Crucial To Your Online Success... How To Gain The Trust Of Your
Site Visitors
Gaining new customers online is quite difficult at the best of
times, especially if you don't have a physical presence to help
promote your online branch. Fraud across the Internet is now
widespread, and people are becoming more and more suspicious of
sites offering products online.
For this reason, if you want to make your site a success then it
MUST shout trustworthiness to your visitors.
Here's how to do it:
Use testimonials
If your business isn't well established or known to the masses,
testimonials are an absolutely invaluable way of gaining trust.
If people can see what others think of your product or service
then it gives them a pretty good reason to buy - "other people
were happy, and so I will be too!" They're gaining an opinion
from an unbiased source, and the absolute best way to sell a
product to someone is through a recommendation.
Offer a guarantee
Customers will be more comfortable buying from you if they know
they can return their purchase if they're not completely
satisfied. Why do you think companies such as Argos offer a "14
day Money Back Guarantee"? And make sure you TELL your
customers. Let them know you want them to be happy. .
Gain approval
Gain a seal of approval from a company such as VeriSign. This
way people know that you've been approved by an independent
third-party as having good business practices.
Be upfront
Clearly display your contact details so that people know
they're dealing with a company they can easily contact should
something go wrong. You'd put your contact details inside a
company brochure wouldn't you? So make sure they're on your
website as well.
Answer all questions quickly
If you take 5 days to reply to a simple query then it simply
says that's how long it'll take for an order to be processed. It
makes you seem disorganised, and generally un-trustworthy.
Display a privacy policy on your site
People will be much more comfortable in dealing with someone who
they know won't spam them, or generally pass on their details to
anyone without their permission. You're giving them a guarantee
of integrity.
Summary
Basically, implement anything that points to your site being
reputable and somewhere that people can trust. As you've just
seen, this can be done from web design, but good old fashioned
customer service is also imperative... even today!
Remember:
Trustworthiness = good reputation = success