5 Ways to Build Customer Trust

on Your Site

5 Ways to Build Trust

Each time a potential customer or client interacts with your site,

you’ve got an opportunity to

build a relationship.

5 Ways to Build Trust

Like most relationships, the foundation will be built on

– and revolve around –

trust.

5 Ways to Build Trust

1Make Your

Contact InformationEasy to Find

5 Ways to Build Trust

You can have all of the FAQs and informational copy that you want on your site or app, but your users will always have questions.

This is why it’s important to have easily accessible contact information.

5 Ways to Build Trust

Marketo’s site features two ways to contact them right on their header, so you’ll always know where to look, no matter where

you are on their site.

5 Ways to Build Trust

Run a few user tests on the placement of your contact information and see if your users find it intuitively.

If your users have trouble finding it, test a few other placements to find one that works well for your users.

5 Ways to Build Trust

Be sure to also couple your easily accessible contact information with great customer service, and you’ll have a 1-2 punch that’s sure to gain the trust of prospective and existing users.

5 Ways to Build Trust

2Offer Live Help

Options

5 Ways to Build Trust

One of the most effective ways to immediately address questions and build trust is through Live Chat and Click-to-Call.

5 Ways to Build Trust

50% of internet users worldwide prefer to use live help methods over other means of contact, which is a significant chunk of online traffic no matter how you slice it.

5 Ways to Build Trust

Just like the placement of your contact information, be sure to test the placement of your live chat link.

Does it work better in your “contact us” page, or as a tab floating over all of your pages?

5 Ways to Build Trust

Hanapin includes live chat as one of their contact methods.

5 Ways to Build Trust

3Show Off

Your Client List

5 Ways to Build Trust

If someone tells you, “trust me, I’m a doctor,” you’d probably be a little skeptical until they were able to prove it.

The next best thing would be getting confirmation from a third party, ideally from a large, reputable group of individuals.

5 Ways to Build Trust

This is the exact purpose a client list serves.

This concept is frequently referred to as “social proof.” It’s an effective way to build trust in the eyes of your site’s visitors and give you added credibility, especially if done correctly.

5 Ways to Build Trust

Take a look at how Unbounce and Mixpanel leverage their list of high profile clients in the following images.

5 Ways to Build Trust

Unbounce implies that if you trust these companies, and they trust Unbounce to build their landing pages, shouldn’t you do

the same?

5 Ways to Build Trust

Mixpanel’s homepage features animated panels that shows off the logos of their high-profile clients.

5 Ways to Build Trust

4Don’t Be Shy with

Endorsements

5 Ways to Build Trust

If you happen to have some high profile companies, industry experts, or publications who’ll vouch for you, don’t be afraid to show off what they’ve said about your product or service.

If you can work these into a case study, that’s even better!

5 Ways to Build Trust

Salesforce’s Customers page features a carousel of endorsements from high-profile companies who use their service.

5 Ways to Build Trust

It’s important to be careful in citing endorsements, and make sure that they’re relevant to your audience and service.

5 Ways to Build Trust

HubSpot has a great case studies section.

Prospective clients can see how similar companies have found success with HubSpot.

5 Ways to Build Trust

Hubspot features their case studies right in their header, and once you click through, you’re given the option of viewing a

variety of reviews and testimonials by category.

5 Ways to Build Trust

5Get Rid of All Your

Dead Links

5 Ways to Build Trust

Laugh all you want at how basic this tip is, but clicking a dead link is jarring, and it’s one of the most effective ways to lose credibility with a site visitor who might otherwise have been having a great user experience.

5 Ways to Build Trust

Don’t let all of that goodwill and trust you’ve built up go to

waste with dead links!

5 Ways to Build Trust

Use Google Webmaster Tools or Screaming Frog to see which links are sending your users to 404 error pages, and be sure to monitor activity on your error pages.

5 Ways to Build Trust

Google’s analytics blog has a few tips you can easily implement, so you can start knocking out your dead links today.

5 Ways to Build Trust

Bonus TipSee How

Trustworthy Your Site Is Compared to

Competitors

5 Ways to Build Trust

There’s no better way to get a competitive edge on your competitors than to learn what works and what doesn’t work for them.

5 Ways to Build Trust

When testing your site alongside your competitors, don’t be afraid to ask your participants which site they trust more.

You can even have them grade each site on a scale of trustworthiness.

5 Ways to Build Trust

While running your study, you should also be sure to follow up by asking “why?”

Otherwise, you’ll never know if it was your live chat, your case studies or the myriad other reasons that might have swung the vote of your test participant.

5 Ways to Build Trust

Additional articles on how to set up a competitor study:

How to Learn Tons from Your Competition with User Testing

Test Your Competitors with These 2 Methods

www.usertesting.com