With so many questionable or scam sites out there, consumers are wary of shopping from new and unfamiliar companies. That’s why building trust online is vital for all businesses, especially small businesses.
No matter how engaging your content is, how mobile-friendly your site is, or how compelling your CTAs are, visitors will navigate away if they’re uncertain about your trustworthiness. Trust is a vital part of the customer-business relationship and, for many, a dealbreaker.
If you want customers to feel safe, open, and engaging with your business, you need to inspire confidence and make them believe that you always have their best interests in mind.
Establishing Trust Online: Protect Customer Data and Privacy
Consumers shop online regularly, but they are inherently wary of site safety. Online shoppers are concerned about security and privacy issues, so they want to ensure that their data – particularly payment information – is protected.1 The last thing anyone wants is their credit card numbers leaking.
Some consumers will only shop on sites from brands they know and sites with security. Suppose you want to establish trust with your customers and provide a better experience. In that case, it’s vital to use a trusted e-commerce platform, implement cybersecurity software, and create organization-wide protocols for cybersecurity and privacy.
Improve Your Website Design
Customers are more uncertain about disorganized sites, whether it’s true or not.2 It’s essential to ensure that your company website is professional, current, and well-organized, allowing your visitors to easily navigate your pages and find the information or products they want. You should also ensure that all the information related to your brand, products, or content is accurate.
A big part of this is the checkout process. You want to reduce friction on your site as much as possible, and a seamless checkout process can reduce cart abandonment. Some options include increasing your site speed, simplifying the sales process, and offering multiple payment options.
Meet Your Customers’ Expectations
Trust is actions lining up with words over timekeeping promises. If you can deliver on your promises to your customers, you’ll not only improve trust, but your customers will be more understanding about small mistakes. (No one is perfect – no matter how hard we try!)
Always provide detailed, accurate information about your brand, products, purchase, fulfillment, and shipping process. Make sure your customers have realistic expectations for their purchasing products and what they’ll receive.
For example, you would be disappointed if you purchased winter wool trousers at a high price, only to find out the material is unexpectedly thin. You’d probably feel similarly if you purchased electronics or software incompatible with your current systems or require purchasing additional products you didn’t know about.
There’s plenty more you can do to present products accurately. Ensure that you include accurate sizing and dimensions, images zoomed in for detail (with a note saying so), and videos that show the product used in the real world. The more information you can give the customer about your product, the more likely their expectations will align with reality.
Provide Social Proof
Earned media goes a long way toward building trust online. While sponsored promotions are a “thing,” customers are more likely to trust your brand if you could say you were mentioned in major respected publications. “As seen on” or “featured in” scrolls on websites that include publisher logos are excellent for building this type of trust and confidence. If you’re getting positive press, make sure your customers know it.
You could also build trust with social proof through client and partner logos.3 Client and partner logos show visitors who your business relationships include, and if some of those brands are already trusted and established, that can help your case. If a customer knows you’re “good enough” to work with major brands, you’re probably good enough for them.
Finally, customer testimonials can help your brand trust. Like word-of-mouth advertising, testimonials provide social proof and show that you’ve helped others. It’s best to feature testimonials with photos, which adds authenticity.
Building Trust Online with Full Circle SEM
Establishing trust with potential customers and building a relationship isn’t easy, but Full Circle SEM can help. We can help you manage your digital footprint, build ironclad site security for customer data and privacy, and create a credible, reliable, and trustworthy website from a customers’ perspective. Contact us today to elevate your brand!
Sources:
[1] https://www.business.com/articles/build-trust-with-ecommerce-customers/
[2] https://www.business.com/articles/build-trust-with-ecommerce-customers/
[3] https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/more-trustworthy-website
