How to Build Instant Trust on Your Website

We all understand trust is not built instantly. In this post, I explain why it’s important to have clear trust indicators on your website, several ways to do so and how you can take the whole game of on-site trust to the next level.

Let’s start by stating the obvious. When a person lands on your website for the first time, you typically have no longer than a split second to make a good impression before that person surfs away. In that split second, you need to convince that person that you are a trusted source.

We have come a long way as users to trust the internet in general. It’s no longer viewed as a black hole and the user is able to make a quick decision whether or not they have landed on a website that is legit and can be trustworthy.

The role of instant trust

The main objective of building on-site trust is to make your visitor feel comfortable enough to take action. For example, make a purchase or subscribe to your mailing list.

In this case, since we’re talking about a first impression, the benefit of instantly communicating that trust is to retain that visitor a little longer to navigate your website, get to know you, read your content, look at your products or services, etc. When people feel insecure about something, they look around for validation. Show them that other people trust you.

The human factor

People like associating themselves and do business with other people, not with companies. This is why immediately showcasing that human factor on a website is essential. Personal branding and the association of a leader figure with the company of course is not a new concept.

Showcase the team and your community

Includes all members of the team (not just the founders) on your website or blog. Create a team member mini profile giving the name, position in the company, a profile image, a quick description and social media follow buttons.

Stock photography

One mistake many businesses do on their websites when trying to add a human factor, is working with stock photography. This plays against the very concept of building trust. People are educated enough to identify this and most of them know you paid a buck or two for that image.

Web design

Some people still don’t consider design a priority. Truth is design should be at the core of your business and web design is not the exception.

Design is not about making something look cool. It’s about storytelling, standing out from the competition, solving a problem, usability, readability, and the list goes on.

Ask yourself, how many websites did you visit in the last month alone, just to hit the back button because it had terrible design? That’s the problem with web design. It can really turn people off in a second without even giving your content or your offer a chance.

Off-the-shelf design

Same effect created by stock photography, the internet user is educated enough to be able to tell your website is nothing but a cheap template that you didn’t even bother to customise.

For a serious business, big or small, having a template website can significantly reduce your chances of communicating trust. Web design can damage your business more than it can improve it.

Media coverage

Media coverage should be one of the elements that stands out the most when your page is loaded on the user’s screen. The association between you or your brand with well known publications or TV networks tell people these media sources consider you an expert in the field and they have trusted you with their audiences. Familiarity is one of the strongest aspects of communicating trust. It helps eliminate uncertainty. This is why it’s extremely important that you use logos of brands that are recognisable.

Client logos

This has pretty much the same effect as showcasing media logos. If you provide a service to big clients and brands that people can easily recognise, these logos must be included on your homepage.

Engagement

Content that has been socially shared many times is more likely to keep getting shares, likes and tweets. This is because people are comfortable seeing that others have shared it too. The same thing happens with blog comments and any type of engagement counters shown on a website.

Followers, fans, subscribers

Truth is these numbers play a big role in digital first impressions. Admit it. I’m not saying you go around connecting only to people with 30K followers or more, but with a quick glance at the sidebar, the number of followers, likes and subscribers, you can get a better idea of how relevant, influential and trustworthy this person or business is.

That’s why we call this “social proof”. If there’s a significant number of people that subscribes to your website or follows you on Twitter or Facebook, you’re giving people a clear indication that others find you or your business valuable.

On the other hand, when these digits are too low, this can play against you and it’s probably better not to display this kind of information until you have been able to build a bigger audience.

Testimonials

Testimonials are kind of funny because some people think they’re a dinosaur. Then you have others that think nobody reads them and others think people do.

Although people don’t read almost anything on a website, the fact that testimonials are visually present is enough to build instant trust.

There are 2 types of testimonials:

1. Your clients – They can be powerful because they are regular human beings that people can relate to. They are usually satisfied clients that share how your product or service has improve their lives.
   
   
2. Influencers – Then you have testimonials from well known individuals (preferable in your industry). Chances are everybody that visits your website can easily recognise them.

Testimonials need to communicate transparency, they need to be credible and they need to also deliver that human factor. Ask your clients for permission to showcase them with a profile photo, name and their business. Some people will not have a problem with it, especially if they’re satisfied with your services. As for an influencer, you don’t even have to ask for permission.

Product reviews

Product reviews work because they are a word-of-mouth engine and people know they are written by real users. If you sell products on your website, reviews are a must.

Faking your way to instant trust

Besides the financial penalties, faking any of these items can only damage your business. The social web has this transparency element that, with time, it brings everything to surface. You can probably fake this in the front-end, but not in the back-end of your business. It’s just a matter of time before your clients/readers realise perception does not match the reality of your service.

Bad reviews

Anybody can have a bad review online, but what matters is how you handle it. If you delete or ignore anything negative said about your company, you are wasting a great opportunity to make somebody happy and let others see how committed you are to that happiness.