UX Design And User Adoption

The Brutal Truth About Consumer Trust in Home Care Why do some brands inspire trust effortlessly while others struggle to convince consumers? Home care isn’t like beauty or food, where customers instinctively check labels. For decades, legacy brands have relied on familiarity over transparency—building trust through big advertising spends rather than real ingredient disclosures. But that’s changing. Consumer trust is now shifting toward brands that disclose, educate, and take a stand. 1️⃣ The Parle-G Effect: Legacy Trust vs. New-Age Transparency For years, people have trusted brands like Surf Excel, Vim, and Harpic—not because they knew what was inside, but because they were always there on shelves and TV screens. This is the "Parle-G effect"—familiarity breeds trust. But today, trust is no longer inherited; it’s earned. The rise of brands like Kapiva (Ayurveda transparency), The Whole Truth (ingredient honesty) shows how modern brands build trust differently—by being upfront about what’s inside. 2️⃣ The Johnson & Johnson Shock: When Legacy Trust Breaks For decades, J&J was the gold standard for baby care. But lawsuits over talcum powder contamination with asbestos shattered consumer confidence worldwide. Even in India, brands like Mother Sparsh surged because young parents started reading labels—they no longer assumed safety just because a product was from a heritage brand. 3️⃣ The Patanjali vs. FSSAI Scandal: Why Trust Must Be Backed by Proof Consumers initially believed in Patanjali’s “natural” positioning. But repeated quality violations (like the recent FSSAI crackdown on misleading claims) eroded trust. The lesson? Trust cannot be built on slogans alone. If a brand claims toxin-free, natural, or safe—it must prove it consistently. 4️⃣ The Decathlon & Ikea Strategy: Trust Through Radical Transparency Decathlon shares detailed product breakdowns—how much polyester is used, where a product is made, and even the carbon footprint. Customers trust them because they don’t have to “guess” what they’re buying. Ikea lists every material, every environmental impact, and even assembly instructions upfront. No surprises. Just facts. In home care, Koparo is taking the same approach—putting ingredients front and center. Not just saying "toxin-free," but explaining why certain ingredients matter for better or worse (like the bioaccumulation of harmful chemicals in traditional cleaners). So What’s Next for Consumer Trust in Home Care? ✅ Brands that educate will win over brands that advertise. ✅ Ingredient transparency will become a non-negotiable (just like food labels). ✅ Consumers will demand not just safe products—but proof of safety. At Koparo, we’re all in on radical transparency. No vague claims. No marketing gimmicks. Just home care that’s safe, effective, and backed by science. The real question is—do you know what’s inside your cleaning products? #ToxinFree #Koparo #HomeCareRevolution 🚀

🌳 Design Patterns For Building Trust. With practical guidelines for designers on how to make products — AI and non-AI — more trustworthy, reliable and honest. In the noisy and polluted world today, trust doesn’t come for free. It doesn’t emerge by default. It must be earned and meticulously preserved — by being reliable, accountable and treating customers with respect. This holds true for people but it also for software. According to Anyi Sun, there are 5 psychological foundations of user trust: 1. Reliability 🔰 The degree to which the product consistently behaves as expected. It's a sense that that the product is dependable — based on a track record of past actions. Reliability comes from promising what you do, and doing what you promised. 2. Technical competence ⚡ Perceived intelligence, sophistication and capability of the product. It's user's belief that the product can successfully perform what they are being trusted to do. It's about trusting product's capability. 3. Understandability 🧠 The extent to which users feel they can understand how the system works or why it made a certain decision. The product must be able to articulate how a decision came along, with references to fragments that underpin a decision. 4. Faith and Care 🌱 Emotional, almost "blind trust" in the product, especially when users don't understand the underlying logic. It's a belief that the trusted party actually cares about the positive outcome for you, and intends to do good. 5. Personal attachment 🌳 A sense of rapport, connection or emotional engagement with the product. Typically it emerges when a user feels that they get meaningful value from the product, and from interactions with people supporting it. Personally, I would also add the value of repeated positive experiences that build confidence in the quality of the product, and hence its reliability. --- With AI products, hitting all these psychological foundations is extremely hard. Surely some people trust AI almost instinctively, others are more critical. But people's attitude often changes dramatically once they realized that they've made severe mistakes because of AI. Recovering from it is very hard. We can help with some design patterns: 1. Avoid "Ask me anything" → push for scoping and constraints 2. Slow down users in prompting → request specific details 3. Present multiple viewpoints, explain that experts disagree 4. Allow users to manage “memory”, profiles personalization 5. Highlight what is AI-generated and what isn't (AI disclosure) 6. Allow users to override AI-generated suggestions manually 7. Allow users to tweak AI output and refine it for their needs 8. Adapt AI's tone depending on the severity of user's task Trust is why people stay or leave. It builds long-term loyalty and helps users overcome hesitation. But it must be designed and retained — across all psychological foundations and with thoughtful UX work. I think designers will be quite busy for years to come. #ux #design

