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Your company’s website is often the first place prospective customers visit to learn about your company.<\/p>\n
While many different things influence people’s buying decisions, a common factor drives nearly every purchase: can the customer trust your business?<\/p>\n
Over the last decade, crowdspring<\/a> and our 220,000+ designers have helped entrepreneurs, small businesses, agencies, and brands worldwide with high-quality website design<\/a>.<\/p>\n In that time,\u00a0here’s what we’ve learned about website credibility: the credibility of your website will directly impact your revenues and profits.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n What is credibility?<\/p>\n A\u00a0Stanford study<\/a> on web credibility says\u00a0credibility is \u201cperceived trustworthiness\u00a0+ perceived expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n Your business website aims to showcase your business’s trustworthiness\u00a0<\/a>and professional expertise, assuring<\/span>\u00a0customers and prospects that you\u2019re the real deal.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve broken down the four major website credibility areas and have identified 16 important factors that help your small business increase customers and profits.<\/p>\n Before we look at the factors, let’s talk about pricing briefly because most of these important factors will require a redesign<\/a>. Some business owners worry that the cost of a professional website design<\/span><\/a> can be prohibitively high.<\/p>\n Many design companies and agencies indeed charge thousands of dollars for their services. But this isn’t universally true (crowdspring’s high-quality web design<\/span><\/a> projects start at just $899, including all fees).<\/p>\n Let’s look at these factors in detail.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to explicitly state who you are and what your business is about.<\/p>\n You don’t have much time to inform customers. As we previously wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n the attention span of a human adult, according to\u00a0BBC News<\/a>, is 9 seconds (the\u00a0Associated Press<\/a>\u00a0reports that in 2012, the average attention span for a human was 8 seconds). Nearly one fifth of all page views in 2012 lasted fewer than\u00a0four seconds<\/a>. And to add fuel to the fire,\u00a0people read<\/a>\u00a0only approximately half of the words on a web page that has fewer than 111 words (and only 28% of the words on a web page that has more than 593 words).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Contact information is important because, for many businesses (restaurants, companies that sell products, and others), customers and prospects are looking for a way to email or call your company.<\/p>\n It should be easy for any visitor to your website to figure out this information.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where your \u2018Contact\u2019 page comes into play.<\/p>\n A well-done contact page will do the following:<\/p>\n And don\u2019t forget to include a physical address.<\/p>\n Knowing your company\u2019s address is reassuring and builds immense trust. It\u2019s a reliable way to remind visitors to your virtual address that your company has a physical address, too – which is essential in legitimizing your business.<\/p>\n Do everything you can to put customers at ease about your business\u2019 credibility and accountability.<\/p>\n Build a stronger brand with our free guides. Get actionable insights to define your brand\u2019s unique voice, understand your market, and stand out to customers. The guides are concise, actionable, practical, and tailored for the busy entrepreneur.<\/p> Build a stronger brand with our free guides. Get actionable insights to define your brand\u2019s unique voice, understand your market, and stand out to customers. The guides are concise, actionable, practical, and tailored for the busy entrepreneur.<\/p> Build a stronger brand with our free guides. Get actionable insights to define your brand\u2019s unique voice, understand your market, and stand out to customers. The guides are concise, actionable, practical, and tailored for the busy entrepreneur.<\/p> Proving authenticity isn\u2019t just for millennial hipsters.<\/p>\n Authenticity is a significant factor in increasing customers\u2019 trust in you and your business.<\/p>\n A global study completed a few years ago, The Age of Authenticity<\/a> revealed that 63 percent of consumers would choose to buy from a brand they perceived as authentic over less-authentic competitors.<\/p>\n More recent studies show that the trend has intensified. As we pointed out in Powerful Branding Lessons From The World’s Best Brands (That Actually Work For Your Small Business)<\/a>:<\/p>\n 91% of consumers said that they are more likely to buy from an\u00a0authentic brand<\/a>\u00a0than from a dishonest brand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n How can you show that your business is authentic, trustworthy, and likable?<\/p>\n Show yourself!<\/p>\n As we wrote previously<\/a>,<\/p>\n No one wants to do business with a faceless, cold, unfeeling corporation \u2013 people want to feel a personal connection with a company. Emphasizing the humanity behind your company will help your company stand out from the crowd because it will genuinely connect your brand to the people you\u2019re trying to reach.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Offering team bios and accompanying photos is a terrific way to engender your customers’ trust by showcasing your humanity.<\/p>\n You can encourage your team to get playful, have some fun, and showcase the great personalities that your brand has to offer.