If a customer has to put their bank information on a website, it’s normal to be wary of the authenticity and trustworthiness of the business. That said, if you want web visitors to trust you enough and buy something from you, you need to know these e-commerce website design tips:
1. Have a well-designed website
A website that looks clean and professional is more trustworthy than the one that is of subpar quality. Will people trust a website with low-quality photos, a cluttered interface, or a poorly-designed logo? Of course, not. Your website serves as your e-commerce business’s face. If you want to make a great first impression and make people want to trust your site, you need to have a professional web design.
2. Display security badges
The first “proof” of website security that you should have is the padlock icon (SSL certificate). This logo denotes that the connection between your server and the customer’s Internet browser is encrypted with the SSL/TLS protocol, meaning that information transmitted between them is secure. A padlock icon beside the web address is usually the first thing that customers look for to gauge the trustworthiness of a business, so having one is essential for any e-commerce website.
Apart from the padlock icon, e-commerce websites should have security badges to prove their trustworthiness. While displaying multiple badges on your homepage will help establish your reliability, people don’t easily trust logos that they don’t recognize. Choose easily recognizable security logos, such as those from Paypal, McAfee, and VeriSign, to name a few.
3. Provide testimonials, reviews, and recognition
Another way to prove the authenticity or trustworthiness of your website is to display user reviews, testimonials, and any rewards that you have received from well-known experts or companies (either local or international). These types of feedback will help build your reputation as an e-commerce business, as well as establish your legitimacy to potential customers.
While posting positive feedback is a must, don’t forget to include the constructive criticism that you have received. If your company looks too good to be true, it won’t be trustworthy to the majority of the public.
4. Clear and readable text
If your pages or product descriptions are riddled with grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and typos, your website will look like a scam. This is because scammers intentionally make mistakes to weed out the people who most probably won’t fall for their trap. If your e-commerce has poorly written text on your home page, product descriptions, and other website pages, there is a high chance that they will be wary of your authenticity.
5. Fill out the contact information
Make sure you have a ‘Contact Us’ page on your website that includes your phone number, email address, and physical address. If you don’t have a physical office address, you can list a P.O. box or a UPS store address. Customers will be more comfortable buying from your website if they know they can contact you later.
Establishing trustworthiness is a must for all e-commerce businesses, especially those that are in their first phase of operations. If you don’t know how to boost the trustworthiness of your website, refer to these tips when planning or evaluating your web design.