Article Contributed by Guy Ascher
Successful businesses have built a certain level of trust between themselves and their customers. That trust played a vital role in propelling them toward their current state of success, but they were not always a trusted company in the eye of their customers. A trust earned should be a trust that is kept, and this is a lesson all new businesses must learn. Startups that are new to a marketplace have a unique challenge of building credibility. It is especially challenging when the business enters a crowded field. We will use this post to discuss how startups can build credibility through a website.
1. Find and Interact With Your Customers in Social Media
You may have heard this many times, but your customers are very active on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. You need to go where your customers are hanging out and interacting with each other. Become a member of the social sites and add their symbol to your page. This will allow your customers to know they can connect with you on those platforms. As a startup, being on social media will present you with many opportunities to promote your products, and engage your customers in a discussion about them (the products). An intelligent use of these platforms could see you creating a dialogue with your customers. This will convey to them the level of passion you have about your products and your willingness to use their feedback to meet their needs. Customers are drawn to companies who show that they care beyond making a sale.
2. Videos
It is has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. A video is worth just as much and even more for your online business. Use a video to introduce and demonstrate how your products work. This is especially useful for e-commerce web sites, as videos build and enhance trust in many ways. Videos can be used to:
* Demonstrate how your products work.
* Give a tour of your bricks-and-mortar store.
* Provide testimonials.
* Add a human face to your company or store.
Your aim is to get the people to feel comfortable with you and you can accomplish this by sharing a bit about you with those who visit your web site. When people are comfortable with you they are more likely to make a purchase.
3. Emphasize Secure Purchasing
People are very particular about who they do business with online and rightly so. Ensure that your site facilitates safe transactions. When customers visit web sites such as the Lenstore.co.uk website and see the big name brand contact lenses they sell, the next thing they are likely to do is look for a symbol to indicate it is safe for them to conduct a financial transaction with the site. The inclusion of the VeriSign seal on the web page gives the customers this guarantee. Use the Verisign seal or some other reputable trust seals on your web site. It is also best to use it in your search results (or people will not click on your link) and on all your web pages that transactions will be done from.
These are all actionable steps that you can employ immediately to help you build trust and credibility for your startup.
About the Author
Guy Ascher has been extensively involved as a website marketing consultant. He enjoys sharing his website design tips and insights on various blogs.