With e-commerce purchases on the rise and a new website coming up every other day, people have now become all the more wary of online sites and are more cautious about who they interact with or buy from. Trust signals play a very critical role in a user’s decision to do business with you. Your website creates the first impression and the subliminal cues that the trust signals send out ultimately decide whether the users are comfortable in spending their monies with you.
What are Trust Signals?
These are website elements that may or may not be obvious at the first glance, but influence the user’s decision on whether they trust your business and website enough to make a buying decision in your favour. Some trust signals may be more valued than others. In this article, we will cover the 5 most important trust factors that business owners should incorporate on their website.
1. Contact Information
This is an essential trust signal for your website. In businesses that are purely online, people tend to be unsure of how easily accessible are the people running the business. Be sure to include your email address, phone number, address and operating hours. This should be easily located on your website. Ideally place it on the footer or the header (email, phone number) and on a separate contact page. This builds a reassurance that there is somewhere the user can reach in case of any queries or concerns he or she may have either before or after purchase.
2. Social Profiles
Social Media is no longer used only for entertainment purposes, the shift towards using social media for information is slowly increasing. A brand that is active on social media with a large number of followers emanates trust. People are more likely to connect with your brand if they see you as someone who engages and is socially active with your followers.
Your social media icons should ideally be displayed on every page of your website ( header or footer) and on shareable content. These should be linked to active pages which would make it easier for people to engage with you even if they leave your website.
3. Reviews
One cannot undermine the importance of reviews on a website. They are by far one of the first things, new users tend to look at. Having reviews on your website along with the actual identity of the reviewer builds a high level of trust with your brand as the users tend to see such reviews as legitimate. It also shows that as a business, you are open to what people have to say about you. Responding to reviews is even better because it shows that you are highly involved with your customers and that their opinions matter.
4. Trust Badges
Protecting data, avoiding phishing scams, and safety from malicious code are all top of mind for online shoppers.
Any logo or image of well-known brands builds confidence in users. If you are associated with these brands, the users will be comfortable trusting you because of the association.
One such example is an SSL certificate for your website from SSL Secure Site Seal. It is not enough to just install this certificate but show it visually on your website. Displaying HTTPS next to the site URL in browser address bar informs e-commerce site is secured with SSL certificate.
Verification badges by payment gateways and security scan badges by known software companies are other great examples of trust badges.
Awards and Recognitions are another way to build trust. They show that your brand is recognised in the industry and is as good as your website copy suggests. It shows credibility and your strive for excellence.
5. Policies
Website policies should contain details about business rules, standards, terms and conditions, legal information etc.
In the wake of GDPR, a privacy policy is a must for your website. Shoppers want to be sure that their personal information is being used only for business purposes and not for anything else. They want to know what privacy practices are in place at your company to keep their personal data secure.
The return policy is another credibility indicator that helps to build conversions. It lets people know that they can return products if not happy. This has been known to have a positive impact on return customers and also to improve conversion rates for first-time buyers.
Conclusion
In today’s world of spam, phishing and leak of personal data, users are very conscious of how they access and use websites. Using the above trust signals helps build your brand credibility. This, in turn, will help you improve conversions and revenue generation from your website. So, if you have not paid attention to this before, start adding these to your website today!
