The 10 Ways to Increase Trust on your Website

How to increase trust on your website isn’t a problem we often think about, but it’s something that can make or break a purchase on your ecommerce website. It’s very easy for a lead to opt out of purchasing on your site, so you want to make sure you have all the necessary components for a trustworthy brand, product page, checkout system, and overall website. Here are some rather simple changes you can make to turn those leads into paying customers.

Here are 10 tips that will help your customers sleep better at night knowing they’re purchasing from a trustworthy company.

1. Simplify

Overcrowded websites are a relic of a bygone era.

Make it easy for people to navigate your site by removing unnecessary design elements that tire the eye. Too many bells and whistles can make us think there is something to cover up.

Have you noticed a trend toward minimalist sites? That’s not just a fad.

As daily life becomes more confusing, people respond more and more to less and less.

That doesn’t mean that your site has to look like the promotional brochure for a Buddhist monastic retreat. But if you make it easier for people to both find the product they need and then reach the checkout point, you’ll see more purchases.

2. Give Your Customers a Money-Back Guarantee

Everyone wants a sure thing.

The closest thing to a sure thing that you can give your customers is a money-back guarantee. They’ll feel that they have nothing to lose. And when a person feels that he has nothing to lose, they are more willing to take a chance. In this case, that means taking a chance on your product. They also gain more trust in purchasing the product because you trust it enough that they will love it so much there is a money-back guarantee.

Don’t worry about returns. If you have a good product that fills a genuine need, there will be few returns. Besides, the returns will be outpaced by all the new sales you gain.

3. Introduce Your Prospective Customers to Your Happy Customers

Testimonials work.

People go to the movies on the recommendation of friends. That’s also how they choose everything from restaurants to vacations to cars.

So before they purchase from you, they want to be reassured that other people who purchased from you are pleased with their choice.

The more detailed the testimonial, the more credibility.

Try to obtain permission to use a few of the customers’ actual first or last names along with the name of their city or town. If a prospect sees that people from his part of the world endorse your product, he’s more likely to purchase from you. After all, the best and the brightest people all come from the same place the prospect comes from. Everybody knows that.

4. Explain How Your Product Will Make Life Easier

Does your product solve an important problem? Are you making that clear?

If you can show that using your product will remove some of the pain associated with the customer’s life, you’ll be one step nearer to closing the sale. Showing that you understand this same concept that the customer is going through introduces you as a trustworthy source of information.

However, don’t assume that the purpose of your product is crystal clear. Get honest feedback from people who are not on your marketing team. Preferably, find people who are not even connected to your company.

See if they can read your website and quickly understand what your company is, what your product is, and why your product is worth buying.

This is also where testimonials can be a huge help. Satisfied customers can explain in their own words how they put your product into use to solve a specific problem.

5. Use Videos

People love videos.

If you sell a product that can be demonstrated on screen, consider using videos to boost conversions.

The videos should be brief. They shouldn’t waste time with hype. They should get right to the point.

Show the customer the product in use. Seeing a face associated with the brand instantly breaks down any mysterious walls. This allows your brand to be more trustworthy because it’s no longer a product and a logo- there’s a personality tied with the brand.

To build even more trust through video, you can also show the customer how the product is delivered, unboxed, and set up. In fact, if your product requires in-depth explanation regarding how to use it, you should consider videos a non-negotiable part of your marketing.

6. Include your SSL Certificate and GDPR Optin

It’s very rare now that we see a website that says “Not Secure” to the left of the domain.

However, when we do- that’s when the alarm bells go off.

It’s extremely vital to have your SSL certificate these days. To find out if you do, just take a look at the left of your domain in a browser and you will either see a lock icon or it will say “Not Secure.” the lock icon is what you want.

Websites without an SSL Certificate are seen as either sketchy or they are rarely updated. When it’s obvious that a site isn’t regularly updated, we lose trust in the website because of its lack of upkeep. Adding an SSL certificate is free with many hosts or as low as $10 a year.

Having a GDPR solution on your website is crucial not only for trustworthiness but for legal reasons. It was announced all the way to Timbuktu for the last year, so make sure you’ve got it if you’d like to avoid some serious legal fees. 

7. Drop the Registration

Some people want to make a purchase without feeling like they’re applying for membership to a country club. And yet that is how some websites make them feel by requiring that they register before they can make a purchase.

If you require registration on your website, you have your reasons depending on your business. However, it is recommended to avoid this if it’s not necessary. Asking for too much information may discourage your leads away out of lack of trust or unsureness about what you’ll do with that info. One sure way to increase your conversion rate is to make registration optional rather than mandatory.

8. Increase the Speed of the Website

Everyone’s in a hurry.

If your site makes a potential customer’s computer grind to a halt, they will flee, [insert dramatic voice] never to return.

Your leads may negatively judge you, your company, and your product for relying on outdated web programming. They could feel concerned about making a purchase on your site because the slow speed leads them to suspect that the site is infected with malware that could steal their financial information.

You should assume that the visitor on your site is at their office and therefore needs to make both his or her selection and purchase quickly before having to get back to work. Is your site fast enough to help them make a purchase quickly while still having trust that their payment will safely go through?

9. Go Mobile

Is your site designed to be viewed equally well on both computers and mobile devices? It should be.

If someone using a phone finds that he has to constantly scroll right to finish reading sentences on your site, he going to give up and go to your competitor’s site.

Looking good on a mobile device isn’t an option for a site today, it’s a necessity. Without a mobile-responsive site, your website is seen as untrustworthy.

10. Offer More Than One Payment Method

Don’t lose a potential customer after they’ve already decided to buy.

It happens too often where a customer has added to their cart, entered shipping info, and only to realize that a payment method like Paypal, Google Pay, or Paypal isn’t offered. This can deter a lead that was already willing to pay.

Since there are so many methods of payment now, you should have multiple methods available. Having only a Paypal option is probably seen as the most untrustworthy checkout you could have. It is encouraged to include as many as you can including Amazon Pay, Apply Pay, traditional credit card, etc… Stripe is a trustworthy platform that can easily connect on Shopify or Woocmmerce for all credit/debit card payments.

Experiment and Then Experiment Some More
If your business goal is to turn more browsers into buyers, implementing the above 10 tips will be a huge help. Tweak the suggestions as you see fit to make them better suited to your line of business. If it helps, take a look through your site right now as if you’ve never looked at it before.

Do I trust this business?