Why Skepticism of Corporate Statements is High

Your air-tight corporate statement probably isn’t landing.

The numbers: According to research by SmartNews, 90% of Americans “question the sincerity” of a company message, which they’re most likely to read in a traditional news story (54%) or a corporate social media post (51%).

• These are big numbers, but they’re not shocking. The public’s trust in industries and corporations has been on a long decline, and of course that translates into skepticism of company statements.

What matters here is why the statements don’t work anymore: They don’t sound honest enough.

• 86% say that specific corporate phrases immediately sound inauthentic. The leading offenders: “This lawsuit has no merit” and “[X] is a game-changer for the industry.”
• 36% say that statements as a whole sound too scripted and PR-driven. Unfortunately, that’s because many of them are. Readers can tell when a company is being too careful (are they hiding something? ) or blowing hot air (do they have anything to say at all? ).

Most corporate statements are issued to explain a newsworthy announcement or manage a crisis. In both instances, empathy and authenticity are critical. Empathy enables you to communicate human-to-human – recognizing the implications of your announcement on real people and speaking in an honest, relatable way. Authenticity, of course, means that your message matches your values as a company.

When corporate jargon sneaks into a statement, it can kill the empathy — real people don’t talk like that! — and invite skepticism into the authenticity of the message. And that’s where corporate quotes can feel out of tune.

The antidote? Action-oriented language. In a crisis, statements like “We are committed to resolving this issue,” and “We recognized the importance of this issue” were considered the most authentic, according to SmartNews.

Even better, in our view: “We’re taking these steps to correct the problem.”

Specific, concrete language builds connection, trust, and empathy. Vague, overly legal language suggests, at best, that you don’t have anything real to say. At worst, it communicates that you’re protecting yourself over the consumer.

Outside of a crisis, action-oriented language is still critical to humanize your announcement and provide specific, valuable context about the importance of your news or next steps. “We’re thrilled to announce this milestone” doesn’t tell anyone anything.

One size does not fit all. One common mistake we see brands make is sharing their corporate statement everywhere – from the press release to the media emails to social channels.

It makes sense – it went through rounds of revisions and was approved by everyone. But here’s why it doesn’t work: One carefully-written quote, in the context of a press release, might fit. When dropped into a narrative news article, it can appear too crafted. And on a social media channel, it can feel fake or out of place.

Stylistically, the language is often too different for one statement to work in all your channels. While your foundational message should always be consistent, it’s important to adapt your message to the language and ethos of each channel.

If you want to build trust, be human. That’s the real takeaway behind the research. Action-oriented messages that use clear, everyday words — that’s what works.