8 Ways to Make Your Website More Trustworthy to Customers

Every successful relationship is based on trust. Your prospects and your customers are no different. If people pay for the products and services you offer, they need to trust that you will deliver. This is where trust comes in. 

If you’re selling products and services on your ecommerce site, then a lot of your business’ trustworthiness is dependent on your site. Your site is like your online storefront, and you must make an excellent first impression.

So how do you make a good impression and foster trust?

Factors to Build Customer Trust on Your Site 

Here are some key factors and proven ways to make your site more trustworthy to customers: 

1. High-Quality Web Design

Many people prefer a website that’s aesthetically pleasing over one designed without much thought to aesthetic appeal. 

Thus, a great-looking site does matter. That’s because you can create excellent first impressions of your business based on your website’s visual design. 

Elements like illegible text, too many ads, and bad color combinations hurt users’ first impressions of your site, which does not inspire much trust in your business. 

Some ways you can improve your site design include: 

• Unique images and illustrations. Using stock photos can create mistrust from your customers. So, use high-quality, professional-looking photos on your site as much as possible. 
• Prominent CTAs. Every page on your site should have that one primary call to action that prompts users to do a specific action. For instance, if you want users to look up your products on your site or sign up for a free trial, make sure you have a clear call-to-action (CTA) that makes it easy for visitors to do that particular action. 
• Enticing layout. Your site shouldn’t just be blocks of text. Instead, it should be an immersive experience with images, pictures, and videos. Adding these elements makes it a more enriching and pleasurable experience. 

2. Clear and Accurate Product Information

When shopping online, one of the fears people have is that the products won’t match the details and pictures of them posted online. To assuage customers and break this fear, you can: 

• Use high-quality, accurate images: Using high-quality images of the actual products to showcase your products is vital. 
• Utilize videos: Videos showcasing your products help to build credibility and trust. 
• Include all vital information. Customers should be properly informed of all product details, like color variants, size, weight, and more. 
• Add 360-degree product views. Showcase your products from different angles so that viewers can examine the product thoroughly and be confident of their purchase decision. 
• Display product ratings and reviews from previous customers. It helps build trust.
• Have a warranty and guarantee on the product page. Doing so will assure customers that they can trust you and prevent them from leaving your site without buying. 

3. User-Friendly Site Design

A site that’s too complicated and cluttered isn’t the best way to go if you want to win your customers’ trust in your business. 

Have a mobile-optimized site that is intuitive to use for first-time visitors on whichever device users access it from. 

Nothing beats a professionally designed website that is intuitive to use on both desktop and mobile devices. It lends itself to a high degree of trust and satisfaction for users.

4. Prominently Displayed Contact Information

When users have a difficult time finding your contact details, it is very frustrating for them and that does not bode well for your business’ trustworthiness. 

Make sure that you include a functioning contact form on your website, as well as your business email, telephone, and postal address where applicable so that users can easily reach you. 

Display your contact information prominently and provide a way people can reach you on your website. You can display your contact info in the header and footer sections of your site.

If you are accepting phone calls, provide a phone number on your site so that visitors can easily get in touch with you with any queries or concerns. This is another sure way to build trust.

5. Relevant and Helpful Content

Publishing relevant, high-quality, and helpful content and blogs on your business website helps to showes your business’ expertise. It also engages users and helps build rapport and trust in your business and brand. People who come to read helpful content on your site develop an emotional attachment with your brand and this builds trust and loyal, return customers. 

Aside from the basics of high-quality content such as getting vocabulary and grammar right, your content should also be fresh and informative always. So, it often pays to invest in professional content and copy writers to consistently produce engaging content for your website as a way to promote your company’s expertise as well as your products and services. 

6. Fast-Loading Site 

People today are pressed for time and have much more options than ever before. They won’t wait for your website or product pages to load for more than a few second. 

That means that having a slow website will negatively impact your conversion rates in the long run. This is because users will simply move on to the next site if yours takes too long to load.

Therefore, optimize your website for speed, ensuring it loads in under three seconds. This is also an essential ranking factor for Google’s algorithm. 

A fast-loading website can improve your website rankings on search engines like Google. 

7. Transparent Policies

Another way to ensure your site is more trustworthy is to communicate your policies with visitors. This lets them know what to expect when doing business with you on your site. 

Some ways you can state your company’s policies to them: 

• Publish a privacy policy. This lets visitors know what sort of data you collect and how you use that data. It is vital if you want to gain their trust. 
• State terms and conditions. It outlines what your company is and isn’t responsible for when conducting business online. 
• A FAQ Page. This allows you to answer many people’s most common or frequently asked questions about your products, services, and company. 

By openly discussing these policies and answering their most common questions, you can create the impression that your business is trustworthy and you run an honest website. It also allows you to run your site and your business within the safe confines of the law.

8. Trust Seals and Budges

Finally, display website trust budges and seals from trusted authorities to assure your website visitors that you are legit and trustworthy. 

Display your certificates of excellence, stellar ratings, third-party endorsements, and money-back guarantee badges. These things make customers feel more confident that they can trust you/your business and do more business with you. 

Trust budges alleviate potential customer hesitancy. So, don’t hesitate to add them to your site!