<\/p>\n Further, any time you can show your customers that you have real people behind your company is a way to make you more personable, more relatable, and ultimately preferable to distant, unreachable brands.<\/p>\n Keep this in mind when you’re active on social media. Nobody wants to engage with a faceless brand.<\/p>\n For example, when you look at crowdspring’s Twitter profile<\/a>, you’ll see us clearly state that our social media tweets are by our founder and CEO, Ross Kimbarovsky.<\/p>\n Speaking of unreachable … don\u2019t be.<\/p>\n Make sure that your customers have easy access to your support team<\/a>.<\/p>\n Provide clear access to any Help Center links and accompanying forms, email addresses, or chat widgets that can connect your customers with the help they need.<\/p>\n Having the reassurance that help is near will, in fact, go far in holding a virtual hand out to your customers.<\/p>\n Everyone knows excellent customer support is the cornerstone of any great brand.<\/p>\n You need to look no further than Zappos to prove how effective a strategy having superior service is.<\/p>\n Zappos\u2019 senior brand marketing<\/a> manager Michelle Thomas explains<\/a>:<\/p>\n Our biggest efforts revolve around building likeability around our brand so that consumers turn to a brand that they trust, find reliable, and have an emotional connection with. That\u2019s where service comes in!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Providing exceptional support – and then giving your customers access to it – is a proven way to build your business’s credibility and, therefore your profitability.<\/p>\n Another opportunity to increase your credibility and conversions is to add a \u201ctrust badge\u201d (or “trust seal”) to your checkout page.<\/p>\n Comodo Group\u2019s research proved<\/a> that approximately 70% of online shoppers canceled online orders because they did not \u201ctrust\u201d the transaction.<\/p>\n It\u2019s critical to reassure potential customers that your website is safe and secure and can protect their sensitive information.<\/p>\n A trust badge is a great way to show your customers that your website is up to the challenge of safeguarding your customers\u2019 backs (and wallets).<\/p>\n What\u2019s a trust badge?<\/p>\n Marie on\u00a0Crazy Egg<\/a> gives a succinct explanation:<\/p>\n A trust seal verifies to visitors that a website is legitimate. Data is collected by the third-party trust seal company that confirms that the business is authentic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If you\u2019re interested in getting a trust badge for your website, you probably want to know the most reliable ones.<\/p>\n Courtesy of blog.storeya.com<\/p><\/div>\n In a survey conducted by the research group the\u00a0Baymard Institute<\/a>, the most trusted badge was Norton, with 36 percent of the votes.<\/p>\n This was followed by McAfee (23 percent), TRUSTe (13.2 percent), and BBB Accredited (13.2 percent).<\/p>\n Trust seals like Norton Secured, PayPal Verified, Web of Trust, and BBB Accredited Business will increase customers’ trust in your website.<\/p>\n Getting a trust badge is important, but your work isn\u2019t done yet.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll want to ensure your pricing is obvious and easy to find.<\/p>\n The same goes for any links to your privacy policy and terms of service – make them as visible as possible.<\/p>\n Website visitors are often very protective of their information and want to know how you plan to use it.<\/p>\n They will want to know, for example:<\/p>\n Having as much transparency as possible about your company\u2019s rules and fine print will ease consumer doubts about how reliable your business is.<\/p>\n Take it a step further with a guarantee.<\/p>\n If you offer one, show it off!<\/p>\n At crowdspring, we offer customers a 100 percent money back guarantee<\/a>.<\/p>\n Why do we do this?<\/p>\n We are confident that we will deliver phenomenal customer results and have consistently done so for the past decade.<\/p>\n And in the rare case when a customer isn’t thrilled, they know that our powerful guarantee will protect them.<\/p>\n If you know you\u2019ve got a solid product or service on your hands, own that.<\/p>\n Let your customers know that they can rest easy knowing that you\u2019re confident enough in your excellence to refund every penny if you can\u2019t meet or exceed their expectations.<\/p>\n Have you won any awards?<\/p>\n Is the internet abuzz with your greatness?<\/p>\n Make sure you display any positive press or significant (and laudable) awards your business may have been given where your customers can see them.<\/p>\n Knowing that public opinion is in your favor is a good way of enhancing your brand\u2019s reputation and standing in your customers\u2019 eyes, and you should not be shy or humble in showing those off.<\/p>\n Let your customers in on your glories and accolades. We promise it\u2019s okay to brag.<\/p>\n A study from\u00a0BrightLocal<\/a> shows that an overwhelming 88 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. In fact,\u00a072 percent of consumers<\/a> find positive reviews encourage an increased trust in a business.<\/p>\n A testimonial is most effective when it features a customer detailing the problem they faced before coming to you for answers.<\/p>\n You become the hero of the story when they explain exactly how you helped them overcome their challenge.<\/p>\n There are a few best practices you can follow to give your\u00a0testimonials<\/a> a head start in gaining your customers’ trust.