Table of Contents

Introduction

We need to build good relationships and trust with our customers which act as a bridge to draw them and increase average revenue. These days customers can find numerous online stores while searching for a single product and trust is what makes them purchase from the store. 

Imagine, you are planning to buy a mobile phone and discover many new brands with the same features. But we first consider purchasing devices from known and trusted brands or checking for previous customer reviews in case of choosing a new brand. So, in both cases, trust is the reason behind the conversion. With the huge competition in the digital world, businesses should make an extra effort to fill the gap with trust among customers.

As the numbers speak for themselves,81% of trusted customers advise other people about brands. So, building customer trust will passively increase the new customer acquisition which costs five times more than customer retention. The concern here is we can’t build customer trust quickly but if we have, it can increase the lifetime value of each customer. 

Importance of Building Customer Trust In the Digital World

Customer trust and loyalty are essential for any business and these play a vital role for online stores. Brand trust is essential for making sales whether you have an eCommerce store, lead generation site, or affiliate marketing. As you are exposed to numerous competitors in online business the relationship with customers is the driving force to bring more users and revenue to your business.

Customers planning to purchase online have to deal with few concerns when compared with physical shopping like

  • They have to think about the security of online payments and personal information.
  • Customers can’t physically check the products and sometimes they may not receive the expected quality.
  • Sometimes they need to wait a longer time than the estimated delivery time.

Because of these uncertainties online shoppers always show interest in buying from trusted brands. So, when you are planning an online business you need to fight out with existing brands to earn trust from targeted customers.

The above chart shows the impact of trust on customers while purchasing products.

10 Ways to Build Customer Trust and Boost Sales

Want to know how you can build trust with your customers then check these ten working strategies that help you to stand for a long period in the business. If you can maintain consistency and persistence in practicing these strategies then you can build customer trust in your business.

Build Professional Website

It is not like all scammy websites look unprofessional but poor website design can make you look like one. The online website is the first chance for many businesses to meet their customers. So, we need to have a professional website that is updated and well-organized. You need to contact the technical team regularly to check site speed, fix dead links, present products in organized subcategories, and more. To reduce customer friction, businesses need to optimize websites for mobile and tablet devices. Always check the website layout, image positions, and links to provide an effective user experience.

For Example, observe the “Above the Fold” of this website which has all the required features to build customer trust. You can see the drop-down list of product features, chat support services, awards and recognition.

Tell Your Behind Story for Customer Trust

Telling the story behind your online business in an effective way to interact with your visitors. You can mention well-established partnerships, awards, and more that can create authenticity among visitors and push them to make conversions. Businesses generally add this engaging content to the “About Us” page of the website. You can add content regarding statistics, how you can help your customers, and more to form a connection with your visitors.

For example, below is the About Us page of the Truepush website where you can see details of exceptional growth from the beginning. It has the potential to build trust among the visitors with their service.

Work On Your Content Marketing Strategy

Content is a great tool to connect with visitors who have no idea about your products or services. You can add engaging content on your website’s blogs, social media posts, and guest posting to introduce yourself to the customers and create brand awareness. While adding blog content you can research trending topics around the business and publish well-researched articles that can help your visitors. You can also post video content like webinars, podcasts, and videos about your services on social media platforms or websites. With the related content, you can show the personality of your business and build relationships with your customers.

In the above example, you can see WordPress blogger websites using their blog web page to give great insights for starting a blog website. This content can lay the foundation for trust and encourage visitors to use their product.

Be Available for Your Customers

Customers may drop built trust when they can’t find effective customer service support. So, always be accessible for them to solve their issues with navigating websites, using services, or buying products.

Businesses should offer many customer service channels like live chats, calls, messages, and emails. Train your customer support staff to react fast to the raised customer tickets. You can set up guidelines for the agents and provide customer support Shopify apps to find customer order details, chat history, account information, and more. Make a few extra efforts to know your customers and make sure that they are heard and assisted in the right way. You can also ask for quick feedback about your service that helps to improve your service in the future.

For example, Zoho, a web-based online office suite, has a “Contact Us” page on the website with customer service channels like submitting tickets, email contact, and forums.

Publish Customer Generated Content to Build Customer Trust

Customers trust their fellow consumer’s opinions more than the brand. So, you can use the existing customer reviews to your advantage and build customer trust among the new visitors.

