How Your Website Can Establish Trust With Consumers – Janine Morgan
In just about any business these days, the website serves as the consumer’s point of entry. Not only is it in a literal sense the first thing a prospective customer might see, but it’s also where first impressions will be formed – even if it sometimes happens on a subconscious level.
Basically, your website is communicating a greeting to every person who visits it. And it’s up to you to make sure that greeting establishes trust and a welcoming feeling.
To some extent, this comes down to design. A warm, bright design with sharp, attractive visuals will intrigue most visitors and at least make them curious enough to click around. However, there are also some proven, specific strategies you can use specifically to work toward building trust – making your site’s visitors feel that you’re there to help them with whatever product or service you’re offering.
#1. Establish Positive Phrasing Immediately
Another article looking at a similar idea – that of how to grab a customer’s attention with your website – made some interesting observations regarding Nike’s online presence.
In support of the idea of choosing the right phrases, the article pointed out that Nike has long relied on the simple tagline, Just Do It. It has charmed and even inspired customers for years now, and it’s constantly visible.
The same article then mentioned the benefits of creating instant positivity, and when considering the idea of building trust, we would recommend combining the two points – choosing the right phrase and making it positive. Something as simple as a welcoming, positive tagline conveys the idea that you want to help, and that whatever your site is providing can make the visitor’s life better.
#2. Showcase Your Own Reviews
If your site is selling a product or service that has been reviewed, you can build trust and attract customers by showcasing those reviews openly and proudly (and not just the five-star ones).
This is actually something surprisingly few sites do, but it’s exemplified in a few categories. The clearest picture of this perhaps comes from clusters of casino sites from New Zealand and Western Europe. While these aren’t as direct (because they’re reference sites reviewing numerous casinos, rather than casinos showing their own reviews), they perfectly demonstrate the importance of reviews and ratings in generating trust.
Given that the whole idea is for customers to gravitate toward sites with the most positive feedback, you can safely assume that openly revealing what customers think of your site will build trust.
#3. Make Navigation Straightforward
Prioritizing navigation is recommended when building a business website for a number of different reasons. One, however, should surely be trust. When visitors make it to your website, they should know exactly what they’re getting when they click on internal links, browse through additional pages, etc.
If that’s not the case, they will likely become somewhat annoyed or frustrated, but they can also get the idea that the site is purposely misleading. If pages aren’t clearly marked, or if every action seems to be leading toward a point of sale, the visitor can feel pressured. On the other hand, if navigation is smooth and intuitive, the visitor can grow more inclined to trust that the site will serve his or her needs.
#4. Be Transparent About Pay & Return Policies
Not many sources online know more about how to build a strategic online store than Shopify. The popular site ran a piece on how to build a trustworthy online store, and included some basic but vital tips about being up front about price and return policies, and making sure visitors know the site is safe.
These goals can be accomplished with relatively little effort, and go a long way toward making your site’s visitors feel comfortable and trusting. Basically, being clear and direct about policies in this category – rather than, say, hiding a return policy detail in the fine print – makes an open, honest impression.
- How Your Website Can Establish Trust With Consumers – Janine Morgan - October 15, 2019
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