At least 69 per cent of people in India believe it is important for brands to take care of their employees and customers and they should not take advantage of the crisis to maximise profits, a new survey revealed on Tuesday.

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According to research conducted by Qualtrics, an experience management company, 50 per cent of the respondents said their trust in the brands they regularly engaged with has increased.

The findings showed that peoples' trust in the government increased by 72 per cent during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The study also revealed how Indians want brands to communicate with them.

WhatsApp came out on top as the most preferred communication channel (63 per cent), followed by Facebook (58 per cent), and online media (55 per cent).

Bottom of the list was TikTok (18 per cent), Print media (23 per cent) and Radio (24 per cent).

"Our study in India reveals consumers trust brands more, when brands focused on the well-being of customers, the well-being of employees, and not taking advantage of the crisis to maximise profits," Lisa Khatri, Brand Experience and Research Lead for Qualtrics in APJ, said in a statement.

When respondents were asked what behaviours increase trust during the crisis, taking care of employees was the top-ranked attribute (37 per cent), followed by not taking advantage of maximising profits during a crisis (36 per cent), and taking care of customers (32 per cent).

What respondents found less impactful were providing new products (10 per cent), having an established track record of responding well in times of crisis (17 per cent) and statements about strong moral principles such as integrity (19 per cent).

When it comes to brand communications, Indians are more interested in the operational impact of COVID-19 compared to sales and promotional marketing.

The top three messages respondents wanted to hear were how the business is responding to the crisis (75 per cent), the impact on the distribution (48 per cent), and information on products and services (48 per cent).