How To Create A Website That Inspires Trust & Confidence

It’s not enough to simply make a website, set it live and wait for the visitors to roll in. The internet has grown up, and things don’t work like that anymore. The average customer is more attuned to the necessities of a legitimate website than ever before and will look out for triggers that this isn’t something worth trusting. To make sure your bounce rate doesn’t skyrocket, here are a couple of ways you can inspire trust and confidence in your website.

Social proof

If there’s one thing customers trust, it’s the opinion of other customers. Social proof is one of the best assets available to an existing website. It’s vital that as a business you harness the power of the trust customers have in one another.

Reviews have become an essential design element for any website looking to make it. Not only does the appearance of five stars next to the logo of a recognized review site such as Trustpilot inspire trust, but it gives your website an overall feeling of professionalism and experience. You should aim to collect a substantial amount of positive reviews for your website as soon as possible, with customers offering not just star ratings but an explanation of what they enjoyed about the service. Competitions and email campaigns can be used to attract the kind of reviews you want.

Give these reviews a prominent place within your website design. Even if you do get some bad ones don’t hide them, be seen replying to them and offering to rectify the concerns listed. Make sure you never pay for a review either, having fake ones on your website is obvious and can tarnish your growing reputation.

Follow up transactions

Efforts to inspire trust and confidence shouldn’t end just because you made a sale. There are certain triggers they will look out for after the purchase to make them feel more comfortable about handing their details over.

This is a vital and fertile step in the buying process. You need to follow up every purchase with an email outlining their transaction in full. This email should include a professionally presented invoice and clear direction back to all your social media and forms of contact. If you’re worried about producing an invoice that doesn’t look legitimate enough, consider using a free resource such as Wave’s templates to ensure you have one that matches industry leaders.

Failing to follow these steps can result in bad reviews from nervous customers, even if your service is completely legitimate and you haven’t done anything wrong. The lack of contact in this situation is just as damning as a security issue.

Design your website professionally

There’s no room in the modern online landscape for a website that doesn’t meet certain expectations of legitimacy in its design. Even if there’s nothing nefarious going on in the background, a new user isn’t going to know that and will evacuate quickly.

Design a website that’s sleek and simple, something visitors would associate with a leading brand. Make sure all the boring, but essential pages are clear and obvious to find, such as the About Us, Contact Us and Location Map pages. While you as a website developer and business owner may be more concerned with more exciting ideas and elements of your website, it’s these signs of security that people really look out for.

If you’re concerned your website doesn’t meet these standards, consider investing in a professional website developer rather than doing everything yourself. There will be room to weave in your own ideas and design quirks, but this way you won’t underestimate the power of the essentials.

Brag about clients and partners

Just how you should put a big prominence on what your customers say about you, it’s important to amplify who you work with and what they think about the experience. Doing so can help some of their professionalism and gravitas rub off on you.

If you run an online store you should list yourself as a recognized retailer of the brands and products you sell if you have the approval to do so. This helps establish you as an expert in your field and makes people feel safer that they’re buying from someone who is licensed to sell the products.

If you’re an agency you should brag about your clients. List your most impressive and the ones you’ve worked with the longest on your homepage. If they’re recognized names or well-respected industry leaders they can add a sense of legitimacy to your business. You should feel comfortable bragging about who you’ve worked with. You were able to convince them you are worth trust after all. Don’t just use their names, ask if they’d be interested in writing a little testimonial about the experience.

Have security certifications

It may seem obvious, but having the right kind of security on your website is a vital step to making sure new visitors trust it. For example, if you don’t have an SSL certificate then not only will savvy customers instantly leave, but Google will not be able to rank you properly on search results.

Make sure your payment gateways are secure and your customers are constantly reminded of this. If you do find a problem with your website don’t be afraid to take the time to solve the issue properly and be vocal about your efforts to fix it. People would rather know a problem is being fixed than be faced with radio silence.

Inspiring trust and confidence isn’t about presenting an air of seriousness and checking all the boxes, it’s about establishing the people and personality behind your website. Visitors want to know there is a face on the other side of the screen they can trust. These are just a few ways of getting people on your side, but there is always more you can do for your website.