When it comes to business, trust plays a huge role. People tend to shop over and over with the same brands, because they know they can trust them and they’ll get exactly what they ordered. They know that if any issues do arise, they’ll quickly be sorted and a suitable resolution will be made. So when you’re a smaller company or just starting out, building trust is absolutely vital. With so many scam companies and fraudulent products out there, customers tend to be wary (and rightly so) of those they’ve never shopped with before. It’s your job to show them that you are trustworthy and reliable, that they should shop with you rather than your competitor and that when they do, they’ll have a good experience. This will hopefully be the start of a repeat customer, or someone that will review your business highly online or pass it on through word of mouth so your trust rating can grow further. Here’s how you can go about it.

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Rank highly for keywords

With the right SEO techniques, you can increase the number of visitors to your site by ranking highly within search engines. Since competition with keywords with your competitors can be fierce, it’s important that you really focus on your USP and target the longtail keywords people will be searching for specifically when they’re looking for businesses and products like yours. So instead of targeting ‘red shoes’ which will be a highly competitive keyword, you’d target more specific keywords such as ‘budget red tennis shoes for women’ or whatever it is that you sell. These longtail keywords are less expensive to target and are less competitive, but have a higher conversion rate which makes sense if you think about it. When a customer matches for a specific, longtail keyword chances are they’ve found what they were looking for. Research has shown time and time again that the first page of search engine listings, particularly the first few links in the list get the most traffic. SEO is an essentially free way to get your website ranking highly for the things you sell, and into a trustworthy position on search engines. Make sure your descriptions and titles are clear and not spammy, since these are important for your click through rate. In fact, titles are commonly overlooked in SEO and they can be one of the most influential elements. Aim for fifty to sixty characters with important keywords first, but avoid keyword stuffing and ensure they’re written for humans and not search engines.

Have a good online presence

Having a good online presence is more than just having a website and ranking highly for your keywords. Being present online means that is a customer searches for you, they’ll pull up lots of positive information. Get active on social media, a good following can help to build trust. You can encourage people to follow you by offering them something they want- you could share discount codes and links to your sales there first, you could run competitions or you could share engaging content. Speaking of engaging content, a blog is a great way to be present online, and a well written and interesting blog can benefit your company in many ways. It builds authority in your area and shows customers you know what you’re talking about. It proves that time and effort has been spent on your business, something a scam or fraudulent site could never offer (therefore building trust that you’re legitimate). It can also help with your SEO efforts, by linking your blog to your website you help to drive more traffic to it. Reviews are another great way to be present online, ask customers to review you on third party sites like Reevoo and Trustpilot after the transaction. If they’ve had a good experience, chances are they will if you ask nicely. You could also work with bloggers and influencers, sending out products or allowing them to use a service you sell for free in exchange for a review. You can’t specify that you want positive reviews, but if what you sell is good and you’ve contacted a blogger that’s likely to be interested in it then there’s no reason why they wouldn’t review you highly.

Be easily contactable

A business that’s easy to contact in numerous ways can really help to build trust with a customer. You want them to know that if something does go wrong, you’re available and responsive and ready to put things right. Offering social media support is a good way to go, this is how many customers will want to contact you these days. Live chat is also great for many kinds of businesses and an email ‘ticketing’ system to ensure emails queries are able to be fully resolved. Of course, a phone line is essential, being able to get through to a real person during office hours is invaluable. For out of hours, waiting times and general efficiency, helpdesk software is great for the phone lines. You can even get software specifically for the kind of business you run, for example, Legal Intake as a virtual helpdesk for lawyers/ solicitors. It gives a feel of professionalism and can help to build trust, rather than a phone line simply ringing out. Ensure that your phone, live chat and social media workers are always polite and friendly and know their job inside out to be able to help any issues that customers come up against.

Getting customers to trust your brand in the beginning is no mean feat. Thankfully, as time goes on you’ll experience a snowball effect, the more people that buy from your business, have a good experience and pass this information on will show others that they too should take the plunge and buy with you.