Undoubtedly, there are numerous factors that come into play when a customer tries to make a buying decision in today’s wide digital field. Research is always needed to determine whether the company speaks their language, if the products they sell obey their values and if their money will be well spent in the end. However, no factor is more important than trust - it’s becoming more and more obvious that reaching your business goals requires building trust with the customer first and foremost. The marketing secret comes as no surprise: if you can’t build trust with your potential customer, you won’t get the sale.
But what does trust really mean nowadays?
Speak your visitor’s language
Keyword research and optimisation are two important steps in any digital strategy, especially when you are trying to create the right kind of content. At the same time, there are a plethora of studies that show that people read very little from the content on your website and most of the times, they only scan the page where their search query took them - probably because it contains the keywords you are targeting. Therefore, when deciding which keywords to use to spike people’s interest, don’t forget to use words that people use in their day-to-day life. Speak the language of your target niche. This shows respect and won’t affect your brand image. Call it a shovel, not a ‘professional tool for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials’.
At the same time, try to be as specific as possible about the purpose of your website. Do you just offer information about a particular product or service? Or do you actually sell it? Tricking users to visit your website will not bring you any benefits - maybe a temporary spike in traffic, but the consequences in trust are not something you want to experiment.
Keep your promise
This whole section can be summarized in one simple sentence: practice what you preach. With any strategy that you create, you have to keep your eyes on the end result, so that any method you implement can be formed around that. So, what do we mean when we advise you to constantly keep your promise?
● Send as many emails as you promised in your newsletter sign-up message; tempting to send more, we understand, but people will notice your inconsistency
● Admit your mistake - does your return policy clearly state that you take full responsibility for your products or services? What solutions do people have if there’s any issue with the checkout process? Do you offer an incentive?
● Apply the discount like you promised - just make your customers’ life easier when you offer them a discount code. Try not to ask them more than typing the actual discount code at checkout
● Be accessible - do you have an instant chat where people can ask questions? Does your website have a well-written FAQ page? Can customers call you any time to find out more about your services?
What do customers say about you?
Econsultancy explains that 61% of customers check the website reviews before making any purchase, a statistic that clearly shows that reviews have now become essential for any e-commerce site. If this number is not convincing enough, you should also take into account the fact that user reviews are proven to increase conversions in a rather short period of time, as they can eliminate any doubts potential customers may have about a product or about your company as a whole. There are many review platforms you can choose from, such as Trustpilot, eKomi or Feefo, the final decision depending on your needs and goals.
If you are scared that your brand image could suffer because of a bad review, there are a plethora of studies that prove that all reviews are valuable; a mix of positive and negative reviews demonstrate transparency and helps improve consumer trust in the opinions they read. You couldn’t have made every single client happy, right?
In fact, recent stats from Reevoo suggest that having bad reviews actually improves conversions by 67%. The explanation? People that read bad reviews convert better, as the very fact that they are paying such close attention means they are more likely to be in purchase mode. It is more than obvious that 30% of consumers suspect censorship or faked reviews when they don’t see any negative opinions on the page.
The follow-up process: What is your next move?
Congratulations, you just added ten new customers to your ‘latest transactions’ list. What do you do now? Celebrate your victory and forget all about the follow-up process? Or do you focus on customer care? Taking care of your customers after they’ve made a purchase is probably as important as your checkout process. Why? Because you want your customers to come back. Because you want them to recommend you to their friends and family. And you want them to consider you a trustworthy company. Therefore:
● Ask them if they are pleased with their new product
● Offer them tips on how to take care of that product
● Offer them a discount for their next purchase
● Suggest other products they may like
Trust represents that important factor that cannot be obtained overnight. Becoming a trustworthy company constitutes a process that cannot burn steps or implement quick wins. Undoubtedly, there are many other elements that can be included here, such as technical improvements or SEO tactics, but this is a topic for another discussion. Once the factors discussed above are covered, you can always go back to your initial trust improvement strategy and work from there.
By Teodora Grigorie, marketing executive at Miromedia
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