I’m shopping for furniture for our new house. I need a chair or a sofa for our family room, lights, all kinds of things.
I was on Facebook, and there was an ad that looked interesting. I thought, “Should I click?” I clicked anyway.
The site wants my email address. I can’t see anything without logging in. First, before I see any furniture, I have to give them my email address.
This action violates the basics of anything about building rapport and trust. I don’t even know these people. Do I want to share yet-another-login and password with this site?
This is not an idle question.
I don’t know about you. I have way more than 100 logins and passwords. I use 1Password to manage my logins and passwords. But it’s still not easy.
This site—and any other ecommerce site—has to gain my trust before I share my email with it.
It’s the same with you. I offer you my Pragmatic Manager email newsletter. I show you past issues, both in chronological and by tag order. I don’t pressure you to sign up.
I offer you blog postings in the hope you will sign up for my email newsletter. I don’t pressure you to sign up. Why would I?
How can you gain trust in me and my offerings if I create a barrier?
It’s the same with that site. I have no trust in them. Why would I give them my email address? How can I possibly trust them?
When you build a product, when you create a team, when you do anything that has people who need to come together, think of how you build trust first. Once you build trust, the rest is much easier.
