When operating a website for your business, whether you sell products online or use it to advertise your services, building trust with a customer is one of the best ways to increase sales. Here are four rules for creating a trustworthy business website so that you can give customers confidence in your company that will lead to sales.
Build trust with transparency
The more a customer knows about you and how you do business, the more they will trust you and your website.
There are many simple ways you can build trust through your website. The ‘about us’ page on a website often goes overlooked, but a customer who feels unsure about a company will often go here seeking reassurance. By getting more information about you and your company, they feel more confident about making a purchase.
Make sure you have a well written ‘about us’ page that is open and honest. This isn’t an opportunity to brag or make a sale but is there as an introduction from you to a potential client. Talk about who you are, why you began trading, and what standards you hold your company to. This helps to make the cold transaction of e-commerce feel warmer and more like visiting a local store. Consider adding photos or links to your business’s social media accounts.
Show positive customer reviews and highlight good quotes
When shopping online, either in retail or when looking for a service, people can find countless reviews of products but very few reviews of companies and businesses.
Whatever type of business you operate, you should have examples of positive customer experiences available on your website. If you have regular customers who seem very satisfied with your service, consider asking them for a more in-depth testimonial about their experiences with your company and why they keep coming back.
Your website should also display your affiliations to noted websites like PayPal or Trustpilot. Using PayPal to purchase goods online often gives customers a lot of reassurance when using credit or debit cards. If your website offers this service, you should make sure potential customers know by displaying its logo appropriately on your site.
Publish content on a blog or social media platform about your business
Many eCommerce sites are using content to help drive online sales. Content can be powerful when used wisely and alongside a proactive social media presence.
Building a presence online through social media takes time, but costs nothing and can be a great way to get your name and website out into the world. You can quickly go viral with the right post or content, and generate hundreds of new potential customers even from a moderately popular post. Do not underestimate the power of social media ‘influencers’ either. A positive experience with your company, when shown on their accounts on Instagram and Facebook, can generate thousands of potential sales.
These social networks create a lot of business networking opportunities, and there are many people like influencers and content creators who have social media presences that can benefit your company just through association, and lend to your legitimacy and trustworthiness with customers.
Have a website with a clean and intuitive design
This is important for a number of reasons, and one of them is to gain credibility in the eye of your consumer. A poorly designed website is a sign of a poorly operated company.
A modern, clean, and well-presented website is essential if you are going to succeed in eCommerce. Sites with poorly designed and out of date customer interfaces see a low volume of sales and stagnant level of sales throughout the year.
You should take some time to test your website yourself, and evaluate how easy it is to use and how easy the purchase or inquiry process is to complete. Your website should also be tested for broken links or ‘links to nowhere’, that can make your website seem poorly maintained. These can reduce customer confidence in your company and make your website seem suspect.
The personal data your customer enters into your website is valuable to you and to them. Showing that your website protects their privacy and keeps its data secure is important. Make sure you use a privacy policy and show customers you have protections in place on your website. This shows customers you have their interests in mind and builds trust with them.
Trust is an important part of any relationship. In a business relationship, it can lead to long-lasting customer loyalty and increased sales. Make sure your website builds trust with customers.