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗘𝗥𝗣 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹? 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵, not the business transformation it truly is. Listening to my network, there seems to be a rush to complete ERP migrations, as fast as possible, with SAP S/4HANA plans driving most of it. But an ERP system is more than just an IT upgrade. It’s a chance to redesign how your business operates and build a solution architecture that supports agility and innovation. While necessary, these migrations often become redundant without proper alignment to business goals. Something, I've seen happen! Here some get rights to consider: ◉ 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀 Ensure that IT and business leaders are on the same page. ERP systems serve broader business objectives, such as innovation, improving procurement strategies, and enhancing supplier relationships. ◉ 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀. Instead of getting caught up in the technology itself, be clear about the business benefits you'd like to achieve. New ERP functionality can be of support to achieve goals like efficiency, cost reduction, and agility. ◉ 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗱-𝘁𝗼-𝗲𝗻𝗱 Don't just migrate complex, outdated processes but streamline them end-to-end. Reevaluate processes for efficiency and desired outcomes. ◉ 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 - 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 ERP migrations often fail due to poor user adoption. Beyond training, invest in communication & ongoing support showing the value and relevance of the system to users. ◉ 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 ERP impacts every area of the business, so cross-team collaboration is essential. Involve stakeholders from finance, procurement, IT, and operations ensures the system meets everyone’s needs. ◉ 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 - 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲 An ERP system is only as good as the data it processes. Ensure that data is clean, consistent, and reliable before migration. Dirty or incomplete data is one of the biggest challenges post-go-live. ◉ 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 Choose an architecture which allows for future-proofing and integration of new features, scalability and integration. Business models evolve, and your ERP must evolve with them." ◉ 𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 - 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗳 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 Don’t rush an implementation. ERP migrations are complex and require time to integrate properly. A phased approach allows for troubleshooting and mitigates a risk for failure. ❓Any other "get rights" i missed and you would add from your experience. #erp #businesstransformation #migration #sap4hana

brands initiate less than 1% of conversations about them online… the other 99%? that's where your reputation gets built (or destroyed). Brandwatch released their state of social 2026 report (analysed 910 million mentions ) and the findings are eye-opening for brands still treating social as a megaphone: 𝟭/ 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 hidden fees mentions up 40%. de-influencing up 79%. boycott calls surged 95% in h1 2025. consumers aren't just leaving bad brands - they're actively warning others away (read: your futurec cusotmers). fired a customer on social? 100k people see it. pricing changed overnight? your ICP is already discussing alternatives in reddit threads you'll never see. the flip side? brands getting transparency right are turning customers into advocates. real examples. honest pricing. actual behind-the-scenes. that's what's driving word-of-mouth now. 𝟮/ 𝗔𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 people want AI that solves problems without compromising trust. the report shows rental car AI falsely flagging damage. customer service bots that can't resolve real issues. but when AI delivers genuine value? sentiment follows. the key is positioning it as empowerment, not replacement. because in b2b, that "human touch" in your customer success motion? still matters more than your automation metrics. 𝟯/ 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲: 𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼-𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 authenticity mentions in influencer conversations grew 66%. finance influencer discussions were 40% negative (scams, misleading promotions). but brands working with micro-influencers? 24% positive sentiment. for b2b: your customer advocates, your power users posting on linkedin, your employees sharing real stories - those are your influencers. not the growth guru with 500k followers selling a course. the report's clearest finding? customers control the conversation now. your job isn't to dominate it - it's to listen to the 99% and show up where it actually matters. what's one way you're planning to rebuild trust with your audience in 2026? ps: full report here 👉 https://lnkd.in/ghu3B4qx

