Years ago, consumers valued the ability to walk into a store, look the salesperson in the eye, and demand genuine honesty from the people they bought their goods and services from. Today, we buy our goods with a click and interact with brands over social media instead of face-to-face. While our method of buying and communicating with brands has changed, honesty remains the most important quality any brand can have.

Over the last century marketers have tried to distract consumers with the flashy and fancy aspects of a brand rather than share the truth behind the packaging. If you have ever seen old cigarette ads, you will understand. According to those ads, smoking was the sign of strong, healthy and chic individuals. Today we obviously know those advertisements were far from the truth. As a result, consumers have stopped trusting advertising or valuing their content.

In times like these, it’s time for the wizard to come out from behind the curtain and show the genuine people and values behind the brand or products.

Consumers value buying from brands that are honest and transparent about their organization, how they do their work and their commitment to customer service. Brands that provide an honest experience to their customers win their loyalty and respect.

In fact, the majority of consumers will shop at a brand that they find to be honest and authentic rather than one they do not trust. A study completed by Cohn & Wolfe found that 63 percent of consumers surveyed across 12 global markets would buy from an organization they found to be authentic over its competitors.

When it comes to communicating with your customers, honesty is the best policy. Tackle any comments, questions or concerns about your brand immediately and transparently. Ignoring questions or concerns you wish to avoid, or telling them not to focus on the wizard behind the curtain, so to speak, will no longer work for your brand. In fact, it will lead to distrust and potentially the loss of a customer.

The same study above found that 91 percent of respondents stated it is crucial for organizations to communicate openly about their products and services. Consumers want to support brands that have strong values and a true purpose rather than an overall focus on the bottom line.

The brands that are finding the most success today are the brands that use transparency and have pushed out bright lights and smoke machines from their marketing. Instead they are being honest about the way they do things and making changes to address the areas that matter most to consumers.

Honesty should not surface only when the news is positive. All brands have mishaps and stumbles along the way, and whether yours is large or small, consumers can learn a lot about your brand in the way you handle those situations. Owning up to mistakes can be difficult, but it allows consumers to see the values behind their favorite brand when they show their true colors.