<\/p>\n As we recently wrote<\/a>,<\/p>\n It\u2019s perfectly fine to offer testimonials directly on your own website. For example, crowdspring has a customer testimonials page<\/a> highlighting some of the customers who love our service. But we also direct people to independent, third-party pages, like the crowdspring reviews<\/a> page on ResellerRatings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You can also consider listing your website on an independent, third-party page to add some external credibility to your testimonials.<\/p>\n If you belong to a professional organization or are otherwise associated with a recognizable, stand-out brand in your industry, you should include that on your website.<\/p>\n Take advantage of your positive affiliations with these reputable brands by highlighting your relationships on your website.<\/p>\n Display their logos and links to their websites. You\u2019ll increase your standing in your market while building credibility and trust with your base.<\/p>\n Good design is good business<\/a>.<\/p>\n Stanford\u2019s Persuasion Technology Lab discovered<\/a> that 46 percent of people indicate\u00a0a website\u2019s design as the number one factor in determining website credibility.<\/p>\n The University of Melbourne released a similar study emphasizing that<\/a> \u201cprettier websites gain trust.\u201d<\/p>\n It might seem obvious, but it\u2019s important not to underestimate how important good visual design is.<\/p>\n Another study by One Poll<\/a>\u00a0showed that\u00a0 \u201c70 percent of people claim they would not buy from a company with a badly designed website.\u201d<\/p>\n Scientist B.J Fogg, who founded Stanford\u2019s Behavior Design Lab<\/a>, put it best:<\/p>\n … people do judge a Web site by how it looks. That\u2019s the first test of the Web site. And if it doesn\u2019t look credible or it doesn\u2019t look like what they expect it to be, they go elsewhere. It doesn\u2019t get a second test. And it\u2019s not so different from other things in life. It\u2019s the way we judge automobiles and politicians.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There are exceptions to this rule, as we outlined in our look at how beautiful design isn\u2019t the be-all and end-all<\/a> for small businesses. As we pointed out there, “You can have a good design that isn\u2019t beautiful, but you can\u2019t have a good design that isn\u2019t functional.”<\/p>\n For the most part, however, if you want to look credible, a good user experience is vital.<\/p>\n Many elements contribute to a well-designed user experience, and here are some of the most important ones to consider.<\/p>\n Websites with stale content can look outdated at best and abandoned at worst, so refresh things periodically. People see sites that regularly update as more credible.<\/p>\n As we previously wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not creating content on the web, you don\u2019t exist on the web. A 140 character tweet is content. A 1,000 word blog post is content. A commend to a blog post is content. Your website is content.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This doesn\u2019t mean you must make massive updates or change your site\u2019s content frequently. You can make simple updates like adding links to recent news or reviews, rotating the testimonials on your homepage, or posting a new article to your blog.<\/p>\n Most visitors won\u2019t return to your site that often, so these changes don\u2019t have to be every day.<\/p>\n Tend to your site\u2019s content like a garden: prune old information, augment what\u2019s already there, or add entirely new content.<\/p>\n Web content that\u2019s easy to read increases credibility.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a simple concept: if your site visitors struggle to read your content, it will adversely affect their impression of not only the words they see but also the site itself.<\/p>\n The design of how text is laid out on the page is called typography, and it\u2019s a critical part of what makes a site not only look good, but effective, too. As we said in our look at choosing typography for your business<\/a>:<\/p>\n Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. Typography can make or break the overall effectiveness of your design and message.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If you\u2019re unsure where to start improving your site\u2019s typography, our guide<\/a> can help.<\/p>\n Few things deflate a site visitor\u2019s confidence faster than bad grammar or spelling mistakes. Not only do mistakes make you seem unprofessional, but they can also make you appear sloppy and uncaring.<\/p>\n Running your site\u2019s content through a spell checker is insufficient.<\/p>\n There are plenty of excellent content marketing tools<\/a> to can help.<\/p>\n Services like Grammarly<\/a> and Hemingway App<\/a> provide grammatical checks that can help you catch instances where you use \u201cits\u201d when you actually meant \u201cit\u2019s.\u201d (Not sure of the difference? The Internet to the rescue!<\/a>)<\/p>\n Those services are not infallible.<\/p>\n Just like the spellchecker in your word processor, they use algorithms and other automated methods to check your text, but they usually can\u2019t understand the meaning of what you are trying to say.<\/p>\n Your best bet is to manually review your site\u2019s content for errors. Even better, have someone else look at it, too.<\/p>\n The most sublime site design\u00a0can quickly be ruined by a wayward spelling or\u00a0grammatical error. Don\u2019t let that happen to<\/span>\u00a0your site: copyedit today!<\/p>\n Everyone has used sites that were poorly designed and confusingly organized.<\/p>\n When they load a new website, people bring a finite amount of patience with them, and that patience can quickly vanish if things are hard to find and the site is frustrating to use.