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Getting a customer to your website is a great feat, but once they’re on your website, it can be very difficult to convert them into a paying customer. If you cannot convey your business as a solid, trustworthy brand, then you can lose out on their business in seconds, especially when there is a plethora of competition for users to choose from
I have established some basic principles that can help your website gain the trust of your visitors and potential customers.
Clear, Consistent Branding
Establishing consistent brand colors, imagery, and voice across your website will show your visitors that your business has it together. Not only does the consistency create a calm user experience throughout all pages, it also subtly shows that your brand matters enough to have a design pattern. Having a professional logo and photography is great, but couple that with proper font usage, colors, and content that matches the theme of your brand, and you have yourself a brand that users can trust.
Some things to focus on:
- Establish consistent brand colors. Having too many colors that change from page to page can make your brand feel erratic.
- Keep font choices to a minimum – approximately 2 to 3. To start, we recommend one font for headings and another for the main body font.
- Use consistent voice – some personal brands choose to speak in the first person (“I offer…”), while other large, corporate entities may choose a third-person approach (“We offer…”). Additionally, if you are choosing to portray your brand’s personality through different tones of voice, then make sure to stay consistent (serious, funny, etc.)
Testimonials
Try reaching out to your favorite customers who have been pleased with your business. Many are happy to write a review for you and will give you permission to show it off on your website. According to VWO.com, adding these testimonials can increase conversions on sales pages by 34%. 
While in the past we saw a lot of standalone testimonial pages with a list of endless reviews, lately we recommend taking those reviews and placing them with the content you want the customer to take to heart. Some examples of where to place these could be:
- Directly next to the product or service that the customer purchased or is reviewing.
- Alongside a piece of content about the core values of your business.
- As part of a portfolio piece or case study page.
If a prospective customer is interested in the product, service, or content on your website, then is showed how happy a previous customer was with it, they will be more likely to trust your brand and convert into a customer.
Social Proof
A quick and easy way to gain trust is by having a solid social presence and linking to the various platforms you are active on through your website. Posting content regularly, engaging with your customers and keeping them up to date with your business will show interested consumers that you have an established, trustworthy brand. Additionally, this will help increase how many online reviews you have. 97% of consumers say online reviews impact their purchasing decisions and 57% of consumers will only purchase from a business if they have at least a 4-star rating. Start building your social presence. Link to your social media platforms from your website. Build more brand trust.
Wrapping Things Up
There are hundreds of ways to increase your brand’s trust to new and existing customers. Hopefully these 3 simple, yet essential techniques for websites today can help you.
