How to Build Customer Trust Online
Studies show that growing numbers are relying on the internet alone to find out about prospective products and businesses. In many industries, your business website will be the number one or first port of call to potential customers. Trust and credibility are also essential for a high conversion rate. It’s therefore vital to know how to build customer trust online. These are some useful guidelines to get started.
Shorten Response Times
Whether it’s an online order or query, a customer is much more likely to trust your business if you respond quickly. Quick turnaround times also encourage repeat business. The logistics of shortening response times will depend on your business and organisation, but having good shelving systems in your warehouse, a solid IT system, and sufficient staff numbers can all contribute positively to ensuring that customers get what they want as quickly as possible.
For industries where logistics (and stock deployment) is a major factor, effective pallet racking systems can improve the customer experience by reducing response times.
Provide Valuable Information to Customers
The information-dense nature of the online environment means that businesses can build trust and credibility by providing useful information to customers via their websites. This can be in the form of product information, industry knowledge, updates, or anything that’s likely add value to the customer’s pre-sales and post-sales experience.
Make Content Relevant
As a corollary to providing useful information, it’s important to keep your website updated. If your business website content reflects the market situation and shows your product line from two year ago, the customer is less likely to find your website trustworthy. Keeping content relevant and up to date also demonstrates that you’re committed to industry practice and that you take your business seriously.
Be Highly Visible in Searches
Studies have shown a positive relationship between high ranking in search engine results and customer trust level. Additionally, having a high ranking allows you to be found in the first instance, which is an important benefit in a market where growing numbers of consumers are looking for product information online.
Businesses should have a SEO strategy, get listed in directories, and do what they can to be highly visible in searc engines.
Personalise Messages
Personalise your message and website by using real names, staff and team photos, updating your social media accounts, and responding to queries online. This also adds to the sense of transparency, which is an important element in building online trust.
Awards and Accreditations
If you’re an industry leader, don’t modest about your status. Recognised awards, accreditations, and other honours can all massively boost online trust levels. If you’ve been recognised by a professional body or industry body, display the accreditation in a prominent area on your site.
Testimonials and statistics can also contribute significantly to online trust. For example, if you’ve served over a million customers, make sure new leads are aware of this fact.
Provide Security
Online retailers can build customer trust by providing security on shopping online. This may be through using a recognised ecommerce authentication system, displaying a clear security policy on your website, and otherwise clearly communicating to the customer that you take the integrity of their personal details and other information seriously.
Provide Excellent Support
Lastly, providing excellent support at all major stages of the customer’s experience encourage repeat business and a good business reputation. Feedback plays a crucial role in support and the customer experience. Always ask for feedback and act on feedback to improve customer support.