The first time people meet a company is usually through its website, so first impressions are extremely important. Research shows that you only have a few seconds to grab the user’s attention and turn a a lead into a real customer. In fact, it’s even less time than it takes for a goldfish’s short-term memory to function.
Building lasting trust takes several steps. The user needs to feel that they’re in the right place, that your site offers the information, solution, product, or whatever else they need at that moment. To maintain this requires constant interaction, relationships, and building a community. Because you only have a few moments, it’s important to get results in the first few seconds. Here are some tools to build trust with your visitors.
1. SSL Certificate
Today, 90% of the world’s web traffic flows through encrypted channels, but there are still gaps in this, which can lead to a massive loss of visitors. (The lack of) SSL is the very first thing a user encounters on your website.
What is an SSL certificate?
An SSL certificate is used to create a secure, encrypted channel between your computer and the server hosting the web page you are browsing. This ensures that the information you provide (e.g. your name, email, postal address, or credit card details when ordering from a webshop) cannot fall into the wrong hands during the process.
Such a certificate is no longer difficult to obtain, and a better hosting provider will provide it for free.
It also helps with search engine optimisation
Since 2014, Google has given preference to HTTPS pages, and since 2018, it has warned visitors if a page is not secure. Of course, this does not mean that having an SSL certificate will put you ahead of all your competitors in the search engine, as this is just one of the many factors Google uses to rank your site. Still, many who have installed the certificate earlier have reported an increase in traffic and a better result in their search ranking. Having SSL is now an absolute necessity.
2. Domain
The most important thing is that you do not “build” your website as a subdomain of a free hosting service. This is no longer able to attract anyone’s attention, but it makes a very old-fashioned and shabby impression. Believe me, even as a start-up entrepreneur it is worth investing in a decent domain provider.
The domain name must meet a number of conditions. It is important that it is simple and easy to remember, a name that reflects the brand name and does not bear any resemblance to other existing brands.
It is important that the e-mail address is linked to the domain name. It is also worth avoiding the free options when it comes to your email provider. Although Gmail also offers the option to connect your company email, if you’re considering a corporate mail system, opt for the cloud-based Google Workspace platform.
3. Contact Information
Contact details should be properly formatted and prominently displayed. For easy and quick contact, be sure to include the company’s clickable email address, phone number, and contact details of company pages on social media platforms.
Where possible, it is also worth maintaining a chatbot service or using Messenger to provide an instant response. If there is too little information or contact channel on a page, visitors may perceive this as a sign of fraud. For webshops, special attention should be paid to ensure that the contact details of the customer service are clearly displayed!
4. Legal Documents
When setting up and running a business, it is important to ensure that legal documents are created, kept up to date, and made available at all times. This is not only your legal obligation but also goes a long way to building trust.
The most important legal documents are the Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy (which also covers cookies).
To make things easier for visitors and customers, it is also recommended to create a FAQ page, which contains useful and important information about payment and delivery options, returning goods, warranty, etc. It will help you to save customers from having to browse through the very long, complicated, and – let’s admit it – boring T&Cs, and also reduce the burden on customer service.
It is also worth mentioning the guarantee provisions, to show that the site is backed by a reliable and functioning company. Without these, starting a webshop is a kamikaze action.
5. Design and Consistent Brand Presence
B2B websites are characterized by professionalism and proximity. You can achieve the latter by introducing team members, sharing case studies and your own experiences. Your goal should be to make the site look and feel what your visitors expect.
E-commerce sites focus on their top products and provide their customers with extensive information on how to place an order and return the goods.
The needs of the target audience and brand guidelines should always be taken into account and the structure and appearance of the site should be designed accordingly (test it: even if your logo is hidden, will users know that it is your product, your site, your advertisement?)l
Ease of Use
It’s also a trust-building feature if your site works without problems. Make sure that every step of the shopping process is smooth and that the various forms work perfectly. One of the most critical parts of an e-commerce website is the checkout summary and checkout. If it’s not working properly, it’s complicated and opaque, you can say goodbye to a number of potential customers. The steps in the ordering process should be easy to follow and follow logically from each other.
According to the Baymard study, the ability to shop as a guest in an online store is important not only for placing orders but also for building trust. If a user does not feel the urge to register, it is completely unnecessary to force them to do so (which is not GDPR compliant either). However, if they have already had some positive experiences during their purchase, they will most certainly consider providing their details.
Photos of Good Quality
Image content is your shop window. For a physical store, a boring, bland shop window is obviously a deterrent. Poor quality product photos in a webshop have the same effect on visitors. Poor quality images can kill your business.
