What stops customers from buying your products? Baymard Institute found that 69.57% of online shopping carts get abandoned. That means more than half of your online customers are backing out before they buy!
But why?
It’s not just the price point or shipping costs. More often than not, customers walk away because you haven’t built up enough trust with them.
On your website, your goal is to help customers feel comfortable enough to buy from you. No one wants to flush their money down the drain; before they hit “Purchase”, your customers need to feel like they can trust you.
Without trust symbols, you’ll lose out on countless leads just because people weren’t 100% sure you were the right choice.
You want customers to feel confident and secure about what they’re buying. To do that, you can use trust symbols.
We’re going to cover the most popular trust symbols and how you can use them to boost customer confidence:
Security Badge
If you run an e-commerce site, your customers need to provide some pretty sensitive information to make a purchase; things like their credit card information, address, and email.
They might not be willing to buy from you if they fear their information could be compromised. How do you ease their fears?
Your website needs an SSL certificate (or a Security Sockets Layer). To see a security badge in action, take a look at the URL at the top of this web page. If you double-click it, you’ll see the “https://” tag appear. This indicates that the site is SSL encrypted.
Next, click the padlock symbol beside the URL. You can see whether or not the connection is secure. If you click on that text and then click on the “Certificate” tab, you can see details about the SSL certificate, including the expiry date.
Make sure your website has an SSL certificate to alleviate security concerns.
Testimonials
These days, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a website without testimonials. It’s because they’re incredibly effective at building social proof; the idea here is that when customers are shopping, they use the reviews and recommendations of other shoppers before making a purchase. Customer reviews are a way to back up the claims made by the business themselves.
If you have any well-known clients, consider using their logos on your site. When a customer sees it and recognizes the brand, they’ll think, “A well-known brand trusts this site—and that means I can, too.”
We recommend using quotes from your customers or their reviews (with the customer’s permission, of course). It’s a great way to use storytelling in your messaging.
Guarantee
Customer satisfaction guaranteed. Those three words sound so sweet to potential buyers.
Sometimes, carts get abandoned because users aren’t sure if they’ll like the product or if it will work for them. But if you guarantee it? Now we’re talking.
You might offer a service guarantee; if the customer isn’t happy after completing the program/service, they get their money back. A few qualities of a good guarantee include:
- Unconditional
- Easy to collect on
- Meaningful
Other businesses take it one step further—they claim that if you aren’t satisfied, they’ll pay for you to try a competitor’s service instead.
Anyone would read that and think, “If they’re that confident, I have to try it!
You can also put your refund policy on your website. Try to create policies that use clear, concise language; this makes it easier for customers to understand what they’re signing up for.
Awards
Who wouldn’t want to buy from an award-winning company? Take any award badges you’ve received, and put them front and centre on your website.
Awards help you distinguish your business from the competition. If a customer is choosing between you and your competitor, seeing that award can influence them in your favour.
Demonstrate that you’re an industry-leading company by showing off your awards!
Certifications
Show that you have the training and experience to perform the work you do best. Certifications reassure customers that trusting your business is a safe bet.
The most persuasive certifications will vary based on your industry. It might be worth considering extra training just to put the certification on your website.
Free Trial
Free trials give customers a transparent glimpse into what you’re selling, and that transparency helps build trust. They encourage customers to try your product or service, even if they’re hesitant about it.
A free trial means no risk; if they don’t like it, they don’t lose money on it. And if they do like it, they know just what to expect once they sign up.
PR
Has your business been mentioned in a press release or news story? Good publicity makes your company more credible. Add the logo of the organization that covered the story on your site.
By increasing customer confidence, you can better convert new leads into paying customers. These trust symbols will help you establish your business as authoritative, secure, and an industry leader.
Need help generating new leads? At First Rank, our Canada SEO services are just what you’re looking for. We’ll boost your website traffic by ranking your website on the first page of Google. Then, you can sit back and watch as new leads start pouring in. Contact us today!
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