Countless business tycoons have shared their pearls of wisdom over the years. Building a community, providing value, delivering low costs, and finding innovative solutions are some of the things you might hear them talk about. Trust is another that’ll consistently crop up – and it’s perhaps one of the most powerful tools in a company’s arsenal. Let’s look at how to build that all-important trust.
Payment Options
A smooth transition from the initial search engine input to the point-of-sale is essential – yet the average cart abandonment rate is just below 70%. That’s attributed to several reasons – one of them is a lack of payment options. Traditional methods, such as the popular business-to-business ACH payments, are rivaled by newcomers like Google Pay and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) options. Yet, it’s easier to understand making an ACH payment, but sometimes it suits the needs of a consumer more to have a variety of options.
Even though traditional payment methods like ACH or adding a credit card to a website store are simpler to understand, some people find security and trust in online wallets or payment services. Consumers are growing wary of inputting and storing their bank details on eCommerce websites – and thus, online wallets have begun to play a crucial role in eCommerce transactions.
Social Connections and Activity
Social media has rapidly become the number one channel for businesses to communicate with consumers. It’s, for the most part, free to use, easy to use, and effective to use. Consumers have direct access to brands and online support services that weren’t available even five years ago. Plus, one survey found that 36% of social media account owners use social media primarily to follow the brands they love.
That opens up an excellent opportunity to connect and build trust. Businesses that post regular, engaging, and interesting social media content open the door for interactions, communication, and loyalty.
Think of it like this. Naturally, if a consumer finds a new brand they’ve never seen before, there’s an instant lack of trust. They might then race to the business Instagram to see how many followers and posts the page has. A brand with barely any followers and a lack of posts is an instant reg flag.
Plus, the little to no effort required – compared to other marketing tactics – makes it easy to maintain. Some more well-known brands simply have to post a meme and have thousands of interactions. An active business social media account doesn’t have to be purely business. Connecting with consumers on a level they understand – sometimes, that might be trending memes – can be just as impactful as a post about a new product launch.
Don’t Hide Customer Reviews
Consumers might rush to social media to determine the legitimacy of a business, but they’ll also look at company reviews. One study found that consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that puts their company reviews on display compared to one that doesn’t – so it pays to publish business reviews, both the positive and the negative.
Display negative business reviews, surely not? A stream of negative reviews indicates the need for swift action and won’t help inspire trust; there’s no denying that. But, the odd negative review gives a brand space to prove they listen to and value consumers’ opinions.
For example, a consumer might comment a negative review about a delivery delay – nine times out of ten, that is out of a brand’s control. Yet, if a brand replies and offers a personal apology and a discount or free delivery the next time around, it shows compassion, the willingness to action changes, and inspires trust from a negative situation.
The Simplicity of A Modern Website Design
eCommerce is all about websites and facilitating sales through them, yet there are still masses of eCommerce websites running an outdated and somewhat spammy design. Couple this with glaringly obvious spelling and grammar mistakes, with a few dodgy images thrown in for good measure, and you’ve got yourself a website that’s hard to trust.
Yet, it has never been as simple to create an eCommerce website for absolutely nothing as it is now, thanks to free website builders. Anyone can cultivate an eCommerce website from scratch with all the bells and whistles free of charge.
\According to HubSpot, a good website design should include; plenty of whitespaces that draws consumers to the most crucial information, professional images, speedy loading times, and a simple-to-use shopping cart.
Security Seals
What better way to build trust than to include plenty of security seals to ensure consumers feel safe when they’re shopping. As many web pages as possible should have accredited security seals like an SSL to encrypt each stage of the buying process. That’s not always possible, so at the very minimum, the shopping cart and checkout should have a security seal.
Some consumers also like visible security information that talks them through the security features and how they’ll protect their transactions.
Building trust and loyalty come long before building profit. Statistics show that 65% of future profits will come from loyal customers, and you can’t have loyal customers without first having trust. In fact, you can’t have a single sale without initially inspiring some level of trust. Luckily, there are plenty of ways for a brand to do so.
Infuriatingly humble organizer. Entrepreneur. Zombie guru. Professional creator. Future teen idol.
