As someone who works predominantly in the digital space, I constantly get to meet a wide range of entrepreneurs who are almost doing everything right. – They have a great attitude. – They have a wonderful product. – They have a gorgeous website. – They have a great team behind them. – And their marketing is driving huge numbers to their website.
So why isn’t their website converting more people who visit their site into buyers?
Sometimes it only takes one little spoiled ingredient to ruin the perfect dish, and similarly, it only takes one element of your buyer’s journey to stop the hordes of potential customers remain just that; ‘potential’ customers. And for many businesses who embrace the web as a means to bring them extra business, it’s more often than not the final hurdle that trips them up. In this case, their own website, and the lack of trust it conveys to your visitors.
Making your website ‘trustworthy’ is an art form all in itself.
Through my web design company, Web123, I’ve help thousands of businesses launch their online presences, and often the challenge isn’t creating a website that looks stunning, but one that functionally works and successful converts visitors into customers. Although the figure will vary depending on your traffic source and industry, the expected conversion rate for an effective website can be anywhere between 2% to 10%. However it’s not unusual to come across a business who are stuck at a conversion rate as low as 0.25%. And one of the reasons it can be so low is because the visitor doesn’t trust the website they’re buying from. ‘Trust = success’ when it comes to your online presence. Over the years, businesses with websites have often experimented with multiple ways to increase the trust level of their websites, and since common commercial websites have been around for over 2 decades now, it’s not surprising that a pretty definitive list of ‘trust factors’ have now been developed that most (if not all) high profit businesses are using on their websites today. Ask yourself this….
Does your website feature these trust factors? And if not, how can you implement them?
- Testimonials Testimonials, particularly small bite-sized ones, are a great way to quickly show that you have a large customer base, all of which love your business and what you’ve done for them. Remember, the name of the game is too show your customers only what matters, so focus on quotes that reflect your key benefits.E.g. “Thanks to [company name]’s help, I was able to increase my sales by over $20,000 in a matter of three months.”
- Case study A case study is effectively a blown out testimonial, but I felt it was important to give it its own point. You see, whereas testimonials give you a quick series of snippets from your happy customers, a case study is a longer testimonials which tells the story of one of your customers. Usually said customer will be a fair representation of your web visitors, and it helps them to relate to your company and its products.So for example, it may tell the story of “Sarah” and how she was struggling with a problem, that was finally solved by your company’s product or service, before saying a big thank you to you.Often it will be difficult to get a testimonial that is *perfect* naturally from a customer, but one way to get around this is to write the case study on behalf of your customer, and then send it to them to approve.
- Guarantees Most companies have some sort of guarantee, whether it’s self imposed or whether it’s imposed by refund policies. Regardless, if you have a guarantee, it’s something you should highlight to help make your customers feel more comfortable. After all, if you have enough faith to offer a guarantee, then your clients will have faith in you too.One word of advice, if you do have a guarantee, be transparent; clearly label the terms of the guarantee on your website. This is to protect both yourself and your customers from any future disagreement.
- Endorsements Endorsements can come in many forms; media endorsements, clinical endorsements, professional endorsements, celebrity endorsements, etc, but ultimately they are a recommendations from a reputable authority and can help pass that authority to your businesses as well.Often it can cost you to acquire some endorsements, but often, the return you will get will be worth it.
- Awards Awards can say a lot about you and your company’s character, and can go a long way to instilling trust into your customers. Most industries have some sort of reputable award you can earn, so have a look around some of your competitor’s sites and see what awards they have.
- Reputable company logos Similarly to endorsements, using the logos of well known and reputable companies can help boost the trust points on your website. For example, we have an excellent relationship with NAB, and as such feature their logo on our website alongside a quote from them.We also feature logos from the various publications we’ve been seen in (yes… including ABN!). However (and this is important) if you are using a logo from a company, make sure you send them a courtesy email to make sure it’s okay!
- Payment security symbols Although the stigma of the website being a risky place to enter your credit card details, a lot of websites will still use various symbols and logos to ensure their customers that their website is safe.Simple images of padlocks and ticks can go some of the way, but professional safety symbols such as Verisign / Norton Secure can go a long way to reassuring customers that your website is a safe one to purchase from.
- A blog Blogs can have many functions on a website, but in regards to making you trustworthy, it’s a simply matter of buying from someone who shows expertise in their area.For example, if you wanted to buy a holiday package from a specialist website, a blog that compares trips and holidays may help convince a customer that that company knows where the best holiday destinations are.If you work in an industry where client have a lot of natural questions that need answering, then a blog can help prove your authenticity and authority in your area.
- Social media likes and followers If you have a Facebook and / or Twitter page with a large number of ‘likes’ or ‘followers’… then show this off! Similar to how testimonials work, seeing that hundreds or thousands of other people like your product or service can go a long way to convincing your future customers to part cash with you.
- Payment options Many business will attempt to cut corners, and one of those is to limit the number of payment options made to the site’s visitors. After all, it costs money to allow your business to accept card payments, but it’s a hollow saving… as in the long run you are costing yourself money.Whether it’s via credit card, PayPal, over the phone or via a bank transfer… the more options you give your customers the less barriers they have to purchasing from you.More importantly, not being able to accept the standard forms of payment makes you look untrustworthy, and it will become more convenient for the site visitor to buy from a competitor.
- A phone number and an address Running a website can afford you a great deal of anonymity, if you want it. But the question is should you? One of the best things you can do to build trust with your customers is to include as much detail about yourself as possible.Who you are, where your offices are and a phone number they can contact you on, are the most fundamental ways to make your website trustworthy. After all, would you buy something from someone if you didn’t know who they were or how to contact them? No… and why should you expect your customers to trust you too?At the very least, include a phone number in your header and an address in your footer. This is fairly common practice when building websites today.
Try and implement just one of the above changes. It could make a MASSIVE difference
Over the years I have tested the above 11 trust points over and over again, and it’s amazing how just one small change to your website can improve the trust between you and your customer. So have a look through the above 11 points, and if you are missing any of them, try adding one in and see if you can increase the number of buys from your website visitors. Until next time, Bianca xXx
