Trust signals are any cues from a website that encourage people to think it and your business are trustworthy. Anything that motivates a customer to make a transaction, place an order, or book an appointment on your website can be designated a trust signal.
Unfortunately, many websites ignore the importance of trust signals. If a potential customer on your site doesn’t see indicators that your website is accredited, safe, or trustworthy, they aren’t as likely to convert. By adding just a few elements to your website, you could see a huge increase in your conversion.
The Best Trust Signals for a Website
Testimonials and Reviews
Testimonials and reviews are perhaps the best trust signal you can include on your website to increase conversion. Approximately 88% of customers will check online reviews before making a purchasing decision. If you don’t have reviews on your website, you could be missing out on a ton of sales.
The optimal amount of reviews to have is anywhere between 2 and 10. Having only one review doesn’t make your site seem trustworthy, and more than 10 can be too overwhelming. Online reviews and testimonials are like personal recommendations – it’s easy to see the pros and cons of products or services and if there are more pros than cons, people will trust your website.
Social Media
Having social media icons with links to your social media profiles is also key for establishing trust with your potential customers. Giving customers on your website access to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google+ allows them to have a less-filtered view of your business. They’ll also be able to access your social media reviews, such as on Facebook or on Google+.
Of course, if you’re linking and promoting your social media, your profiles must also be active and providing valuable content to your followers. Linking to inactive social media accounts won’t work as a trust signal!
Contact Information
Having contact information on your website is absolutely key for building trust with your potential customer. Using just a contact form as a way for customers to email you does not instill trust and can make it seem like your business does not have an easy way to get in touch.
Including a phone number or email address is often sufficient, but if you have a physical address for your business, that’s important to include as well.
SSL and Security
If a website has an SSL certificate and is using https, the user can see this by a green URL bar and a badge next to the URL. This means that any data a user inputs on your website will be kept safe. Personal information like names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses, as well as any banking or credit card information, will be kept safe. If you’re collecting personal information and users don’t see this trust signal, they are much less likely to make a purchase or give this information.
No matter how trustworthy your services, business, and products are, if your website looks outdated or unprofessional, you’ll be losing tons of potential business. Visitors to a website decide within 5 seconds if they want to stay on your website. If they feel like your website is illegitimate or spammy, they’ll click off in those 5 seconds.
Having a good colour scheme, clean design, clear photos, and a fast loading time are all clear signals that you’re a professional company that has invested money and effort into your website. Also important is to have informative and well-written web content. If you don’t have much content, it doesn’t make sense, or it’s poorly written, your users will have trouble trusting your business.
Specific Pages
There are a variety of web pages you can include on your site as trust signals. Having an About Us page and a regularly updated business blog makes your business seem more accessible and current.
If you’re an e-commerce site, including your privacy policy and terms and conditions provide transparency for your business. People trust these pages because if something goes wrong with their purchase, they have information they can use and discuss with you to help solve the problem. It also shows that you care about the customer’s privacy and rights.
By implementing these trust signals on your website, you’ll increase conversion and gain new customers. Having a trustworthy website is essential for any business, particularly if they are involved in e-commerce or asking for personal information online.
Does your website look trustworthy?
