Gaining Consumer Trust for Your Ecommerce Business

First impressions are everything. And the look of the website for your ecommerce business has a huge impact on the perceived credibility and quality of your company.

A website isn’t just a place for people to accidentally find you. It should be able to convert leads into customers.

It takes about .05 seconds for people to form an opinion on a website that determines whether or not they’ll stay or leave.

So how do you get consumers who visit your website to stay instead of go?

There are many strategies that work, but it boils down to establishing brand trust.

It may help to put on your customer hat and ask yourself the reasons you choose one brand over another when making a purchase.

Is it because of a referral? Does the company have recent and consistent positive reviews? Does the company’s mission or vision align with your core values?

While the reason could be related to one or all these things, each trait is rooted in trust.

Below are a few ways your ecommerce business can turn browsers or one-time buyers into loyal customers, brand advocates or ambassadors.

BUILD A USER-FRIENDLY WEBSITE

While an audience can be wooed by a fancy website with all the bells and whistles, if users can’t navigate through it to fulfill a purchase, what’s the point?

Yes, a website with high resolution imagery is great, just make sure it enhances your product and doesn’t detract from its effectiveness. Sometimes uploaded photos are too large and slow the load time causing users to leave your site.

Did you know that slow-loading websites cost retailers $2.6 billion in lost sales each year?

Nearly 40 percent of people say they’ll stop engaging with a website of the images take too long to load, leading to cart abandonment.

If you aren’t willing to waste your time, why would you expect anyone else to?

AUTHENTIC CONTENT CREATION

While website content is considered to be anything from images to videos, a graphic, meme or standard text, the content should be done in a way that stays true to your brand and resonates with your audience.

For example, if you’re trying to make a point by using a statistic within a meme and the information is incorrect, that’s not good for consumer retention. In fact, it can push people away who may find you too lazy to fact check and negatively impact your credibility.

All content should be created with the user in mind. Speak to you audience directly and do it in their language.

INCORPORATE A CALL TO ACTION

Many times, consumers like to give business to companies that have similar ideals or values as they do. They figure, if they’re going to spend their money they may as well contribute to one they can identify with. You can do this with what’s called a Call To Action.

A CTA tells users what you’re offering while making it easy to purchase a product.

Incorporating a call to action within your ecommerce business isn’t difficult and it can be done in a variety of ways. The holidays are a good time to try it out because many people are already in the spirit of giving and spending!

Nearly three-fourths of small businesses incorporate a call to action on their homepage.

ENSURE A SMOOTH CHECKOUT PROCESS

This hollers back in part to creating a simple, clean website. You don’t want the consumer to go through the process of finding your website, then selecting a product only to abandon their cart due to something on your end.

To do this you must ensure your ecommerce business has a reliable, secure checkout process.

Consumers, especially these days, want to know a website is secure when visiting it. This ensures the safety of processed payments and protects personal information from attacks by cyber hackers.

ACCREDITATION

Almost everyone is familiar with the Better Business Bureau, whose slogan is: Start with trust. For some consumers the BBBis the No. 1 thing that seals the deal in deciding to go with a particular brand over another.

The nonprofit organization has been around for more than a century and was created with the safety of the consumer in mind. Specifically, promotes honest businesses and punishes fraudulent ones.

Once your business has been in operation for one full year, you can apply for BBB accreditation. To receive full recognition, you must comply with its set standards and regulations. Once this happens you’re free to use their seal of approval on your website.

Remember, investing the necessary effort, money and resources into website creation can help you attract and retain consumers. Creating authentic content, designing a clean website, obtaining well-respected accreditations, and incorporating a call to action will help you build a reputable, successful ecommerce business.

Gaining Consumer Trust for Your Ecommerce Business