There are plenty of advantages to operating a digital storefront. Convenience, review visibility, access to a massive selection of customers…the list goes on and on. That isn’t to say it’s not without its shortcomings, though.
The most glaring of these involves trust.
Anyone can set up a digital storefront. Anyone can cobble together a website and claim to be selling products online. Couple that with the fact that your customers can’t experience your products directly before purchasing, and you’ve a potential recipe for disaster.
Luckily, it’s one that’s easily mitigated.
Show That You’re a Real Person
Modern consumers expect to be able to easily reach you, whether via email, phone, or even a visit to a brick and mortar location. And if you don’t have any of that information on your website, it causes people to start wondering.
Of course, making it easy for people to contact you is only the first step.
Another thing I’d highly recommend is ensuring you’re active on social media. Whatever networks you believe your target audience will use, you should also use. This not only shows that you’re an active store, but also that you’re engaged with your target market – that should they need to reach you for any reason, they won’t be waiting hours or days for a response.
Customer Reviews
It’s a stat that’s been bandied around with abandon – 61% of people read online reviews before they commit to purchasing a product. They trust those reviews. They trust that other people like them have had a positive experience with a particular product, and that this means they probably will, as well.
A store that allows reviews on its products, and has mostly positive reviews goes a long way towards increasing trust, and therefore increasing conversions. Not only that, negative reviews can actually present an opportunity to turn a dissatisfied customer into a loyal one if you play your cards right.
Trust Seals
Reviews aside, another way to demonstrate that your store’s safe is with the inclusion of trust seals on purchasing pages. Using an established seal like SSL is essential, as it shows your visitors not only that your site is legitimate, but also that you treat the protection of user data with the utmost care. And in case you’re thinking this is optional, research indicates that 70% or more of customers will cancel an online order because a transaction seems sketchy.
Product Photos and Product Descriptions
We’ve talked about trust around security, your brand, and the store itself. Now let’s talk about your products. Your customers aren’t going to be able to experience your products in person – that sort of technology by no means exists at this point. What you can do, however, is provide them with the next best thing.
By including well-written product descriptions and high-quality product images (along with the aforementioned reviews), you can give your customers a highly-accurate idea of what your products are like. And that, in turn, will make them trust you that much more.
It’s All a Matter of Trust
At the end of the day, it’s always going to be more difficult to get people to trust you online as opposed to working with them face-to-face. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Follow the advice outlined here, and you’ll have a more trustworthy store – and more conversions as a result.
I’ll leave off with a few useful plugins that can help you generate trust on your site:
- Shopify: TRUST, Product Reviews, Easy Contact Form
- Magento: Trustly, Better Reviews, Quick Contact
- WooCommerce: Trustcommerce Gateway, The Social Review Engine, Product Enquiry Form
