Credibility in the ecommerce space is a major factor that influences most online shoppers’ purchasing decisions. How you present your brand to your visitors can motivate them to either give you their trust or switch to a competing website that looks more credible.

In the online world, it s so much easier for customers to turn their backs on brands based on first impressions. Your goal must be to make your ecommerce site look trustworthy to drive stronger sales performance.

The value of trust in ecommerce

Many online shoppers will think twice before buying from an online store that they’ve never heard of. With many cases of online fraud, it’s only normal for online shoppers to be meticulous in choosing the brands to do business with. Not thinking about how to improve your online credibility will only lead to higher abandoned cart rates.

In other words, no one is going to buy from your store if you don t give them reasons to trust you first. Sure, trust naturally gets nurtured over time but as entrepreneurs, you can t afford to wait for five years just to drive more sales. Customer relationships are built from scratch, so if you want to build strong and lasting ties with your prospects, you need to build an image of trustworthiness that will further encourage them to buy from you.

Giving your ecommerce site stronger credibility

Your ecommerce store’s web design and website optimization features can say a lot about the quality of user experience that you can provide to every customer. If it takes minutes for your pages to load or to browse through your catalog, you are likely going to have higher bounce rates.

Your visual design, including the proper use of fonts, images, and color schemes can affect your customers perception of your website s uniqueness and your brand personality. Its structural features, including search function, navigation, and ease of access, can say a lot about its user-friendliness. Product descriptions, for instance, must be comprehensive and must display all available information that customers should learn about your products in an easy-to-read format.

Customer confidence is hugely dependent on what other people have to say about your brand. Publishing testimonials and user ratings from real customers can help establish transparency about your services. Make sure your reviews look authentic by attaching pictures or indicating the full names of people that submitted them.

Contact information and other customer support references must also be readily available, sending the message that you care about your customers. The about us page, company history, and leadership profiles can also contribute to the credibility of your site.

If you have a good following on social networks, you can also embed social media plugins on your ecommerce site. These plugins not only direct site visitors to your social media profiles, they also display the number of people who follow your brand online and how engaged they are with your company. More importantly, these pieces of information help solidify your company as a legitimate business trusted by an active community of consumers.

Trust seals and badges are also effective in asserting trustworthiness online. Having third-party security certification can significantly increase conversion rates, since it confirms that your business has been reviewed by a reputable agency. Your privacy policy and terms of use must also be accessible to customers. They need to know why you’re collecting personal information from them and how it will be used.

Ecommerce success is not entirely dependent on the quality of your products or services. Leveraging your online reputation is a proven way of attracting more customers and driving higher sales. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of focusing too much about talking about their own business. Although this kind of self-promotion is crucial, the more important goal is to make customers talk about your e-commerce business.