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Trust Online: How to Generate and Keep It
July 9, 2009
One of the interesting cultural changes of the last 10 years since the beginning of the Internet Age is how the concept of “trust” has changed. Up until very recently, we really only “trusted” people we knew personally. Direct relatives, blood relatives, friends, and professional acquaintances. For thousands of years, trust was build up through inter-personal communication mainly, in-person conversation interspersed with the occasional written correspondence. Building trust required time….days, months, sometimes even years.
Now fast forward to today. Most online viewers spend only a few minutes, sometimes only seconds perusing your web site before deciding whether they “trust” you and your business or not. From visitors looking for a lawyer, to customers looking to spend thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars on durable goods, projecting an image that’s trustworthy and reputable is the difference from closing a big sale to going hungry. The trouble with the Internet is that your viewers are passive, until they contact you, they won’t tell you what works and what doesn’t on your site.
So what do you do before you build/rebuild your site? What do you include to inspire trust in you and your company so you get the sales/sales leads you need in order to be successful?
Thanks to a fantastic study done by the Nielsen company, which you can view here, we have some extremely interesting data:
1. 90% of people trust recommendations from friends: No surprise here, as we all know, word of mouth is the best kind of advertising.
2. 70% of people trust consumer opinions posted online: This is an incredible number, 70% of people trust people they’ve never met, seen, or even know are real. This number is extremely important as most businesses websites have no section what-so-ever for client testimonials, customer reviews, white papers on projects they’ve done, or anything that could be considered opinions of other customers.
3. 70% of people trust “brand websites”: Translation, people trust your web site as the best source of information about what you and your company provide.
4. 69% of people trust editorial content (eg: newspaper editorial)
Those numbers are extremely impressive and useful information. What’s amazing to us is that people view online virtual strangers, who they’ve never heard of before, they trust their recommendations more than a newspaper editorial, or even TV. What does this mean for you? Your web site is more important than ever. Do you have customer testimonials, white papers, or reviews of your products on your site? Does you site look presentable and put your best foot forward?
If you answer “No” to either question, you will want to address both of those issues immediately. In today’s economic client, every sale is an important one, so don’t lose out through inaction!
Want to add testimonials, product reviews, white papers, and more to your site? Need to refresh your web site as a whole? Get in contact with us today!
Dear Dan,
I was just passing by on your website to read your post. As a former brand manager for one leading worldwide confectionary company, I can tell you that those figures do not surprise me a bit. They do not mean anything since “trust” even towards the brand is somewhat a concept that most people will interpret differently. Do I trust you, your company? Well, yes of course and I do not know you. But what would it take me to say “No”. Trust is no personal commitment, it’s a natural way, distrust takes grief, commits yourself.
Would I trust a stranger that would tell me not to go to that bar/hotel ? If the person seems reasonable, trustworthy, I would naturally be inclined to say yes.
Because I have spent years building trust towards the public, I can tell you that it takes years of being committed to bring the best to the consumers, it takes ‘truth’, it takes ‘openness’ and it takes ‘time’. We have lived too long into a financial-driven world where shareholders were asking brand managers and marketers, every three months, so what now?. A brand has to build a story, a long story and a true one.
My advice: Think like Harley Davidson. Regards