How E-Commerce websites can establish trust

Author

Scroll Down

Reassuring your customers about security

E-commerce sites must establish customer trust to reduce bounce and increase conversion. While it’s great to have beautiful full screen design, and lightning-speed navigation, if your potential customers have ANY reason to question the security of your online purchase process, or have any doubt, no matter how slight, doubts about the quality of your products or services, they will click away from your site.

A recent study from comScore found that 22% of customers abandoned their online shopping carts because shoppers couldn’t find customer support or contact information. And this is only a subset of websites, so the failure rate for those making this error is actually much higher. Even if your business has no brick and mortar component, it always reassures the customer to see an easily-located phone number, email address, live chat button, AND physical address.

Consumers are acutely aware of the potential pitfalls of making online purchases. Multiple surveys reveal that a majority of us are worried about identity theft. For example, a study by the National Cyber Security Alliance, found that 64% of Americans cancelled purchases because of fears about website security.

We at OWDT highly recommend that you implement the following strategies –

  • Prominently display your SSL certificate so that shoppers know that their data will be encrypted. Not having an SSL certificate is actually illegal. Payment Card Industry standards require that all credit card transactions be encrypted to avoid fines, penalties, and even revocation of payment processing privileges.
  • Post positive reviews you have received from national and local organizations. For example, if you are a new pet food company, cite recognition not only from PetSmart, but also from your local humane society and metro area veterinarians.
  • Similarly, highlight any awards or positive press coverage.

Ensuring optimal written content

Finally, your written content, website design, and branding need to integrate seamlessly into a winning online presence. Technical/industrial product e-commerce sites typically keep written content to a minimum, bulletizing product information for easy reference. By contrast, clothing and household product sites are likely to use additional text to tell a story, often using humor and lifestyle references calculated to appeal to their target demographics. Bottom line: good copy will help sell your products, but great copy can give you a decisive competitive advantage.