Trust in your online shop sells products

Trust in your online shop is crucial if customers do not know you yet. They need a reason to trust the business before they dare to buy. A familiar logo, good customer experiences and clear information about the people behind the shop can make a big difference.

The video is from April 2009. I discuss SPAMfighter’s experience with a Microsoft logo and share my ideas for building trust in an unfamiliar online shop.

Trust in your online shop is part of the foundation

I almost find myself saying in every chapter that this particular subject is the most important. But that is a bit like asking whether the engine or the wheels are more important in a car.

The car cannot run without either. An online shop also has several things that need to work together. There is a difference between missing something essential and something less important, like an aerial.

In my view, trust is one of the essential things. Especially if you have just started and nobody knows you or the shop’s name.

A familiar business already carries a degree of trust. A new shop has to work to create it.

A Microsoft logo made a big difference

When we started SPAMfighter, nobody knew us. After a while, we had reached a reasonable level of revenue, and at one point we became a Microsoft Certified Partner.

We put the Microsoft logo on our download page. As far as I remember, that change brought an improvement of around 43 per cent.

In the video, I use an example of 100 visitors we had paid to attract through Google AdWords. Before, around 15 went further, and after the change it was more than 20.

Those are figures I am recalling from memory. But the point is that we got more out of the same marketing spend. I describe the effect as around 43 per cent more revenue.

As I remember it, there was no other difference between the two pages. It was a bloody logo. But the logo made it easier for people to feel safe.

Show satisfied customers and connections people can understand

Start by treating your customers properly. Then you can point to reviews on Trustpilot, for example, where others can see that people enjoy shopping with you.

I also mention a Facebook page with two or three thousand fans writing positively about the company. That is an example of other customers’ experiences helping to build trust.

If you belong to a trade association, say so. That can also be a connection the customer recognises and understands.

Connect the digital shop to the physical world

Make your phone number and physical address clearly visible on the shop’s home page. Explain prominently how you handle returns.

In the video, I also recommend pictures of you and your employees. Customers should be able to see that there are real people behind the shop.

The more you can do to connect the digital business to the physical world, the easier it may become for customers to feel confident buying from you.

An unfamiliar shop can have a lot to gain

If you have an unfamiliar shop and have not worked on these things, I believe there may be far more to gain than a couple of per cent.

In the video, I estimate that a shop in that situation could, in some cases, double its conversion rate, and in special cases perhaps triple it, by getting trust right. That is my assessment of the opportunities in 2009, not a guarantee of the result.

So do not underestimate trust. Customers need both to find what they want to buy and to feel confident about whom they are buying from. Also read E-pusher about my experiences of selling online.