Finding a business you can trust feels like a real boon in this day and age. Everyone has encountered cowboy tradespeople or dishonest online retailers who provide products that aren’t as they are described. It makes us suspicious. Looking for a company to work with by searching the internet can be daunting as it’s very hard to know who you can trust to get the job done and not rip you off. As such, businesses know how important it is to inspire trust from their online presence. It sounds like a very difficult task in the context of the scepticism out there and only a website and social media channels to encourage customers to trust you. There are ways you can do this, though.
Having a marketing strategy that essentially says “Buy stuff! Buy stuff! Buy stuff!” doesn’t inspire trust. However, if you can provide something of value to the customer upfront without asking for anything in return, you will create a ‘feel good factor’ about your brand and make customers more inclined to trust you. Companies often do this by having instructional or information blogs and videos on their site that allow customers to learn something useful. Posting these on social media can also help draw customers to your website and show off your expertise.
Case studies detailing work you have done for customers and how you have benefited them are a great asset on a website as the potential customer can put themselves in your previous customer’s place.
Being as open as you can be about what you do and who you are is a good way to inspire confidence. If you can’t guarantee results or what you do may have varied results, be open about this on your website and people are more likely to trust you. If what you offer is potentially painful or carries risk, state this clearly but also state what you do to minimise these risks.
Being open also extends to the people in your organisation, especially the founder and directors. The old adage that ‘people buy from people’ is as true now as it has always been so showing potential customers who is running the company and what their goals were in starting it is a good way to build trust.
One way to let people know you are a reputable trustworthy company is to be associated with other reputable trustworthy companies. Being part of a network or forming partnerships with other local businesses with longstanding good reputations is a great way to get your company associated as a company to trust.
As 90% of internet users read reviews before engaging the services of or buying from a company, having lots of positive reviews is essential to building trust. These reviews also have to be on a platform people trust so they are assured they are genuine reviews from real people. Google is most commonly the first port of call for people looking for anything online so reviews which appear here are a real bonus.
At thebestofBrightonandHove, we understand how important it is for a business to establish trust in order to succeed in a highly competitive market. That’s why we provide a trusted platform for online reviews, which we help our members to collect, which appear on Google too, help people to add value for their customers by posted useful blogs and articles as well as being a well known local site full of well known local businesses that companies can associate themselves with by becoming members. To find out more about how being a thebestofBrightonandHove member can help you win more customers, call 01273 461222.