The latest Edelman Brand Trust report confirms something I've been thinking about for a while. Trust and relevance have become two of the biggest drivers of revenue growth but I feel the report stops one level too soon. Most of the conversation is still happening at the brand level. In B2B, that's half the story. When someone signs a 6 or 7 figure contract, they're not buying software or a service. They're making a decision they'll have to defend. If it fails, their credibility is on the line as much as the vendor's. Trust in B2B is rarely transferred from a logo to a person or through a contract. It's transferred from one person to another. This is why I believe many employee advocacy programs today are solving yesterday's problem. They're designed to distribute brand content vs elevate expert voices. The Edelman research suggests buyers want something different. They want perspectives from people who understand their world. People whose experience helps them make better decisions. To do that, employees need the confidence and skills to show up. For CMOs, this changes the conversation. Employee influence isn't another marketing campaign scheduled in quarterly cycles measuring volume based metrics e.g. engagements and clicks. Sales, product, customer success, HR and executives all shape the trust buyers and candidates experience. If trust has become a commercial growth asset, employee influence must become a company-wide capability. That's the conclusion I took from Edelman's research. Not that trust has become more important (we all know that) but that in B2B, growth increasingly depends on making your trusted people impossible to ignore.

Last week, I talked to a SaaS and fintech entrepreneur/seed-round investor who's now exploring D2C ventures. One thing that stood out to me in the discussion was investors' perspective on ideas. Like many investors, this entrepreneur focuses primarily on the team and their clear understanding of the problem they're addressing in their early-stage investments. Sure, they want to understand how the product will generate revenue, but it's not the decisive factor. However, an insight he shared impacted me the most: the core communication varies across different sectors. For B2B SaaS companies, the most important thing might be the technology they use and the business problem they're trying to solve. Most importantly, whether or not their solution helps businesses grow through technology or simplifies processes. In contrast, for fintech companies, even before discussing the problem being solved and scalability metrics, TRUST is the key. Fintech companies inevitably deal with finances, be it payments, data, credit, insurance, or any other domain. As a result, for the end user, their money is on the line, making trust a tenfold more important factor. Trust is cultivated from: - The origin of the idea, - The founders and founding team's backgrounds, - The communication so far. Furthermore, the product's UX/UI and social proof also contribute significantly to building trust. Therefore, when it comes to fintech, trust is paramount, making it crucial to have the right team focusing on nurturing this factor.

One of the strongest points from my conversation with David was that almost everything in fintech can eventually be replicated, but not everything can be replicated quickly, cheaply, or credibly. If a company has enough capital, enough engineers, and enough time, most product capabilities can be copied, and with AI now accelerating software development, the speed at which companies can build new features will only continue to increase. But that does not mean every moat disappears. In regulated financial services, the real defensibility often sits beneath the visible product layer, in the licenses that take years to obtain, the banking relationships that are built slowly, the trust earned through repeated execution, and the compliance and risk infrastructure that partners need to believe in before they allow you to move money at scale. This is an important distinction because fintech companies have spent years competing on user experience, onboarding speed, feature depth, and product design, all of which still matter, but may no longer be enough on their own when AI makes the act of building software dramatically faster. The harder question is not whether a competitor can copy your interface, but whether they can replicate your regulatory coverage, your partner network, your operational credibility, and the confidence that banks, regulators, and enterprise customers have in your ability to manage risk. AI may make the front end easier to build, but it does not instantly create trust. And in fintech, trust is still one of the hardest things to manufacture. #fintech Shiv PingPong Payments

