How to build trust with clients? 13 tips to achieve it

Learning how to build trust with clients is very important. According to buySAFE, 81% of online shoppers feel concerned when shopping on a website they are not familiar with. This could mean lost sales and lost customers in the long run, leading to an impact on conversions.

Is there a way to remove these doubts and build long-term relationships with these reluctant users? So what is failing? In this post I will talk to you about customer trust and the business impact of e-commerce .

Trust can be made or broken in many ways. An example would be a potential customer’s cart abandonment due to hidden charges that are reflected at checkout. The customer shows confidence in being sure of the product and selecting it, and shows an almost equal amount of mistrust when encountering additional charges.

The probability of profit will be higher if consumer confidence is high . This also helps build customer loyalty. Therefore, in this article you will learn everything about how to build trust in a client.

But first, know the points that will be addressed in this article.

3 reasons why customer trust is important

Customer trust is essential to building and nurturing long-term relationships with your core audience. After all, it allows you to deliver better experiences, increase loyalty, and retain more customers.

1. Provide personalized experiences

Customer trust is key to personalization, an expectation of today’s consumers. Why? Because you can’t deliver a truly personalized customer experience unless you have access to customer data , which can only be collected if your customers trust you.

But once you get that information, you have to protect it. If a business misuses, shares, or sells a customer’s personal data, the relationship is virtually over. A lot of work is needed to regain the trust of buyers.

2. Encourage loyalty

Customer trust goes hand in hand with brand loyalty and advocacy . If customers believe that your company is continually improving and striving to provide the best experience possible, they will act as ambassadors for your brand, products or services.

Not only will they continue to shop with you, but they will also spread positive word-of-mouth referrals and serve as your referral customers for valuable feedback.

3. Form connections

It pays to cultivate customer trust because it leads to deeper connections, which is exactly what consumers want . Today’s shoppers no longer view brand loyalty as simply making repeat purchases from a company, but instead seek more meaningful relationships with their favorite businesses.

In fact, 41 percent of customers now believe that “brand loyalty” means having an emotional connection with the brand.

How to build trust with clients?

You have already learned why it is important to learn how to build trust with a client and the main benefits that can be obtained by applying the appropriate strategies. But where to start? Here are 13 ideas for your business to build trust with your customers.

1. Be transparent

Transparency makes a business attractive to customers . Like any online business, it has literally zero physical presence. The only connection the business can maintain is through a digital medium like social media .

Hence the need for business transparency to be unusually high. As an ecommerce, you can show that you are a transparent business by showing the real people running the show . The most popular brands have relied on an individual to forge a human identity for themselves.

In addition, you also need to have a process that customers can easily understand and reciprocate. For example

• How quickly can you cancel an order?
• How will a returned item be collected?
• Will an exchange be provided for returned products?

2. Don’t push them

It’s exciting to see people visiting your online store. It’s quite natural to feel the need to oversell products with flashy banner ads and pop-ups.

However, such marketing gimmicks, when done too much, are definitely a turn off for customers. Keep them simple and subtle. Don’t push it and don’t force customers to reject you with effort.

Online advertising, when done in a minimal way, can receive maximum results . Serve your customers with targeted ads that directly match their preferences and tastes. Such mode of advertising has higher chances of conversion. Also, customers like and trust such websites more.

3. Show that you are trustworthy

When customers buy products from your online store, they expect to be provided with genuine products from legitimate manufacturers. The biggest threat to customer confidence in online sales is finding fake or counterfeit products.

Web retailers like Amazon, eBay, Target, etc. they are migrating more and more to high definition product images, videos, etc. that give customers a detailed view of the product they are interested in.

Can your store deliver genuine products? Can you afford to retrieve counterfeit products that could be infiltrated? It’s a long way, but a sure way to gain trust if genuine products can be delivered.

4. Show off but not too much

There are many e-commerce that tend to be introverted. It almost feels like they’re not even trying to sell. Do you have some seasonal and permanent offers? Do you have something your competitors don’t? Well, don’t hide it. Show left, right and center all the benefits of your products. Be aggressive with your marketing.

