The Trust Recession: Why Buyers Don’t Believe Your Claims Anymore

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Welcome to the 184th edition of The Growth Elements Newsletter. Every Monday and sometimes on Thursday, I write an essay on growth metrics & experiments and business case studies.

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If it feels like buyers don’t believe you, even when you’re telling the truth, you’re not imagining it. We’re in a trust recession.

Everyone says “AI-powered, 10x, game-changing.”

Buyers have been burned enough that their default stance is simple: “Prove it.”

What Changed

• B2B buyers now rely more on peers and reviews than on vendors or analysts.​

• Analyst report usage is at multi-year lows; many buyers see them as pay-to-play.​

• AI-generated content and demos made it easy to talk like a leader without actually being one.

So buyers respond by ignoring most claims and looking for their own proof.

How Buyers Actually Decide in 2025

• They trust their own past experience most.​

• They lean on user reviews, communities, and peers instead of vendor promises.​

• They treat vendor marketing as a starting point, not the truth.

How to Sell in a Trust Recession

You don’t fix this with better adjectives.

You fix it with:

1. Live product, not slides: 

   • Let people click, test, and see reality quickly.

2. Plain numbers: 

   • Real before/after metrics, not theoretical “up to 300%.”

3. Honest limits: 

   • Say what your product doesn’t do. Buyers remember that.

4. Customer voices: 

   • Let users talk in their own words, in communities, calls, and case studies.

Trust is now the main differentiator.

The good news: most vendors still oversell. If you’re the one who doesn’t, you stand out.

That's it for today's article! I hope you found this essay insightful.

Wishing you a productive week ahead!

I always appreciate you reading.

Thanks,
Chintankumar Maisuria