No matter what type of business you run, your ultimate goal is to drive new sales. There are countless ways to get more clients, each of them requiring significant investments in time and money.
But there is one effective, super affordable way to bring in more clients - making them trust you and your offer. Easier said than done, right?
Today, we’ll show you which website elements you need to work on to instill more trust in your visitors - so you can turn them into clients.
Social proof
When you want to find an online product or service that meets your needs, the second place to look (after the actual business website) are customer reviews. As we’re bombarded with marketing messages every day, we become immune to them. So, we are more likely to trust other people who have already spent some money rather than the business itself.
It is no surprise then that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they trust their own friends. Having a few great reviews can make a major difference for your website and sales, while a few bad ones (or a complete lack of them) can put off a client with their credit card ready.
All it takes to use social proof for trust is collecting it and showing it on your website. If you have happy clients (which hopefully you do), you’re two steps away from using this as a marketing and sales strategy.
Social proof can come in a variety of formats:
- Reviews
- Testimonials
- Video testimonials
- Case studies
They all have one thing in common - they tell the story of your happy clients. You can use different social proof formats on your home page, landing pages, product pages, About Us page or anywhere else where it’s crucial to have clients’ trust that will lead to conversions.
You can collect social proof manually by getting in touch with your clients or use a specialized tool such as Trust. On platforms such as Amazon or Ebay, reviews are automatically aggregated by the platform, but for your own website, you have to put in the work yourself.
Create an About Us (Me) page
When designing a new website, most business owners focus on the few core vitals. Home page, landing/product pages, contact us, blog, etc. But one page that is sure to instill trust and get results is the About Us / About Me page.
It’s often forgotten and unjustifiably so. According to one research, 52% of all website visitors head to a website’s About Us page immediately after visiting the homepage. This is a place where you tell your story, present your values and strengths.
What is the About Us page NOT? It’s not a place to show your achievements, stress once again what a great company you have, how many clients you served and why you’re so much better than the competition.
Think of this page like an informal conversation where a friend just introduced you to someone. You want to show yourself in a natural light and show the world what you believe in and how your company came to be what it is today.
Add clear contact data
Anyone can build a website these days and if a scammer is skilled enough, they can create an elaborate trick to get you to spend money with them, representing themselves as someone else. Or even worse, they can be anonymous.
To add to your website credibility, make sure to display your contact data either in the footer or on a dedicated Contact page. Your phone number or email address with social media profiles should be enough. Make sure to verify the emails you collect via the contact form.
However, having an online booking section or page turns out to be even more valuable. It does not only let people schedule a call with you and get to know you better, but also shows clients that there are real people behind the website and not one hacker looking for a quick way to make a buck.
Use client logos
You probably ran into a variety of company logos before on various websites. If you have a client who is really well known in your industry, you should ask them to include their logo on your website to show off your expertise.
They may seem like a tiny bit of design that is easy to overlook, but they can make a major impact on how much your clients trust your website.
If you accept different payment processors and credit cards, you can also include their logos, somewhere earlier than checkout - ideally somewhere in your footer. This way, clients will shop along, knowing that they won’t go all the way to the checkout to see that their payment type is not supported.
In general, it’s always a good idea to use company logos, keeping in mind the intention of clients when choosing the specific logo.
Great website design and copy
One of the most important elements on your website that influence purchasing decisions is the design. If you sell the best product/service in the world and your website looks like it came out of 2001, don’t be surprised if no one trusts your business and your conversions are stuck at 0%.
It’s actually quite easy to explain good design. One research lists the most important elements for a website that visitors trust, as follows:
- Overall design
- Color
- Font
- Images
- Search function
- Navigation
- Links, buttons and forms
- Technical functioning
In general, there are quite a few elements your website needs to have in order to have great design. Instead of feeling stuck, not knowing where to turn, we suggest two actions first:
- Take a look at the competition and the best websites in your industry and niche
- Hire a great web designer or a web design company and let them do their magic
Even if you’ve been running your business for decades, you could still be completely clueless when it comes to great website design and the latest user experience and user interface best practices. Hence, it is essential to hire skilled UX professionals, preferably with a certificate in UX/UI design to help you design the best UX interface for generating maximum customer engagement.
When it comes to the copy, it’s one element that can drive away clients very quickly. The number one mistake you can make is using broken English (or whatever your language is) with lots of mistakes in spelling and grammar. If you have a dropshipping website, for example, and you’re trying to show yourself as a US-based company, this is the easiest way for your clients to see through your guise.
Moreover, writing great copy is another neglected website best practice. If you can’t hire a copywriter, make sure to look at your website through the eyes of your client. Ask yourself: “Am I talking about myself or showing my clients what they get by using my products and services?”
Whenever in doubt, make sure that you’re talking about the benefits of what you sell and not its features and you should be one step closer to writing a better website copy. If you can, hire a copywriter to do the job for you for the best results.
Of course, getting people to visit your website is only half the battle. Once they’re there you need to make it as easy as possible for them to find the information that they need and get in touch.
So, you should make sure you have a good website if you want to grow your business. Your website has to be quick and easy to navigate, a good web hosting provider can cover that. Use SEO software to help you rank better on search engines for your desired keywords.
Wrapping up
Trust is the essential requirement for a great relationship between a client and a company. Without trust, there is no sales funnel and no marketing efforts will pay off. Your website is a great place to start with building trust and when you pay attention to all the elements mentioned above, you should have a website that instills confidence in your clients.
About The Author
Carsten Schaefer is the founder and CEO at Trust, a testimonial and rating platform. Inspired by principles and mechanisms of social proof, Carsten is currently on his way to help businesses become trustworthy and thrive in the digital landscape.
