A growing ‘trust deficit’ is costing UK SMBs thousands of pounds each year, as they struggle to know who to trust when doing business online. New insights from B2B Stars reveals that a third (33%) of businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to trust the people and companies they encounter online.
The research highlights how nearly 30% of businesses are struggling to build trust with new contacts, while 29% report finding it hard to distinguish between fake and genuine profiles on places like social media platforms. As a result, SMBs are losing an average of £93,000 a year due to poor decisions driven by unreliable information, false profiles and misleading claims.
Compounding the financial pressures that many small companies already face, this lack of trust online leads to inefficiencies and ineffectiveness in finding the right companies to partner with. The ultimate long-term consequence is a reduced competitiveness and growth of the UK’s SMB sector.