4 Ways to Establish Trust in Your Business
Brick and mortar stores carry with them a level of trust simply because they’re tangible. It’s much more difficult to take out rental contracts, hire the staff, and get all the insurance required to open up a store than it is to open up online. Shoppers in the modern world of online fraud aren’t always as relaxed about spending money online compared to how they do it in the real world.
If you have a website, you might be trying to establish trust with your website visitors to help convince them to make a purchase. What are the five ways you can establish trust in your website.
Website Design
People make snap decisions on your company based purely off the design of your website. If it looks old and outdated or doesn’t work properly on the device they’re using, and it uses many stock images, then you’re not likely to be inspiring trust. Make sure your website design is responsive and up to date, and that all the links and buttons work. Try to use genuine content over stock images too as they give an impression of authenticity.
Contact Details
A brick and mortar store inspires trust because it’s tied to a physical location. Even if a purchase doesn’t work out the way it’s supposed to, then the buyer can come back to the address and sort the problem out. If your website has no, or limited, contact details, then a potential buyer might wonder what you’re hiding. Make sure you give your full address (even if it’s a P.O. Box address), a phone number and email address on your website. Not only will this help establish trust in your website, but it will also have a positive effect on your search rankings.
Show your Face
It’s a common phrase, but one worth repeating anyway: people buy from people. Look around some of the websites of your competitors and you’ll see that they share photographs of their team on both the site and social media. They’re trying to show the people who are behind the business in a bid to make possible customers feel more comfortable about working with them or placing an order. If a customer feels comfortable with your people, even if they’ve not met, they’re much more likely to spend money.
Off-Site Presence
If a visitor to your website is unsure about you, they may look off-site for some re-assurance and extra information. This could be anything from putting your company name into Google to searching on the different social media platforms. What the person is looking for is simple: proof you actually exist beyond your own website. To help establish trust, make sure you set up and stay active on different social media platforms, and get your business listed on online business directories.
There you have it: four ways you can establish trust in your website. Have a look at your business’ presence online. Is there anything you need to change straight away?