November 16th, 2018 | Updated on November 26th, 2018
You are on the verge of launching your ecommerce website. Everything seems ready for your first customer. But before you go live, is your site really poised to appeal to visitors and persuade them to buy?
On the Internet, first impressions matter. The average internet user is incredibly impatient and will quickly move to a competing website if they feel disappointed and underwhelmed within the first few seconds of their visit.
Fortunately, there are ways you can increase visitor trust in your brand. Here’s how.
1. Include Customer Testimonials
If you receive a gushingly positive testimonial from a customer, don’t hesitate to make it known. Few things are more persuasive to prospective customers than feedback from a previous buyer of your product. The testimonial shouldn’t be too wordy as that would give the impression that you are trying too hard. Keep it short — 10 words or less will suffice.
Testimonials that include a photo are more trustworthy. Endorsement by celebrities and major brands is difficult to come by but can be extremely valuable.
2. Be Transparent About Costs
By the time a customer identifies a product on your website and adds it to their shopping cart, they’ll probably have spent plenty of time going through both your site and competing ecommerce stores. Their decision will certainly be at least partially informed by the stated price.
So when they do move to the checkout page but run into one or more charges that weren’t indicated on the product page, they could get disappointed to the extent of abandoning the cart. Ergo, if you’ll eventually include shipping charges, packing costs and taxes at checkout, make sure this is stated clearly on the product page including the specific amounts each cost will be.
3. Make it Predictable
When your customer clicks on a CTA (call to action), link or tab, what happens next should be what they expect. That’s both in the sense of the content of the page they are directed to and what happens when they leave the website.
For example, if a button says ‘Click Here for Additional Product Details’, the visitor shouldn’t first be met by a popup promoting something else before they can eventually get to the product details. Similarly, don’t ask customers to sign up for your monthly newsletter then inundate them with emails every other day.
Part of making your website predictable is ensuring it works as it should. You can realize that by incorporating app performance monitoring with custom metrics.
4. Make It Easy to Reach You
Customers will be more comfortable with an ecommerce store if there’s an identifiable person or address behind it. Making it difficult for clients to get in touch with you can be viewed with suspicion and considered a sign of untrustworthiness. Make sure your Contact Us and About Us pages contain your phone number, email address and, where possible, mailing address.
People will feel comfortable knowing that if they run into a problem with your product, they can reach you quickly.
5. Avoid Stock Photos
Stock photos may save you time and money. They can however be counterproductive in the long run. First, you won’t always find stock photos that are an exact match for your website’s needs. Second, there’s no guarantee that the stock photo you either buy or download for free will be used by your website alone.
In fact, especially for free photos, there’s a chance that it’s in use by hundreds of websites. The lack of uniqueness would make your website feel inauthentic. Go for a unique look by contracting a professional to help your website carve a unique visual identity.
Get your ecommerce site off to a roaring start by incorporating these tips to strengthen your online brand.
