Day 3: Using Content to Create Trust & Build Confidence

When a new visitor visits your website there are many questions that they need answered as quickly as possible. It doesn’t take much for a visitor to decide that doing business with your organization poses too great of a risk. This is particularly true if the visitor is unfamiliar with you or your company. Online consumers provide very little wiggle room when dealing with unfamiliar organizations. It is up to you to use your web content to minimize the level of risk that an online consumer will typically experience.

The Consumer

What are consumers concerned about anyway?

1. LEGITIMACY: Is this a real business? Am I dealing with a legitimate organization?
2. REPUTATION AND CREDIBILITY: Is this a reputable organization and will I potentially receive a sub-standard product or service?
3. PROTECTION AND SECURITY: Is my personal contact and/or billing information protected? Will I potentially be exposed to ID theft?
4. PRIVACY: What will happen to my information once submitted to your organization? Will it be transferred or sold to third party organizations without my permission, potentially exposing me to an onslaught of spam, junk mail and telemarketing calls?
5. LEVEL OF CUSTOMER SERVICE: Once the business/payment transaction has taken place, are you willing and able to provide customer support?

The Content

Use the Content Matrix (See Day 1) to identify the items that will address the concerns that most online consumers share. You will want to identify standard area(s) in your website design/layout to display this information. It is very important that this information is easily found, as you have less than 10 seconds to convince a new website visitor to remain on your site. Here are a few ideas for creating trust with your website content:

1. Clearly describe your business on the home page in as few words as possible.
2. Use testimonials to build your credibility. It is best that each testimonial clearly displays the name and organization (if applicable) of the writer. Testimonials that are written by a set of initials are not taken as seriously as testimonials written by a full name, which are not taken as seriously as testimonials written by a full name + other supporting information such as an organization or location (city/state).
3. Designate a page or area to display your organizations achievements and any relevant credentials. This will help educate the consumer on you and your organizations’ qualifications.
4. Beef up your contact page. It is best practice if your website includes the following business contact information: Mailing Address, Phone, and Email or a web based Contact Form. You will want to display at least 2 of the 3 options, preferably all three. The mailing address establishes legitimacy. With a mailing address consumers will know that if they want to verify your business, they can do so. Also, displaying a business phone number gives consumers the sense that if, for whatever reason, they don’t have access to email or if your email is unavailable, they have a 2nd point of contact for you.
5. Ensure that your customer service process is visible and apparent. The last thing anyone wants to do is to buy something from someone that isn’t available for questions afterward. The website should clearly state how, when and where to go for questions and concerns.
6. Clearly state your return policy and any ‘money back’ guarantees. Don’t hide this information in a five page Terms document. No one will read that. It’s best to be upfront, which will minimize frustration, manage expectations and avoid miscommunication.
7. Clearly state how/if you will store the consumers information. Provide the cliff notes version; don’t hide it in a lengthy privacy agreement (ex: We won’t sell your data to any third parties at any time, We will only use your information to contact you regarding your purchase etc.). Keep it simple. Otherwise, the consumer will feel that if it’s takes 3500 words to explain what you’re doing with their information, you must be doing something shady.

These are just a few ideas for using your content to build trust & confidence. Keep in mind your target audience and their concerns, then evaluate your content and look for opportunities to create trust and build confidence.

One Response to “Content Review Workshop – Using Content to Create Trust & Build Confidence”

1. how to build confidence says:

   September 3, 2009 at 7:45 am

   People are looking for something that they can put their trust and confidence in. Most of us now are depending our security in money, which shouldn’t be. Let’s learn that only God can keep us from any harm.
   Thanks for this post.

   Reply