Signals of Trust You Can Add to Your Website

Trust is a big factor to ensuring any business success. If your business is online, it leaves prospective customers with a problem - how can they trust you when everything seems so remote? Building a rapport is tougher using just text and images. Here are some ideas below to help build trust with your site visitors. Not all will apply to your business, but there will be a number that will certainly help you win trust:-

• Add your case studies / portfolio - a chance to show off your excellent work
• Client list - show which companies already trust you
• Testimonials - get honest feedback from your customers to add to create an authentic insight into your products / services
• Full company contact address - an obvious one, but you'll be surprised how many websites don't list a physical address
• Accreditations - if your company has been accredited, let your visitors know
• Associations - list any associations you've joined, or partnering businesses
• Certifications / qualifications - this should also be obvious, but list any relevant certifications / qualifications
• Delivery information - something every shopper looks for when buying tangible items - make this information super-easy to find
• Returns policy - same again for shoppers - make it easy to find
• Details of your high street premises - if you also run a high street shop, let everyone know - take a video walk-through of it, pictures, description etc
• Terms and conditions - every business should have these in an easy-to-find place, and for the trust factor, they should be written in plain English - very few people speak legalese
• Details of complaints procedure - many companies don't like to even mention the potential that a problem might even occur(!), but having a complaints procedure means you take complaints seriously
• Detailed 'Meet the Team' info found - show us who you are - photos, descriptions etc
• Strong online social presence - if you're popular on one or more social networks, show it!
• Regularly updated blog/news - don't make your site look stale. A regularly updated blog/news section shows you're active and over time, is a sign of your longevity
• Details of your company mentioned in popular press publications / media outlets - any press mentions, let everybody know
• Company established in...let people know when your company was established. Even if it was "only" a couple of years ago, let them know.
• Add videos - introduce yourself
• Over X years' experience - just because your company might only be six months old, it doesn't mean you can't let people know about your overall experience if it's relevant to the site.
• Company is regulated by X regulatory body - if you're regulated, say so.
• Show off your other, more established sites - if you've launched a new site but have had successes with other more established sites, say so - people like to know you have a reliable track record.
• The last point is more personal, but it's quite straight forward: be honest. That might include admitting to some mistakes you've made and how you've learnt from them. It's daring to speak in a candid voice. Remember you're not speaking in front of an audience, you're speaking to one individual at a time. You don't have to tell your life story, but admitting to mistakes (and what you learnt from them) isn't a sign of weakness or failure. It's refreshingly honest and helps win people over.