How to Build a Trustworthy Website
Do you know you only have about 6 seconds to impress your users through your website?
That’s true. In fact 200 milliseconds are all that your visitors will take to go through the colors, density, and layout of your site. Within this time if they don’t like what they see, they will abandon your site without even giving it so much as a second thought.
Are you ok with visitors abandoning your site as quickly as they visit it? If yes, you need to read no further. Else, here is how to make your website more trustworthy…
Ok, so colors, density and layout are the first things that catch the attention of a visitor on your website.
Now, what if they like these? That’s when they start inspecting your website. Mind you, they won’t take too long for this either. It is just about 3 seconds or may be even less than that.
That’s the kind of time they take to glance through the content, assets, or anything else that might grab their interest on your website.
Assuming your website seems interesting to your visitor, he is likely to spend the next 3 seconds interacting with your website. This is when he will check if there is anything that seems useful enough on your site. He might even click on a few links to see how they work.
So, what exactly happens at the end of this 6 second process?
Do you think the visitor would agree to convert? Not really.
However, there is one thing that this crucial process of 6 seconds would tell the visitor about your website — whether it is trustworthy or not.
6 seconds is too small a window to convince your visitors that your website can be trusted. Nevertheless, the impression that your website creates during these 6 seconds has a lot to do with the trust that your brand is going to build with your potential customers.
So, what makes a website reliable and credible?
To cut a long story short, there are four main things you need to focus upon — great website design, excellent content, secure webpages, and the right security badges.
Apart from that here are a few steps you need to follow if you want to find out how to build a trustworthy website:
Using authentic images
Most businesses end up using generic stock photos on their website. While this is not actually a mistake it is not something that will make you seem genuine.
If you want to live up to the expectations of your customers, you may want to use authentic pictures of you and your team, taken in real scenarios.
Here are a few tips on making your pictures appear authentic:
· Always choose images of high quality. Focus on different aspects of technical execution, such as lighting, sharpness or blurriness, and composition in the frame.
· Add the human connection. It is the emotional element in your pictures that help you connect with your customers.
· Make sure your pictures seem relevant enough for your audience to relate with them. The best way to do this would be to use real-world photos. There are many websites where you can find licensed user-generated content that you can use in your website. If not, you could even take some pictures of your workplace with your employees working.
Putting up testimonials
They may not mean much to you; but they play a huge role in convincing your customers about your credibility and trustworthiness.
The actual power of testimonials lies in the fact that it is someone outside your brand who is doing all the talking. Your visitors would be able to relate to them easily.
You could even use photos and real attributions wherever possible, for better credibility.
Including a photo of person, helps to drive authenticity to the testimonial being displayed on the website.
So collect a couple of those testimonials and put them up on your home page and other important pages of your website. As a business strategy you could even scatter a few of those across your web pages.
If you want to go one step further, you could even put up a few amazing video testimonials.
Including Case studies
When compared to testimonials, case studies give your customers a deeper insight into what you have delivered and what you can do for them.
By displaying tangible results from real customers, case studies make it easier for visitors to relate to your products and services.
They can look for case studies that resemble their problems, figure out how you have solved them before, and make informed decisions whether or not to choose your services. They add incredible value to your business.
Show Microcopy Setting Expectations Instinctively
More often than not mistrust has a lot to do with the fear of the unknown. Therefore it is very important that you make it clear to your visitors where they would land if they click on the tabs, links and CTA buttons that they find on your webpage.
Your navigation labels need to be extremely intuitive and you could even add a few disclaimers or labels under each of the buttons.
Make sure the users get all the information about your website.
Never make the mistake of considering your website as a space where you can talk about yourself.
Instead, make it all about your audience. Let them make you the hero through their testimonials, reviews, and stories. That will make you look more trustworthy.
Telling your story in a genuine way (About Us Page)
The first thing that most people would do when they visit your website, is look at your ‘About Us’ page.
They would want to know who you are and find out where the business is coming from. So, your about us page becomes very important in establishing trust with your website.
