can leave scars. Even though only one manufacturer was proven to be culpable in that crisis, FDA removed the ingredient from the U.S. market for 15 years. The Peanut Company of America crisis, which resulted in several deaths from unethical production of peanut butter, while not a dietary supplement, affected the industry by creating increased legislation in the form of the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010.

The Natural Algae Astaxanthin Association (NAXA) found adulterated retail products that could not have been discovered with typical and standard test processes. NAXA was able to explain to the manufacturers of the affected product the concerns and issues, which were corrected. The Ephedra Education Council was formed because of a crisis already mature, was underfunded, and too late to benefit from any self-police correction.

The Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s (GOED) was formed to instill a level of quality, ethics, and education to that category after concerns emerged. Most participants in the industry agree the GOED purpose as initially outlined was achieved, and the ingredient has fared better than it would have without the organization.

Today’s dietary supplement consumer demands more than just a promise in a capsule accompanied with attractive packaging. The supplement consumer maintains even higher expectations than that found in most other industries. The risk/responsibility exchange representing the trust paradigm is held in higher regard between the consumer and the manufacturer because of the possible severity of that breach of trust. Trust is an asset, and it is up to all of us to keep that value proposition top-of-mind. While each person may define trust differently, the industry must define it with consistently higher value and application because that is what our consumers expect.

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Scott Steinford is CEO & founder of Trust Transparency Consulting; president of the Natural Algae Astaxanthin Association; and executive director of the CoQ10 Association. He can be reached at ssteinford@trusttransparency.com.