Booking.com reminded me what most brands still get wrong. I was booking a hotel recently and when looking at reviews, they let me filter by traveler type: couples, solo travelers, business travelers, families. Because they understand something fundamental: I don't care if a family with three kids loved it. If I’m traveling alone, my requirements are completely different. So instead of drowning me in generic 5-star reviews, they showed me reviews from people like me. That's when social proof actually matters. But social proof is only one layer. After years of building trust in fintech, healthcare, and insurance, I've realised there are actually five layers: 1.Trust by Social Proof (done right): Filter social proof by who's reading it — what they do, what they're trying to solve. Make it specific to their situation, not everyone's. 2. Trust by Trial: Let them use it free. No credit card. Easy exit. Because if you've actually solved a real problem, they'll stay. 3. Trust by Affiliation: Investors. Regulators. Experts. NHS approval. FCA regulation. Credibility by association. People will delegate their trust if you've earned the right affiliations. 4. Trust by Design: Airbnb nailed this. Their entire platform is built on trust prompts. "Tell your host why you're coming." Suddenly there's rapport. Suddenly the guest understands the implicit contract: this is a community built on trust. You're not asking for it — you're designing the path to it. 5. Trust by Greater Good (without greenwashing): Why do you actually exist? At Pharmacy2U, we weren't just dispensing prescriptions at scale — we were bringing remote healthcare to the patient's doorstep. Faster access, and a freed-up NHS able to focus on what matters most. Trust is the most important commodity in relationships. And it should be the same for brands. But most brands treat trust like something you add at the end. A testimonial section. A security badge. It should be built into every single touchpoint: Your design. Your messaging. Your experience. Your why. That's when social proof actually matters. Because it's not just saying "people like you." It's proving that people like you are winning with this. What layer of trust are you actually building into your product? ♻️ Found this helpful? Repost to share with your network.  ⚡ Curious about scaling and entrepreneurship? Hit follow Maya Moufarek.

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗜𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄-𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵. What if your reputation isn’t defined by your best work… but by the promises you don’t keep? Executives love branding. But reputation isn’t branding. Reputation is prediction: what people believe will happen after they say yes to you. And the brain forms predictions from patterns—especially broken patterns. In fact, you think reputation is what you say. The market thinks reputation is what you repeatedly do. Negative events carry more weight than positive ones (negativity bias). One missed deadline, one vague handoff, one “I’ll get back to you” that never happens can outweigh ten good interactions—because the brain is designed to detect risk. Risk is remembered. The executive fix: build “trust loops” - Make fewer promises, but make them precise. - Close loops fast: every open loop creates uncertainty, and uncertainty feels unsafe. - Standardize your follow-through: templates, checklists, timelines. - Over-communicate during silence: silence is interpreted as danger. Start with the the 48-hour rule: Any time you say “I’ll send it,” “I’ll introduce you,” or “I’ll follow up,” do it within 48 hours—or don’t say it. If you can’t meet 48 hours, set a date: “I’ll send it Tuesday by 16:00.” Precision reduces anxiety and increases respect. If you want to upgrade reputation quickly, don’t chase bigger visibility. Fix the small leaks. People don’t talk about your intentions. They talk about your reliability. Comment BRANDING if you think reputation is mostly marketing—make your case.

The fintechs that win in emerging markets are not really software companies. They are physical trust networks with an app on top, and the app is the part that gets underwritten. The visible company is digital: transaction volume, active users, merchant growth, platform expansion. The company that holds the moat is physical. It lives in agents, merchants, cash-in and cash-out points, field teams and repayment behaviour, the everyday places where people already move money. Here is why it matters. In markets where banks spent decades earning distrust, a number on a screen does not become real because the interface is good. It becomes real because a person hands over cash, a shopkeeper vouches for the product, a field officer fixes the failed transaction. That is the trust layer, and it is what makes a digital balance believable. Take M-PESA. Last year it moved KShs 38 trillion, around $300 billion, across 37 billion transactions, close to the entire payment behaviour of a country. The wallet gets the credit. The network of agents and tills that taught tens of millions of people to trust money on a phone is the actual company. So when you read one of these businesses, the test is simple. Find where cash enters and exits. Find who fixes the broken transaction. Work out whether trust sits with the brand or with a local agent the company does not control. Then ask what breaks if the agent network weakens by a fifth. If the answer is "not much," it is a software business. If the answer is "the company," then the trust layer is the company, and the spreadsheet is mispricing it. Emerging markets make this visible. They do not own it. Any market where institutions have not earned trust rewards the company that builds it in the real world. The hidden question is the one the funding announcement never prints: who does the customer trust when the money moves. Full breakdown, with the data and the companies, in the comments.