7 Insider Secrets you MUST Know about Building Visitor Trust

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If there is one glaring – all encompassing – smack you in the face- you better get this right - thing that is more important now than ever before it is this: Trust. If trust is the new money, then your reputation is the bank account. In the new world, your customers have the same information overload you do, but they also have limitless options from countless competitors, honest (sometimes) yet conflicting sources, and access to other customers opinions. Their choice is tough. If you have their trust, you have their business. Period.

There are several things you can do to build and maintain the trust of your customers. The most obvious is to build a good product and deliver on your promises. Assuming you already have that covered (and you better) we have found some hidden gems that are a little less obvious, but no less powerful.

Tip 1: Ratings, customer, and expert testimonials
The first thing to understand is that when a prospect meets you the first time, they don’t trust you – and with each passing day, the information overload and cynicism grows. However, there is a trust that is growing at an exponential rate, and that is the trust between customers.

The single most influential trust mechanism is to have an anonymous product rating similar to what you would see at Amazon or Best Buy. Buyers know that anyone who posts a review of a product have nothing to gain from that posting. I don’t know about you, but when I see a rating of 2 or less from a decent number of people, I don’t even bother checking out the product.

Now there is one catch – one GIANT catch – to this method. Other than building a fantastic product, you have almost no control over what is said about you.

The Takeaway: Build an awesome product. If it’s not, revise and make it one. You should be doing that anyway. You can’t hide the truth very long these days.

The next best method is to provide your visitor with plenty of happy customer and expert testimonials. In this case, you do have a level of control over the content, but it will not have the same resonance with customers as an anonymous rating. This is because most often you are the one soliciting the feedback; Simply put, even if it is in your customer’s own words, it is not seen to be as “real.”

Expert testimonials are also a great help in establishing customer trust. If you can get a Maven, Expert, Guru, or celebrity in your niche to say nice things about you, it makes the buyers decision to trust you that much easier. They will automatically associate the feeling they have for that person/company with you.

Tip 2: Web site and Marketing Material Design
Would you have a brick and mortar business in shoddy condition, in a run-down slum area of town? Most likely not. We’ll if your website is your business, then you need to take some time to focus on how your site appears. Take the time to make sure the presentation of your website is clean, slick, easy to use, and professional. Imagine that your website was a real brick and mortar store. Would customers want to come there?

The second factor is that the slick design of a site, banner, postcard, report connotes professionalism. With today’s inexpensive tools and outsourcing options, creating a pro-level site, brochure, or video is really not that difficult or costly. Nothing says this company is a startup more than an amateur looking webpage, full of broken links and spelling errors, or a poorly edited and encoded video.

Tip 3: Physical Location and Business Phone
A physical location makes you real. Your customers want to make sure you actually have the goods to deliver, especially when it comes to larger purchases. After all, if you have a slick website as mentioned above, it is entirely possible that you could be running your business from your living room. However, that is not something that will make your customers feel comfortable.

Now suppose you do run your business from your living room. That’s OK, we all have to start somewhere. If that is the case, I recommend that you use a service like Mailboxes Etc, or the UPS store but NOT a PO Box. The advantage of Mailboxes ETC or UPS is that your mailbox is actually addressed as a Suite number at an actual Address.

Also, for phone service, try Vonage. I have had some ISP related service issues with them, but most people I talk to have zero issues and are very happy with the product. One of the key benefits of vonage is that it has the built in capacity to set up multiple mailboxes and routing capabilities. While annoying, it does sound more professional to hear a voice controlled option system than a fuzzy tape recorded message on your machine at home. As an added benefit, you can set it up to forward your voice mails to your email account with the audio as a small attachment.

Tip 4: Brand Establishment
Having a strong brand name and strong brand recognition is the holy grail of trust. There is a reason that the Nike “swoosh” alone is valued at $5 billion dollars. It makes any product it is placed on instantly trusted, and in turn instantly sellable. That’s because you know what it stands for, you know the company who makes it, and you know you don’t need to waste your valuable time by having to determine if they are worth talking to in the first place.

Now we all can’t be a multi-billion dollar enterprise, but you can follow the same branding rules. Put your logo and your brand name EVERYWHERE. Every page, every blog post, every product, every email, every partner page, every everything. The more places your customer sees your brand the better. It also has the impact of associating your brand with the person or place they saw it. The second implication is that in a customers mind, if you appear everywhere, you obviously have to be established.

Tip 5: Trusted Affiliations & Logos
If you have any way of associating yourself with an established brand name, hop on that bandwagon! Piggybacking on another trusted brand is one of the cheapest and fastest ways to build trust. Have you worked with a trusted brand-name? Have you ever contributed or been interviewed for a magazine? If so, post it prominently! Who would you trust: The brand new guy or the guy who has been featured in Forbes or partnered with Microsoft.

Other common trust elements include “Hacker Safe” designation, “Verisign certificates” and the ubiquitous Better Business Bureau Stamp.

Tip 6: Product Guarantee and Return Policy
There is no doubt that you need to have a strong guarantee and generous return policy for your product. These need to be both formal and prominent on your site. It is not uncommon to see 30 day full refund (often 100% refund AND they keep the bonuses free) on every information product you see. On a similar note, the cancellation rate on intro-priced continuity programs is very, very high. It is not uncommon to see a 50% cancellation rate after a trial period ends. Be ready, it’s just the nature of this market and not necessarily a reflection of your product.

To establish trust, your product guarantee and return policies must be fair, unwavering, and prompt. If you get a refund request, process it promptly - always within your stated time frame, and sooner if possible. No exceptions.

Tip 7: Privacy Policy
Your customers are very concerned about their privacy and do not want their personal information (even email address) sold to the highest bidder. While the most savvy customers will often have “trash” email addresses that they often use for opt-in lists, a large portion of visitors, especially new visitors, will use their primary email address.

Honor their trust. If you do not share their email addresses, tell them prominently and be sure to link to your privacy policy. Make it a point to have a clear unsubscribe option on both your website and in your promotional mailings.

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About Us:

About JJ Kennedy
JJ Kennedy is the founder and president of EGI and EvilGeniusTV.  JJ also consults on product development and business strategy with Internet Marketing superstar, Rich Schefren. 
Prior to EGI, JJ held several senior executive positions with Fortune 500 Firms including VP of Internet and Marketing Strategy with Pitney Bowes.

About Evil Genius TV (www.evilgeniustv.com)
Evil Genius TV is the Small Business Coaching arm of EGI. We specialize in marketing and Internet strategy for small to mid-sized businesses. Evil Genius TV is the trusted advisor and mentor to help you visualize and plan your success, EGI is who you call to make it happen.

About Evil Genius Interactive (www.evilgeniusinteractive.com)
Evil Genius Interactive is a marketing and development firm focused on building out-of-the-box marketing solutions to help you better communicate with your audience.