<\/p>\n Studies show you have only seconds<\/a> to capture a site visitor\u2019s attention. Don’t lose prospects because your site is overly frustrating.<\/p>\n We recently looked at how crucial good user experience and usability<\/a> were to a site\u2019s success:<\/p>\n A website or app\u2019s ability to bring in repeat business relies on whether people understand and appreciate it. \u201cAm I getting value from this? Is it user-friendly? Is it fun?\u201d These questions form the basis of a prospective customer\u2019s decision as to whether they will become regular users of that site or app, or will never come back.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Fixing a site\u2019s navigation can occasionally be a big undertaking.<\/p>\n Unless your services, products, or content are so compelling that people will ignore bad navigation, getting it right is a big contributor to a website\u2019s credibility.<\/p>\n It would be best to consider whether your site needs a search feature.<\/p>\n The answer depends on the depth and breadth of your site\u2019s content or products. Sites with a handful of pages don\u2019t need search.<\/p>\n The best way to know if you need it\u00a0is to\u00a0ask your customers<\/a>. Can they quickly find what they were looking for? Is the site\u2019s navigation sufficient to help them get <\/span>where they want to be?<\/p>\n If the answer is no, adding search is one possible way to fix this.<\/p>\n Sites that take forever to load or are slow to use are huge barriers to credibility.<\/p>\n When your products or services involve e-commerce, it\u2019s difficult for customers to trust a site that makes them wait uncomfortably long.<\/p>\n We discussed this in more detail in 7 Signs It’s Time To Update Your Small Business Website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fixing site performance isn’t trivial, as many different variables can make a site slow. If you\u2019re interested in running a test on your site, Google has an excellent one<\/a> you can try.<\/p>\n No one ever loaded a website and said, \u201cgee this site is great but there just aren\u2019t enough ads!\u201d<\/p>\n You should limit the amount of advertising on your site for many reasons, especially if the advertising is served by an ad network<\/a> and not internal promotions or house ads.<\/p>\n Keep your site\u2019s primary goal in mind.<\/p>\n Not all advertising is terrible, but advertising can become a roadblock if you\u2019re trying to get people to buy something, sign up for a service, read an article, or get in contact with you.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve talked about the importance of good branding<\/a> many times, and for good reason: a strong brand has a powerful effect on how customers perceive your company<\/a>, including its credibility.<\/p>\n Your website design affects your brand, and your brand affects your website.<\/p>\n In lessons small businesses can learn from the world’s best brands<\/a>, we pointed out that:<\/p>\n You might be wondering: What does it mean to brand your company? How do you brand your business? How can branding lead to bigger revenues and profits?<\/p>\n The name of your company and your logo are two important elements of your brand, but your brand is much more than the\u00a0company name<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0logo design<\/a>.<\/p>\n A brand is the sum total of the experience your customers and customer prospects have with your company.<\/p>\n A strong brand communicates what your company does, how it does it, and at the same time, establishes trust and credibility with your prospects and customers.<\/p>\n Your company\u2019s brand is, in many ways, its personality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The biggest companies recognize this and put as much consideration into the design of their site as they do when they come up with their business name<\/a> and logo design<\/a>. They know that strong branding<\/a> adds credibility to their website, so they treat their sites as an extension of their brand.<\/p>\n The design of your site should use elements of your brand efficiently so the two things reinforce and augment each other.<\/p>\n Customers who already know your brand will feel at home with a well-crafted site that integrates brand elements.<\/p>\nGet in touch<\/h2>\n
Contact page<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Essential Branding Toolkit for Entrepreneurs<\/h2>
Get your free branding toolkit<\/i><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>Essential Branding Toolkit for Entrepreneurs<\/h2>
Get your free branding toolkit<\/i><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>Essential Branding Toolkit for Entrepreneurs<\/h2>
Get your free branding toolkit<\/i><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\nTeam bios<\/b><\/h3>\n
Be reachable<\/b><\/h3>\n
Offer peace of mind<\/h2>\n
Trust badges<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.crowdspring.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/27131226\/image7-2-2.png\")
Be transparent<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Guarantee it<\/b><\/h3>\n
Show it off<\/h2>\n
Awards and press<\/b><\/h3>\n
Testimonials and affiliations<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Design matters<\/h2>\n
Keep your content up to date<\/b><\/h3>\n
Good typography<\/b><\/h3>\n
No grammar or spelling errors<\/b><\/h3>\n
Make it easy to use<\/b><\/h3>\n
Make it fast<\/b><\/h3>\n
Limit advertising<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Reinforce your credibility with good branding<\/b><\/h3>\n
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