There are many factors that will get you a sale or make you a new contact online. All of these factors however boil down to just one thing – improving trust between your customer and you. You see it turns out people don’t like to buy things from people they don’t trust. Here is a brief rundown of the trust factors people are looking for when they visit your website, whether they realise it or not.

1. Professional Design

This one is a real give away that the company who’s website you are visiting is unprofessional, or not worthy of your trust. Any broken features, bad design or dodgy images will instantly stick out to your potential customers and make them think again about purchasing or trusting in you. Have you ever gone online to check out a potential supplier, only to find their website is broken or just weird? Did you still buy from them? If your site looks unprofessional, then the impression could be that you are too.

2. Customer Testimonials

We really push our clients to obtain testimonials when they are starting on a new website. Why? Well they work. The best example of this will resonate with every restaurant in the UK. www.tripadvisor.com has become the de facto standard when it comes to reviews and testimonials for their industry, and many businesses live and die by the reviews left there. Beware any restaurant that is unaware of the feedback they have been receiving from their customers! So reviews and testimonials are important on third party sites and it turns out they are easy to get. Just ask your customers what they thought of your business after you have helped them out and mostly they will be happy to help.

3. Brand Recognition

If you are looking to sell a product that people already recognise, then using their well know brand on your site can really gain you kudos with new visitors to your site. All you need do is ask your supplier if it is OK to use their logos on your site and 9 times out of 10 they will agree – as it is of course good for their brand recognition and search engine optimisation too. There are usually a few guidelines to follow, but after that you’re golden.

4. The Human Touch

We always recommend that our customers use a nice friendly picture of themselves and a short bio on their site – usually right on the front page. The human touch can really create a great element of trust between you and your potential customers, as they recognise that you are not just another faceless company, but a real team who are ready to help them out on a 1 to 1 level. Team that up with links to your own social media (probably Linked-In) and people can place you in the real world even better.

5. Give Away Information

Nobody likes the hard sell. Through years of people trading online it has become clear that there is one proven effective way to be successful – be informative. It turns out people just love to learn and if you can teach them something new about a product or service then you will definitely be on the way to gaining their trust. A brilliant way of doing this is with blogging and another is by the use of video tutorials. Just remember to mention where people could buy your product at the end!

So that’s the end of today’s lecture. If you’ve got any questions, leave me a comment and we’ll work them out.

Cheerio

J