How To Build A Trustworthy Brand Online?

A commercial relationship should always aim to build a trustworthy brand. Before people take their credit cards and enter their details on your website, you need to earn their trust. Brand trust goes a long way and ultimately has a great long-term impact on your business’ success.

There are actionable initiatives that you can take to be able to build a trustworthy brand online. These are focused on different angles such as customer service, product quality, content, and website credibility.

Why the brand?

When starting your business, you’re more focused on the product or service you’re offering. But did you know that most people do not buy your product because it was pretty? Digital customers are now more attracted to the overall presence of a brand. The customer’s insight about your brand is an essential part of your business’ success.

In order to build a trustworthy brand online, consider these suggestions:

a) Customer-focused

Present your brand with positive vibes

A brand that is associated with positive qualities and traits entices more people. This vibe communicates with potential customers instead of you talking to them.

Practice transparency

At this age of the internet, people appreciate honest online businesses than shady ones. Being transparent with what is going on builds more sympathy as you are taking a barrier between them and your business. An emotional connection from your customers to your brand is a good thing.

Be available

One of the pitfalls when it comes to nurturing a customer-base is being too confident and forgetting to be readily available to them all the time. We get it, life gets in the way more often than we expect it to be. But don’t forget that your goal is to build a trustworthy brand. That means you have to be available to your customers when they need you especially post-sale. Customers can flip their initial impression with your business in a blink of an eye once you suddenly disappear after taking their payment.

Admit shortcomings and unforeseen errors

People of the internet appreciate business owners who communicate to them about a mistake they’ve made such as when they oversold a product. As a customer, you get angry when a company went radio silence about an error. Admitting mistakes reminds them that there are real people working behind and that is very relatable.

Build relationships

One of my brands is in the fashion niche which has an affiliate program. We communicate to our affiliates regularly and that helped them trust my brand better. They then promote that trust to their audiences who later on became customers. Creating good relationships helps your brand acquire loyal customers.

Apply brand consistency

According to clearvoice, the more consistent your brand presentation is, the more it builds trust and loyalty to your customers. The pattern of expression that your brand exhibits affect customers’ perception which contributes to their purchasing decision.

Absorb feedbacks

Feedbacks can be used to measure your brand’s trusting factor. Getting positive feedbacks? That is great, keep it up. Receiving negative feedback? Use it to tweak a part of your business towards brand improvement. It might be surprising, but when customers leave negative feedbacks it does not mean that they don’t like you at all. It’s a way for them to tell you to do better with your business.

b) Product-focused

Deliver quality products/services

One of the best ways to build a trustworthy brand online is to deliver high-quality products or services to your customers. A big chunk of online customers is impulsive buyers. The question is, will they make a repeat purchase? Of course, if they love the product that they received. Retaining loyal customers is no rocket science when it comes to product quality.

Deliver promises

When you make promises and ended up disappointing a customer, you don’t just lose their trust but also risks being tagged as a liar. You may have encountered these famous lines online: “product as advertised”. This a great indication that as a business owner, you have met your customer’s expectations when it comes to your product.

Provide a consistent quality product

Brand trust does not happen overnight. It takes repeat transactions to fully gain people’s loyalty and trust. Needless to say, consistency is key. Make customers happy and even rave about your business by delivering a consistent quality product or service.

Offer added value

Discounts, refunds, credits, upgrades, rewards – to name a few. These value-added incentives help retain customers and more so, make them loyal. Offering these extra values makes them feel special and taken care of. We have customers telling us how they love that we offer a generous reward system and personal discounts compared to a competitor. That’s a good sign that we are on our way to building a trustworthy brand.

c) Website credibility

Display trust badges

Online shoppers tend to have made themselves familiar with the trusted brand logos such as financial institutions/payment gateway. BBB accreditation, secure checkout seal, certifications – these are some of the badges that can help your website look more trustworthy. According to Forbes, trust logos increase the perceived trustworthiness of a brand.

Place warranties and guarantees

Warranties and guarantees signals a trustworthy brand. Place them at the prominent area of your website where people can see them without scouring your site.

Design a neat website

Customer awareness when it comes to scammers has evolved over time. Nothing speaks more of a scam than a spammy-looking website. Show off your brand colours without overdoing them. Make sure that there are enough white spaces as it presents a neat appearance.

Display reviews and testimonials

If there is one factor that motivates a person to buy, it’s through the authentic personal experience of other people. Reviews are like the backbone of your brand. Want to build a trustworthy brand online? Collect reviews from existing customers and place them on your website.

Get an SSL certificate

What is an SSL certificate? It is a guard to your website. It provides a safe and secure shopping experience for your customers. Moreover, an online shop should always have an SSL certificate as it creates transactions.

Once an SSL certificate is installed, a padlock will show up on the left side of your website address. That tells visitors that your website is secure.

d) Content

Double-check copies for clerical and grammatical errors

When visitors landed on your website, they were looking for answers or products. But would you trust a site that contains obvious grammatical errors? Once a potential customer spots a grammar or typing error on a supposed-to-be trustworthy brand, they leave right away and possibly make a comment about it on social media. I’ve seen it many times and it does make a brand less pleasant.

Place important policies

Publish a privacy policy and terms & conditions page. By making these pages available, people will know what to expect with your business. These are also a vital part of building brand trust as it indicates a company’s sincerity and is crucial to the legal side of your business activities.