5. Be easily accessible

According to a study by eConsultancy, 46% of UK customers prefer to shop with online stores that display contact details prominently. Defective products and customer returns are everyday occurrences in the online retail environment. Customers trust those brands more, making it easier for them to come back and get refunds.

To facilitate that, they need to know the best way to contact your business in the event of a query or problem . Show your contact information such as customer service number, live chat , etc.

6. Show testimonials

Customers trust online reviews as much as they trust product or store recommendations from their close friends. Online customer reviews and recommendations have tremendous power to influence the purchase decision of a customer who is sitting on the fence with a dilemma.

In addition, they are proof that your products are your own and have already been bought by many. They send strong signals to an interested customer who wants to know the true value of a product or service from a user who has already used it.

7. Be social

Social networks have literally become an integral part of our daily lives. In China, social messaging apps like WeChat do everything from texting to shopping. The bottom line is that as an online store, you cannot ignore the need for a constant online presence.

Additionally, BigCommerce studies have shown that e-commerce sites with a pervasive social presence enjoy 32% more average sales than others .

Why do customers trust e-commerce with a digital presence?

• It is easy to communicate using social messengers.
• There is a large community of like-minded users.
• Brands cannot ignore queries or complaints raised against them in social circles.
• It creates an equal field of mutual discussion for both online stores and customers.

8. Create security

One-third of customers refrain from shopping online because they don’t trust the security of their credit card information . This is despite the advent of virtual card numbers and other cybersecurity measures.

In a way, web security is a huge factor that persuades or repels a customer from shopping online. If your website is protected with an EV SSL certificate, then you have all the signs of trust that customers look for before they decide to step inside.

These signs of trust that an EV SSL certificate can give include:

• A green address bar and a lock symbol.
• Details of the owner of the entity/website in the SSL certificate.
• Trust seals/badges to be displayed on the website.

9. Be responsible

As a business owner, whether online or offline, you are 100% responsible for customer satisfaction . Satisfied customers tend to be more loyal and attached to one brand than others. And loyal customers are 12 times more valuable than a new customer.

Also, winning a new customer instead of a few lost customers is no small task . Instead, it will be easy to earn their trust by being responsible for their satisfaction.

It can be achieved by:

• Provide your products as shown and promised in the store.
• Respect the time and money your customer spends on your products.
• Address your concerns and answer all your questions before and after the sale.

10. Be consistent

In business, there are approaches to getting noticed. Attaching great importance to either quality or quantity. When you are consistent in your approach, customers know what to expect from you. They know what you serve best; cheap products at affordable prices or brand name products at a premium price.

By conveying your brand message clearly, you will have the right segment of customers coming for your products. Otherwise, there will be confusion that will cause customer dissatisfaction and unnecessarily tarnish business reputation.

11. Seek feedback

Don’t you want to know how customers feel about your products and services? What if they have some suggestions that can completely transform your brand?

As Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba once quoted , “the opportunity lies where the complaints are” . If your clients have complaints or any areas of pain where improvement is needed, be the first to take action.

Be proactive by taking corrective action that will make things easier for your customers. That will go a long way in making your customers trust your brand more.

12. Live Chat 24/7

A live chat icon is a massive psychological guarantee for clueless customers. You have increased conversions for one of our clients in the past. Just make sure you have your equipment set up to deliver on the promise of 24/7 support. Being offline too often is a turn off.

13. Product Benefits

Whether you started out conservatively or otherwise, make sure you continue to add customer benefits as your business expands. For example, you can provide cash on delivery options starting with areas close to your office address or with areas where you are assured of safe transactions.

Another case may be to have a detailed return policy. List all of your product’s benefits on the product page , whether it’s cash on delivery, stock status, return policy, if applicable, or any other benefits that come along with that product or make your brand stand out.

You already know all the secrets to build trust with your customers. So why not apply these strategies? Do not forget that trust is the main factor to retain your potential customers and turn them into potential ambassadors.