This is the place where you can tell your story, give a brief about your history, share your values, and tell your customers why they should choose you over others.
If you can hit that emotional strand through a sizzling About Us page, you are sure to draw your customers to trust your website.
Putting up Media logos
If you are still looking for answers on how to build trust on a website, you need to understand that it is possible to do this by exhibiting your mentions in the press.
It is not a small thing to receive attention from journalists and media people. When your prospects see this, they will have a positive impression of your brand and of the kind of service you provide to your clients.
Check out the image that you see below:
Having a Contact Us Page with all details
When the visitors of your website access your ‘Contact Us’ page, there is a high chance that they will contact you.
Once there, if they can’t find your contact details, such as your business address, your number and your email, they might get skeptical about your business and may not even trust you at all.
If you don’t want to frustrate your users, you should put up your contact details on your Contact Us page. These contact details will also make your website seem genuine and trustworthy.
Alternatively, you could include a simple contact form that gives your visitor a way to reach you.
Using numbers to your advantage
Some websites take pride in telling how many people are using their products or services.
Such statistics and social sharing numbers tell your visitors that they are not alone in choosing to purchase your products or services.
They tell them that if there are so many people choosing your products or services, they should be good. So don’t hesitate to share user-based statistics or numbers about product/service usage.
But do this only if your numbers are good. Showing off low numbers tends to give a wrong message to your audience, telling them that it is risky to use your product or service. It might actually hurt you instead of doing well.
Including a Returns & Refund Policy
In case you are operating an ecommerce website, no one would want to buy anything from you if they cannot return it and get a refund. So a Returns & Refund policy is a must for all ecommerce websites.
In fact this is one of the reasons that have made Amazon so trustworthy a website.
It takes away the risk factor from the purchase and lets the buyer know that he can get a refund or an in-store credit if he receives a damaged product from you.
Returns and Refunds are a benchmark that most online buyers use while making their purchases.
Make sure your returns & refund policy is complete yet concise to make it easy for your customers.
Focusing on Ratings and Reviews
When was the last time you purchased something on Amazon without going through the ratings and reviews? This should tell you how powerful customer ratings and reviews can be. They are in no way less than your testimonials. So whether it is your Google Reviews or Facebook Ratings, or even those simple positive comments your customers had sent you through email, make sure you put them up in places where your visitors will see, on your website.
Accreditations, Partnerships and Awards
In case you have an accreditation that you want to shout about, you would be better off displaying it on your website.
Most companies end up posting the customer service and BBB (Better Business Bureau) awards that they have earned. It is up to you whether you want to make it prominent by putting it at the center of your home page or keep it discreet by opting for a lesser prominent placement.
Most young companies that may not be that well-known may opt to make their awards prominent. This will give a reason to your visitors to do business with you.
Security
The first thing that the visitors want to make sure when they visit a website is that it is secure.
Where you want to put your security message depends entirely on you.
Nevertheless, most of the popular ecommerce sites such as Amazon may not even need to display any security messages. This is because they would already have earned a good reputation.
Achieving Visual Consistency
Visual consistency is a very crucial aspect when it comes to designing a website.
Not only does it enhance the experience of your users, it will also increase their trust in a remarkable way.
By achieving visual consistency in your website you can establish that you are a consistent brand that can be relied upon, you pay attention to every single detail, and that you have put in a tremendous amount of thought into enhancing the experience of your users.
Showing your face
Gone are those days when people did business with faceless entities. Now they need to see who you are before deciding to do business with you.
Apart from building recognition for yourself, you will also be building trust with visitors by showing your face on your website.
In some cases, human face also helps in increasing conversion rate.
So, go ahead, get a photographer to click a professional photo of yours and put it up on your website.
CONCLUSION
Your website is the first-most point of contact that you provide for your potential customers. It reflects the legitimacy and credibility of your business. Now that you have understood how to make your website more trustworthy, proceed towards proofreading your copy and checking out its design and appearance, before you actually launch it.
