These days, having a business means having a thousand competitors and more. Competition does not only constitute of the products that you offer or who is better with sales, but everyone is trying to gain customers’ trust online.
However, building trust with your customer is not fast and not an overnight success. It takes time, effort, and a lot of patience. You need to make your brand or business stand apart from the competition and make people see you as someone they can trust to make transactions with that can provide whatever they need.
Table of Contents
How To Earn Trust Of Your Online Customer
1. Look Professional In Your Website Design
When you do business online, you must have your website, which can act as your online ambassador. According to statistics, 47% of people visit a brand’s website before making any purchase. Your website can play a significant role in building the trust of your customers.
Your website must make a good impression with your customers. If your site is poorly organized and does evoke a professional feel, visitors will find that you are not trustworthy and will not do any transaction with you. Your website should be easy to navigate, and customers can find what they are looking for easily. It should create a positive experience for your clients. Your website speed, friction, and the seamless checkout process always matter. A well-designed website is a key to not only increase your sales but also to establish trust with your customers.
2. Work On Proving Valuable Content
Leaning on creating valuable content for your customers can help present your brand as someone is trustworthy with an authoritative voice that can build you as a thought leader. When you become a thought leader, people will listen to what you say and place value in your company.
Create content that is detailed, engaging, powerful, and offer useful information for your customers. Refrain from doing a sales pitch. It will appear that you are doing hard selling and will make people keep their distance. However, if you provide reliable and insightful content, your audience will nurture a sense of trust for you and your company.
3. Engage With Your Customers
Customers see the products and services that they use as an extension of themselves. Therefore, they want to be a part of it. They want to engage and have a deepening relationship with the different brands that they use. If you are not practicing this kind of tactic, then now is the time that you should. So how will you build trust through engagement? It is by offering value to your readers and by being consistent.
4. Leverage On Social Media
Social media has changed everybody’s lives and dramatically shifted the online landscape for businesses. For business owners like you, social media is a great avenue not only to help have incremental sales but also to build you with your online credibility.
To gain your audience trust in your social media accounts, be consistent in posting, and have no-nonsense content. Be active in your social media profiles, and make sure to provide the right material for your audience.
5. Have Reviews And Testimonials
When a customer looks for an item to buy online and found a source where to purchase, they would usually look for reviews made on the product or the business. For this reason, why it is crucial to bank on reviews made by customers and post it on your website or social media platforms if it allows you.
The more people who give you a review, the stronger your credibility becomes and the more audience will be enticed to give your product a try. It also allows you to become an industry leader as people talk about you.
6. Place A Visible Contact Information
Many fraudulent activities are now happening on the internet, which makes it harder for people to place their trust online. Hackers and scammers usually pry on the internet and sometimes mask themselves as an online business where they will target unsuspicious online buyers.
As this continues to happen and can profoundly affect those with a legit online business, you can do something to let your audience know that it is safe to transact with you. Place your contact information where it reflects your address or a phone number, which they can dial should they want to talk to you through a voice call. Having this information on your website and social media platforms, assure them that you exist and you are legit.
7. Hold Live Streaming
The development of technology these days also offer a chance for you to connect with your audience in real-time through live streaming in different social media channels, webinars, and other platforms that provide such a feature.
Going life can spark your target audiences’ interest and can motivate them to have a two-way engagement with you while they watch. As it is live streaming, their questions can get answered in an instant and make them feel your authenticity as the answer goes unedited.
8. Start A Referral Program
Many online customers today rely on other people’s opinions before making any purchase of a particular product. Therefore, it is very vital to have reviews and testimonials on your site and other platforms.
What other ways can your customers’ testimonials to be an effective word-of-mouth campaign? Create a referral program for your existing customers that will make them entice their friends and family members to try your product or services.
9. Deliver What You can Deliver
One of the essential keys to building trust with your online audience is being honest with what you can deliver. False promises can lead to a negative reputation that will damage your online credibility and authority.
It is vital to give your customers detailed information about the products they are about to receive and the time they can expect it to be delivered. If you encounter any delays or problems with your deliverables, make sure that you inform your client right away. Do not overpromise and do not give your customers generic photos that do not reflect what you offer.
Final Thoughts
Cultivating customer trust is not easy, yet it can be one of the most rewarding efforts you can do for your business. Once people start trusting you, you can even turn it into a useful marketing tool that will significantly benefit you and your sales. Building trust should be a long-term focus. It can lead to loyal customers that will stay with your brand for a long time. Aside from elevating your sales, having loyal customers should be your target to make sure that you beat your competitors.
About The Author
RAMON FRANCISCO
Ramon has been writing about technology trends, entertainment, and gaming ever since he left the busy world of corporate HR Tech behind. He currently writes about software and user experiences for Softvire Australia – the leading software e-Commerce company in Australia and Softvire New Zealand. In his spare time, Ramon writes science fiction, collects little yellow men and plastic spaceships.