Increase your brand social proof by posting these reviews on social media platforms or use cases blogs on the websites. Businesses can make a practice of providing loyalty points or rewards that encourage customers to provide more reviews and ratings. This helps to build serious customer trust and relationships with the customers.

For example, an online retailer can ask for reviews after delivering a product and display them at the bottom of product pages. If you are running a B2B company then ask your users to provide their experience and results of using your product. You can display them as testimonials on the home page. You can use different approaches like submitting comments, ratings to get responses from your existing customers and take the leverage of using them to increase your business and gain customer trust.

For example, below is the image of user testimonials published on a website home page. 

Be Transparent & Honest With your Customers

If you want to gain customer’s trust then be transparent and honest with them. In addition to attracting new customers, you can serve existing customers in a better way. Businesses need to maintain these factors right from the first interaction with the customers.

In most industries, the customer support team and sales representatives have direct contact with customers. So, train your team to be transparent and honest about all your uncertainties like warranty, return policies, delivery estimations, and more.

For instance, you talked with the sales representative of an email marketing service tool to know subscription rates. But you have observed a price difference while making payments then you would think twice about moving forward or check for the other service tool. In this scenario, you are losing the customer trust for a lifetime and also reputation in mouth marketing.

Always Have Two Way Communication With Customers

Always stay in touch with your customers by leveraging the power of social media platforms. Monitor your pages regularly for posts comments and give instant replies to them. Marketers can also use upsell or cross-sell strategies by suggesting updated or related products to the users while commenting on their reviews or feedback.

If you don’t have sources to maintain various social media platforms then stick to only one where your targeted audiences are present and implement your marketing strategies. You can post anything like products working, tips to use products, testimonials, fun in the workplace, new services or product ideas, conduct surveys, poll opinions, and more to attract customers.

The customers of this digital era depend on social networks to find new brands for their products and services. So, maintaining your presence on these platforms with regular posts and responses is an effective way to reach and build trust with your customers.

For example, you can see the Nike customer support retweeting to help customers with order returns.

Build More Value To Customers with Your Brand

Building customer trust is a continuous process and businesses need to maintain consistency in products and services to secure the gained trust. The digital business is creating space for competitors every day. You need to bring value to your brand to stand consistently and gain trust. For this, you need to update products, website, delivery process, customer service, marketing strategies, and everything. Always go through the competitors to know their steps and be a step ahead to beat them and reach customers.

For example, let us consider two B2B companies that are providing the same marketing service from the beginning but in the meantime one of them includes related service tools, advanced security protocols, better customer service, and pricing for their customers. In this scenario, the user develops trust with the business providing more facilities.

Personalize Your Messages

Personalization is the present trend of any marketing strategy. You can make great use of this technique in customer service, pushing offers, shipping details, etc to sell more. The personalized content shows that businesses care about their customers. You can check the search behavior, purchase history to send relevant notifications.

You can integrate push notification services for your Shopify stores, WordPress, websites and send automatic notifications to the customers. This tactic will definitely help to build customer relationships and boost sales.

For example, online store merchants can use the Shopify web push notification plugin to send personalized push notifications about cart abandonment. In this case, you can analyze the user’s shopping behavior to send notifications. To attract more audiences you can include an exclusive discount which can boost the sale.

Improve Your Security Policy

As the before strategies help you to build relationships and express your trustworthiness to take visitors one step forward to conversions. Now, it’s time to show the security proof on your online website to build trust that lasts for a long period of time. 

Statistics say that there is an 18% growth in global eCommerce fraud losses which is creating a need for improving the security of the website. Customers think twice before providing their personal information while purchasing products or services. So, the online stores can display their security badge on the cart page to ensure customers. 

The eCommerce stores can display their security protection badge on the cart page to assure customers about their data protection. Online stores can also offer multiple payment options to make customers feel comfortable while shopping and make the process simple and trusty.

When you can convince customers to make a purchase and offer a good delivery service for once then you have a high chance to have a long-term relationship with them. You can integrate your store with top-rated Shopify plugins like TrustedSite, Signifyd, ShopSecure, etc. to build trust among customers.

For example, you can see the security badge at the checkout creating a reason for customers to trust the website.

Trust is the glue that holds your potential customers with your brand. Even if you are new to the online business you can build trust in a limited period by implementing the mentioned strategies and practicing them consistently.

Online customers may have many choices but they will come back to you to make a conversion if you can gain their trust.