Customers tend to make snap judgements about whether they can trust your company by looking at your site, so it's important to give the right first impression.
As many people still have concerns about shopping online, your website needs to appear as credible and trustworthy as possible.
Here are some tips:
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Display your privacy / security policies
According to a TNS / TRUSTe survey, the majority of online shoppers don't necessarily check out a website's privacy policy, but 28% check that a site has one and 20% will take the trouble to read it.
For the customers who have concerns about these issues, it is important that they can find your site's privacy policy easily and be reassured about the safety of their payment and personal information. -
A clean, well designed website
This is very important as customers will take their first impressions from the look of the site. If it looks cheap and nasty, then chances are they'll hit the back button instantly.
For instance, this site, with Google ads all over the product page and a ghastly green colour scheme, doesn't inspire confidence:
This site, by contrast, has a more professional, clean design and is much more credible as a result.
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Display contact details
This is a no-brainer. Many consumers will simply not shop with a website that doesn't display these details, and rightly so.
A contact telephone number is essential, while the company address and email contacts will go some way to assuring the customer that they can trust your website.
Better still, display a contact number prominently so users don't need to hunt around for it. This may help to clinch a sale if customers require extra information. -
Make room for both good and bad reviews
Reviews are an excellent way to make your site more credible to shoppers as they can show that others have successfully shopped at your site and have been happy with the experience.
Your credibility will be further enhanced if you are prepared to showcase negative as well as positive reviews, as with Amazon in the example above.
This will show the customer that you are open and honest and the bad reviews will have the effect of making positive reviews more believable.
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Show server security/trust logos
Having third party certification of a site, such as VeriSign, ISIS or HackerSafe, is usually persuasive evidence that the site can be trusted. Online shoppers are used to seeing these symbols on other sites and will wonder why your site doesn't have them.
You should display more than just the logo though, and ensure that it links to further information about the validity of the certificate.
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Don't give customers any surprises
Be upfront about any extra charges for accessories, or the delivery costs before they reach the checkout. Finding out at such a late stage will infuriate many customers.
Also, if you need to take any personal details, explain to customers why these are necessary.
Related research:
Online Retail User Experience Benchmarks 2006
Related stories:
Trust in online shopping improving - study
Internet crime feared more than burglary in the UK
Graham Charlton is Senior Reporter at Econsultancy. Follow him on Twitter or connect via Linkedin.
Posted 20 February 2008 08:39am by Graham Charlton with 4 comments
Tags: Shopping, Security, Design
Topics: Ecommerce, User Experience & Usability, Web Design
Sectors: Retail
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Graham Charlton
Online Advertising
Internet Marketing Manager at Optimised Media
11:19AM on 20th February 2008
The way you would improve perceived credibility of an e-commerce site compared to an information based site is very different. In terms of search results have a presence in both paid and natural results also enhances this credibility.
Kaya, Optimised Media
Internet Marketing
8:10PM on 20th February 2008
I agree with the previous comment. While all of the points raised are true of an e-commerce site, only a few would hold relevance for the perceived credibility of an information or services based site. It would be interesting to hear your views on how the credibility of a site that does not sell products, can be increased through more than just the appearance and / or content.
4:43PM on 22nd February 2008
After reading this posting it brings to mind my local team's website which I had a look at earlier in the week and everything I saw upset me about usability. First of all when you visit the homepage you get an ad before reaching the home page!
http://www.barnsleyfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Welcome
Then once you enter the site there is so much content it is confusing and then when I went to have a look at their premium TV section it took me several minutes to figure out where the form was:
http://www.barnsleyfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/World/0,,10309,00.html
It would be interesting to see a usability expert have a look at this site as it annoyed me and didn't establish its credibility.
11:24PM on 6th March 2008
A very good SEO expert told me that putting hacker safe on your Web site is like waving a red flag in front of a bull: Just asking a hacker to gore and bloody your site ... How often do you hear of sites being hacked after putting those sorts of seals up? I do know from my readers that they see conversions rise when they have a seal in a prominent spot above the fold.
thanks
Julie