Do Your Customers Trust You?

Believe it or not, there is a group of people out there who don't trust the Internet when it comes to purchasing products and services. Even now it is quite common to hear customers saying they would rather go to a good old-fashioned book or music store and buy in the "real world." There is, of course, nothing wrong with this. In fact, this basic human need to hold a potential purchase in your hands is exactly why Amazon and other book sites allow visitors to read pages onscreen.

But there is a deeper issue here, one that affects many different industries. Take consumer electronics, for example. This is a famously crowded market. There are hundreds of thousands of products sold by hundreds of thousands of firms. You can buy the latest widescreen television from a thousand different places online. And because the market is so saturated, and any independent seller can have a website within weeks, prices are competitive. In fact, a lot of online sources are significantly cheaper than brick-and-mortar stores.

Try it yourself. Search for a widescreen television on the Internet and pretty soon you'll hit a site that promises to find you one at a low price. And that television could well be $100 cheaper online than it is downtown.

But even though online is cheaper, many people still buy from the brick-and-mortar stores. And that's because deep down, they feel that they can't trust a store unless they are standing in it. It's a classic problem for online businesses, and it turns off millions of customers.

So how do you build trust? How do you assure customers that you are a worthy online store, and that they are safe to buy from you? How do you assure them that you are selling something real, and that you aren't going to take their money and run?
Here are some things you can do with your online presence that will assure customers and clients that you are to be trusted with their money. Bear in mind that this is a real problem. You might not see the problem, because the customers aren't actually contacting you. Instead, they are looking at your site, and then walking away because they would rather touch and feel what they want to buy.

So, let's start with what you are all about.

Company information.

Get this part right. Anything that is important about your company, make sure that it is on your site. Use your "About" page to link to FAQs and use photos of your offices, etc. to give that "real world" feel. Clearly place your phone number on the homepage and answer when it rings.

Get in touch.

Basic stuff. If any customer emails you, get back to them within the hour if possible. We all know what dead email feels like. Do you really want to do that to the people who put food on your table?

Feedback.

If you can get feedback, make the forms professional, and let them know you appreciate the feedback. Refer to it in your website or on your blog. Show your customers you value their input. Everyone likes to see this.

Money.

Make it 100% clear that you have secure transaction capability. Use logos, links to privacy assurances; shout your financial trustworthiness from the rooftops. Your customer's money is safe with you. Period.

Advertising hell.

Don't clutter up your site with ads, even if they bring you money. It isn't worth it. When it comes to ads, anything more than five per cent of your page is bad news. It feels like going to a dollar store.

Leverage branding.

If you offer recognized brands, put them front and center on your online store. If you don't offer branded products, make what you sell a brand. Give it a logo, a tagline. We'll cover branding in a later post, but for now, don't underestimate the power of clear and memorable product presentation.

Returns.

Make your return policy clear and jargon free. If you offer a service, make the problems and complaints policy as open as you can. Just remember that the best firms have nothing to hide.

Put yourself in your client's shoes.

You owe everything to your customers and clients. If you're savvy enough to have a company, you know that sales drive it and you just operate it. So stop them from going to the brick-and-mortar stores by assuring your customer base that you are a firm to be trusted. Imagine the experience of going to any big department store and getting a bad deal on delivery, or a broken product that the store says you can't return.

Would you go back?