Most people will only buy online or make contact with you, if they believe your website is credible and trustworthy. Since you are not face to face, you need to build trust through your words.
I once attended a lecture by a Professor involved in an MBA program. He spoke about buying decisions and product life cycles. It became obvious that as soon as he got near anything remotely ‘touchy feely’ he got uncomfortable. At the end of his last lecture he asked if we had any comments. I raised my hand and said,
“So basically it all comes down to trust. Is the company trustworthy? Will the product do what they say? So you have to get your client to trust in you.”
He looked at me blankly and then asked if anyone else had anything to say. The morale of the story is don’t let an academic market your website. Always remember that it is a leap of faith when people open up their wallet. So you have to do everything you can to build up trust.
Build trust online by:
- Providing Testimonials
- Having a Privacy Statement
- Giving a money back guarantee
- Having a secure certificate if you take credit card details or use a secure 3rd party hosted solution like www.dps.co.nz
- Check your spelling and grammar
- Back up your claims with evidence
- Put your picture on the website, as people like to know who they are doing business with.