Digital’s Senior Conversions Specialist, Roland Mirabueno, talks about why building trust and credibility should be a priority for any website. Listen to the audio above.
Trust and credibility is a crucial part in the online buying process. Roland shares 7 useful tips on how to build trust on your website.
Visitors makes the decision about whether or not a website is trustworthy and credible in a few seconds.
“If a visitor doesn’t trust your website, no way will they buy from you.”
Here are 7 important elements you can put on your website to earn trust and build credibility:
- Showing the number of clients you have or have served
Something that builds trust very effectively is showing that other people have bought from you before. When making an online purchase, your visitor takes a certain risk. They want to make sure they get the best value for the best product and have an amazing experience transacting with you. Showing that thousands of other customers have done business with you in the past removes the anxiety from this risk.
- Showing reviews or testimonials
Not only is it important to show that you have a lot of existing clients, it’s even more important to show that these clients are happy doing business with you and that they therefore would recommend you to others. Testimonials from satisfied customers build trust from a more personal angle as people usually describe their own experience with you and your product, which visitors can then relate to.It is important to include testimonials on your website because the information is coming from an external source which makes it more credible for most people. It’s a confirmation that the statements you put on your website are solid and backed up by customer experience. Expert tip: Never share fake testimonials. You could lose a lot of clients this way and destroy your reputation forever.Make sure you add the first name, last name and hometown of each testimonial-giver to show that the testimonials are from real people. If they agree, you could also add a picture as well. You can use text, audio, or video testimonials for maximum effect.
- Showing the awards you won
When your visitors see the awards you have won, it establishes trust and credibility for your website and Value Proposition. People are more likely to buy from your website when they see that others have given you a good review or award. You should place your badge of award in the header or in the footer next to your social media links. If you have a lot of awards, you should put them next to each other in a footer. It will also help to give some background information about each award and what it is relevant; just a quick explanation on a separate page is enough. You could tell what you had to do to get the award and show some information about the organization that presented the awards. It is most powerful to show recent awards rather than the awards of five years ago.
- Show a quantification of how happy your clients are (“x% of our clients indicated they would use us again in the future”)
A client satisfaction survey can help with this input. Case studies show how good you are underpinned by quantifiable results. This is a more trustworthy way, rather than just telling how good you are. It is very useful to show your potential customers how valuable your work has been. By showing your work from the past, it will help to create more trust in your business.
- Show real images
This is called reality infusion and can be very effective. Showing your team, real images of the product, and real people using your product shows your customer that they are buying from real people – not some faceless, nameless entity. This is often appreciated and helps solidify the trust they are building while browsing.
- Use icons to create trust
Trust icons coming from third party companies, such as security companies and merchant platforms are recommended. This will help people to feel that their data and private information is secure. For example: within the payment process, credit card logos can be very valuable. Tests show that just adding a trustable payment icon will generate more conversions.
- Copy that explains that will happen after they click on a CTA
Copy that explains that will happen when you click on a CTA, for example ‘we will get back to you in 24 hours’ or ‘upon completing your purchase you will receive an email with clear instructions’ is good to add. No guessing and no surprises for the client. Show what is going to happen and show what they are going to get.
Bonus: Add a real picture of your customer support worker. “This person is going to answer your question”. If anything goes wrong, it would help to build trust and credibility by knowing there is a real person to connect to who will help them out.
For some visitors, the website is not enough. Therefore, we recommend offering clear phone & email details and contact location. Good contact information makes you look accessible and increases the level of trust people have. Show visitors who you are, because people are more comfortable dealing with someone they know (or think they know). Make sure that you offer all the information they need to contact or to find you. Contact forms, email addresses and social media are great ways for customers to reach you always, many customers prefer to talk with a real person. You should navigate the ‘about us’ page on the main navigation and as a sub-item. Give contact information in the footer.
For more information, get in touch with our team or leave a comment below.