By Terry Wilson | The Chat Podcast | ChatMetrics.com
“You’re trying to take two steps over without frankly earning those two steps. And I think that’s really what trust is. It’s an earned quality.”
-Ellza Malok
Trust used to be a handshake. Now it’s a split-second decision.
In today’s hyper-digitized marketing landscape, trust is more than a feel-good buzzword. It’s the currency of conversion. If you’re a marketing or sales leader watching high-intent buyers bounce from your site without a whisper, you’re not alone – and you’re not broken.
You’re just missing the modern trust playbook.
And in Part 5 of The Chat, my guest Ellza Malok – marketing strategist and data whisperer – uncovers exactly how trust is lost, how it’s earned, and why “too much automation” might just be killing your pipeline.
Let’s break down the big lessons.
Assumptions Are the Enemy of Trust
Ellza shared a story that hit a nerve.
A company she worked with had been targeting the same market segment for three years – using outdated data. When she cross-checked publicly available sources, the total addressable market was actually 3x larger than they thought.
The result?
They were ignoring 66% of their potential buyers.
Why?
“Because marketing still tends to operate from an assumptive mindset. They’re relying on internal data and past customer behavior. But your current customers are already sold. They’ve drunk the Kool-Aid. You need to know why people don’t buy from you.”
This is a powerful shift in perspective. Trust isn’t built by knowing your customer. It’s built by understanding those who walked away.
AI Is Getting Smarter – But Humans Still Close the Deal
We’ve all seen it.
The “intelligent” chatbot opens a conversation by asking for your email before you even say hello. As Ellza puts it, this is a prime example of “trying to skip two steps before earning them.”
At Chat Metrics, we’ve studied this behavior across thousands of live chats. And here’s what the data says:
- 33%of people now ask whether they’re speaking to a real person
- Another 6%assume it’s a bot – and talk to it like one
- When they realize it’s a human? The tone softens. The conversation opens up.
And perhaps most damning: in one client case, 96% of users dropped out of a chat the moment they were asked for an email up front.
Here’s the kicker: those leads weren’t cold. They’d already clicked “Talk to Sales.”
But trust hadn’t been earned yet.
Want Trust? Give Value Without Asking First
Ellza calls it out directly: most marketing teams are still playing a game buyers have already figured out.
“You’re offering gated content, and buyers respond with fake emails. We’ve literally created an industry of temporary inboxes because of this arms race between marketers and buyers.”
She’s right.
Modern buyers are savvy. They recognize “needy” marketing from a mile away. The second you act like you’re more interested in their contact info than their problem, the trust drops through the floor.
So what’s the answer?
You flip the funnel.
At Chat Metrics, we’ve built our entire model on one truth: the more anonymous the conversation, the more real the answers. We never ask for contact info until:
- The buyer has been heard
- Their intent is clear
- We’ve actually helped them
Only then do we ask, “Would you like us to book an appointment for you?”
And when we do that, lead capture rates go up. Way up. 10x in some cases.
Bring Humans Back Into the Buying Process
Ellza made a bold prediction:
“I think we’re going to see a rise in demand – and compensation – for soft-skill roles like customer support and live engagement. Because when everything is automated, the human stands out.”
It’s a sentiment I deeply share.
At Chat Metrics, our belief is simple: Purpose is people. That’s why all we do is live chat. No gimmicks. No tech distractions. Just real conversations, delivered by real people, in real time.
Ellza reinforces this idea with a killer insight:
“Every procurement journey might start with AI. But a human still makes the final decision. And that decision is emotional.”
Boom.
Automation can be recommended. AI can aggregate. But only a human can reassure. Only a human can feel the urgency behind a prospect’s problem and respond with empathy, not code.
Trust Has a Framework – And Consistency Is the Hardest Part
Ellza shared her personal process for building trust:
- Transparency
- Reciprocity
- Empathy
- Consistency
And while marketers love to talk about “authenticity,” she drops this truth bomb:
“You can’t be consistent if you’re not being yourself.”
It’s a reminder that trust isn’t just a tactic. It’s a personality trait of your brand. And it has to show up in every touchpoint – from your chat window to your thought leadership.
So What Now?
If you’re a B2B marketing leader reading this, you might be feeling what many of our clients feel:
“We have the traffic. We have the intent. But we’re not converting.”
Here’s the reality:
You don’t have a conversion problem.
You have a trust problem.
But trust isn’t magic. It’s built with small, intentional shifts:
- Delay the ask
- Lead with help, not hype
- Embrace the human element
- Fix the leaky funnel at the moment of greatest buyer intent – on your website
That’s the work. It’s not sexy. But it works.
And if you want a proven system to do it 24/7, that’s exactly what we do at ChatMetrics.com.
No pressure. Just real help, when you’re ready.
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