Quality driven by safety

Simon Wooldridge Date published: Apr 11, 23

When we think about quality, we don’t always think about the part safety plays. But safety is intrinsically linked to quality – two sides of the same coin.

Let’s consider the safety aspects of a few things we use frequently.

On our plates

Food…let’s take chicken as an example.

It has been farmed, processed, packaged and shipped safely – all under strict conditions with particular attention to temperature and storage. If none (or only some) of this happened, it wouldn’t be safe to eat. Customer perception would focus on the chicken being ‘bad’, poor quality. Why? Because the tried, tested and finely tuned measures used to take it from farm to plate weren’t observed. Safety, thus, is intrinsically linked to quality.

In a recent piece of research, commissioned by Ideagen, 51% of consumers said quality was the most important factor they considered when making a purchasing decision.

Food gets shipped from country to country, continent to continent. That stringent safety measures have been employed during that process means these foods are of high enough quality to be eaten.

Consumers have long memories and pay keen attention to food safety matters. The same Ideagen research showed 65% of respondents recalling the ‘Mad Cow Disease’ outbreak of the early 1990s with almost the same number (62%) aware of salmonella in eggs in the 1980s.

On our roads

Consider cars and bicycles – examples of everyday engineering and machinery. Whatever our perception of the make or model, it has gone through rigorous safety checks before being released to the public. We take this for granted whether we’re spending £300 on a mountain bike or $300,000 on a supercar.

Safety measures also apply to cars in the resale market. A number of countries, states and territories have obligatory annual checks on cars once they are a certain age. This, together with engineering advancements could be seen as a contributory factor in reducing road deaths over 50 years – from 7499 in 1970, to 1460 in 2020 in the UK. In the US, during the same period, deaths per 100,000 of the population reduced from 25.67 to 11.67.

In our pockets

With Silicone Valley Bank and Credit Suisse very recent examples of banks on shaky ground, it's not just what we put in our bodies or buy that we subconsciously align with safety and thus quality.

More than any other factor, bank customers want to know their money is protected – that their bank isn’t going to crash, is trustworthy, reliable and safe. 49% of Ideagen survey respondents recalled the 2008 banking crisis suggesting trust and confidence takes time to earn back. The current ongoing news coverage about banking security isn’t going to help.

Once upon a time most people opened a bank account then stayed with that bank for life. There weren’t many banks, and they didn’t have to do much to retain their customers. Then, online banking happened. Within years only a few people visited their bank in person and hardly anyone knew the name of their bank manager.
Globally, according to MoneyTransfers.com, apps are the primary banking method for 39% of consumers and online banking users will exceed 3.6 billion by 2024.

But there’s another side to the story. Finder UK revealed that 24% of ‘traditional’ account holders don’t trust digital-only banks and nearly a third have no intention of opening a digital-only account.

While a great app and fancy ease-of-use will impress users, the survey findings showed tried and trusted criteria like interest rates, loan accessibility and security are the real indicators of quality.

In our bodies

Every day billions of people put laboratory manufactured substances into their bodies to make them feel better. This will range from paracetamol to ease a headache to months of intensive treatment for a life-threatening illness. Most of them will do this without too much thought. Why? Because they trust the product and the source. They are safe.

And safety underpins quality. Ideagen’s research found 63% of respondents ranked quality as most important in their purchasing decisions around medicine. Price was the most important factor for 28%.

People trust the manufacturer and the regulated processes (regulation seen as the second most important factor in determining quality overall after raw materials and ingredients) they have undertaken to ensure these drugs are safe to use. They trust the quality the pharma company has produced and that it is ok to swallow these tablets or apply those creams and gels.

Tell customers how safe your products and processes are

What this shows us, is that quality and safety are heavily intertwined. Businesses must think about different safety and quality messages for different customer groups. They need to understand what will ‘push the buttons’ of different demographics and the impact of cost on those purchasing decisions (See our Price vs quality blog).

Want to find out more?

Ideagen’s report ‘Building trust in uncertain times’ provides a wealth of additional information and discussion points..

Access now