A Simple But Important Question About WebSite Design

A client of mine asked me a simple but important question recently.

He said "Graham, how do I gain trust with my customers on my website ?"

Simple question - and critical to your business success, whether your business is online or offline.

Trust is the single most important element when the customer is deciding to do business with you. If they don't trust you from the get-go, they probably won't be interested in what you have to offer. Of course price is important as is the quality of what you are offering. But where there is a feeling of trust, the customer will more likely buy from you - and where two items are very similar, even identical, trust is the factor which will sway the customer.

And you know what ? When the customer has a level of trust with the supplier, price is less of a consideration. In other words, the more you build trust, you increase the chances of making the sale and the customer will pay more when they know they trust the supplier.

So what's this got to do with creating your website ? Well, your website is your 'window' for the customer to look in, it's your store front. It's often the first time the potential customer will see you, to look at your products and services.

This is the opportunity not only to present what you have in a way that creates impact - but importantly is the best opportunity to start to build trust.

So I come back to the question my client asked me. What are the things you can do on your website to have the customers start to trust you ?

Here's four ways you can start to build trust on your web page:

1.Offer something of value to the visitors to your site - and make it free. Let's say you're a florist: you can offer visitors Ten Tip for Keeping Cut Flowers Fresher Longer. If you're in the financial planning business offer a ready reckoner on a savings plan.

2.Off them a chance to subscribe to your newsletter. In doing this, indicate the sort of things that will be covered in the newsletter, indicate the value they'll get, make them want to look forward to receiving it. And then deliver concise and valuable information in your newsletter regularly.

3.Set out your website clearly. Visually confusing pages don't easily lead to trust - people 'subconsciously' think "What are they trying to hide?" So clear and straightforward. And make it easy for them to look around your site as they learn more about you and your business.

4.They should see that contacting you is easy. With some websites I review, I have to look hard for the contact details and I wonder why this organization doesn't want me to contact them. The contact details you set out should almost have them feel you're inviting them to contact you - the way you set this out will show your willingness to have contact with the customers, that there are 'real' people behind the website. This shows that 'real' people are running the business.

Of course, this is only the start of trust. You then have to deliver - and extend the relationship.

Graham Moore