There’s been a lot of talk in the industry over the last few years about the new consumer, how they’re no longer brand loyal and they only care about landing a deal. And while it’s true that it is more challenging to grab shoppers’ attention today—let alone convince them to pry their wallets open a bit more—it’s not impossible. In fact, there’s plenty of evidence that shows consumers will spend when companies deliver on their brand promises. Not only that, they’ll also become a brand’s best friend, eagerly spreading the word within their friend circles and their social followings.

But too often brands are careless with these hard-fought-for advocates. By offering inferior products and inflating claims, they turn them into disillusioned naysayers, undoing all the effort it took to win them over in the first place.

“It’s all about the trust, and the promises that a brand makes are sacred,” said MeiLin Wan, vice president, textile sales at Applied DNA Sciences. “The investment in goodwill and trust with your customer takes years to develop, but one wrong turn can destroy that trust in a minute especially with the speed of information and all the unknown paths it can take.”