In product photos, try to show a product in great detail from several angles. In addition to the images, include an informative product description, and show the features of an item in the parameters section. The tone and style of the description should always be tailored to the needs of the target group and the brand voice.
6. Consistent Brand Messaging
Consistency is crucial not only in visuals but also in communication through other channels. Pay attention to aligning your communication to the brand voice and creating quality content: i.e. constantly updating and improving the site, sharing different text, image, and video content (written with SEO in mind as well, with excellent spelling), and do not forget to build relationships with users and communicate constantly. A rarely updated page in the online space is simply non-existent.
7. Feedback
People trust each other opinions. It’s no different in the world of the internet. The better reviews a website or a product or brand gets, the more trustworthy it is perceived to be. The best way to ask for a review is to ask for feedback after a purchase (1-5 stars) or to ask for a text review (for example, in an email reminder in exchange for a discount). If the feedback is negative, it is always worth responding to.
Customer reviews can also be posted on social media and Google and embedded on your site. These can also be of benefit to you in terms of search engine optimization.
8. Prizes, Awards, Media Coverage
In addition to feedback, awards, recognition, and press coverage are a great demonstration that the website owners have established themselves as experts and can provide real solutions to users’ problems. SSL (or other) certificates and badges can be added to the website alongside professional awards. Links to interviews, media coverage, PR articles, or awards recognizing the website can also go a long way to increasing customer engagement.
9. Open Communication
The links between the online space and real life are also reflected in the context of communication when examining tools for building trust. As with every channel, it’s important for your website to communicate openly and honestly, to admit when you’ve made mistakes, and confess your weaknesses. Responding to a negative comment or review in a fair, calm, and objective way can go a long way in the eyes of your visitors. Handling criticism well shows that you care about your users’ problems and strive for quick solutions.
10. Give Value, Don’t Just Sell
It is important that your website is not just about selling. You also need to convey value. It’s good if visitors leave your website with some take-away, feeling they got a little present from you. That way, a lead can become a customer.
Educate your audience, show your expertise, and yourself. Make it possible for visitors to find the answers to their questions on your site, and provide concrete solutions to their problems. Informative content is also a huge advantage for search engine optimization (SEO).
The various free reports, videos etc. have a trust-building function and can be used to build a great mailing list. Limit the number of direct advertisements and promotions, as too many can be off-putting. Separate sponsored content from your own content.
11. Address Your Target Audience
In order to speak to your target group, you obviously need to know who they are (mothers, elderly, teenagers, young women, etc.). If you can’t clearly define them because you are selling products that can be used by many people, it is worth breaking them down into several smaller groups. Be clear about who you are communicating to, who your ideal customers are, and only address them.
When it comes to messaging, it’s important that it’s clear, well-defined, that the style and language are appropriate to your target audience and brand voice, and that your message is actually shared on platforms where they can be reached. The composition of your target audience should be reviewed from time to time and, if necessary, changes should be made to the site’s structure, copy, and advertising.
12. Show the Soul of Your Brand
On your About page (in addition to addressing your target audience), tell them about your company’s history, your purpose, what your story is, what drives you every day, and what you are passionate about. Share what your company’s mission is, how you work, what your values are. People connect with people in the B2B world too.
13. Be Real
It creates positive emotions in customers and clients when they see that there are real, empathetic people behind the site and the brand. You can achieve this by showcasing your team on your website. If they can feel that these people have real expertise, are cohesive and have emotions, and that you operate around values that are important to them, they will feel connected to your brand. Team photos shouldn’t have a stock photo feel, but should be real-life images taken at work. A brief introduction of the members can also be sympathetic.
You can’t miss social media in this respect: go in with honest communication there too, show how you work, how you spend your days, regularly give a glimpse into your lives.
+1 Personalized Content
Personalized content plays an increasingly important role in e-commerce. And for good reason: they increase trust between the visitor and the website by providing information that is relevant to the user. If you address them by their first name, they won’t forget you.
Personalization can make the relationship between the company and the consumer much more direct. With a higher level of connection, you can define your customer’s current position on the customer journey and determine what further action you can expect from them. You can then tailor your processes to their needs. Many people find this kind of personalization a little daunting. But it is undoubtedly an effective and efficient way to build trust and is increasingly vital.
Building trust is a time-consuming and energy-intensive process, but the investment always pays off. If you want to build a trusted brand, you need to be interactive. It’s not enough to engage with consumers, you must also strive to maintain and develop that relationship.
