It’s not necessarily the strength of the idea that dictates whether a business is successful or not. After all, you could have a brilliant business idea and still fail. And that’ll be even more likely if there’s no customer trust. This is one of those things that’s easy to overlook, but it’s paramount for success in the business world. After all, if your potential customers have doubts about your business, then it’ll be no wonder if they look elsewhere!
Happily, customer trust is something that you can cultivate. And you should — it won’t happen on its own. In this blog, we’ll look at some useful tips that’ll push you in the right direction.
Be Authentic
You can fool some people some of the time, but you can’t fool all people all the time. You can see why brands might act in an inauthentic way — it’s tempting to just give the public what you think they want. But if you take that approach, then at some point or another, you’ll be found out. There are plenty of companies going through the motions. Make sure you’re acting in an authentic way — people will notice and appreciate it.
Get the Basics In Order
There are some things that all companies must have. For instance, in 2022, they need to have a solid web presence. You might be able to find success if your internet presence is all over the place, but it’ll be much less likely. After all, when selling online, you’re asking customers to take a leap of faith — and if you have a questionable website, no social media accounts, and so on, then you’ll be giving them a reasonable excuse to take their money elsewhere. Make sure you have a well-designed website, social media accounts, a Google Business page, and more.
Easy to Reach
It doesn’t matter how much information you have online or how smooth your processes are: people will always need to get in contact with you at some point or another. If they can’t get in touch with you, then that’ll set off alarm bells in their mind. Indeed, it’s pretty questionable to find little or no contact information for an eCommerce store. So make sure you go in the opposite direction, and make as many options as possible available to your customers. These can include a phone number, email address, live chat feature, and links to your Twitter/Facebook/Instagram pages.
Reviews and Testimonials
Did you know that studies have shown that people trust reviews from strangers almost as much as they do from friends and family? It’s true — and that goes to show just how important reviews and testimonials can be. It’s a good idea to encourage reviews on the main review sites and also to publish any testimonials you receive privately on your website.
A word on negative feedback. You won’t like it, and you may want it to disappear — but even if that’s an option, it’s best to keep it there and actively respond to it. While it’s good to have plenty of five-star reviews, if they’re all outstanding, then people can begin to grow suspicious. A negative review shows that they’re real — plus, it’s a chance to show off your customer service skills.
Establish Authority
You might know that you’re an expert in your field. But the average joe on the internet? They’ll have no reason to assume that you know what you’re talking about. So make sure that you show them. There are plenty of ways to establish authority for your business. For instance, you could host a blog, which will give you a chance to tell the world all you know about your products and services.
Beyond Selling
Companies can be inadvertently untrustworthy. They may not have malicious intentions, but they still don’t deserve trust. For instance, this is the case with companies who think their duty of care is over once the sale has been made. It’s not. Trustworthy companies will care about the customers’ experience once they have the product in their hands (or on their computers). So make sure you go above and beyond to ensure that your customers can enjoy your goods to the max. If you sell clothing, then this could involve including woven care labels, which will tell your customers how to properly care for their items. If you sell software, this may involve setting up a support team, so your customers can get help with any problems they have.
Quality Control
You’ll hope that your products are top-quality. But in an age when success is so precarious, it’s important to do more than just ‘hope.’ It can be highly beneficial to engage in some quality control from time to time. This will allow you to identify any problems with your items that could lead to a poor customer experience. This will make it less likely that your customers run into problems, which in turn will ensure that they have more reason to trust you than not.
Handle Problems
Of course, even with all the best intentions, it’s inevitable that you’ll run into problems from time to time. Things can go wrong that are beyond your control, after all. It’s not the presence of customer complaints that should alarm you (though if you’re getting a lot, it’s time to improve things). It’s not handling the problems that should be concerning. Your customers will be more likely to trust you — and to use your service again in the future — if you go above and beyond to make them happy.
Get Feedback
Want to show your customers that you care? Then look at getting their thoughts and opinions about how you’re doing. Getting feedback is an excellent way to build trust, as it helps to develop a relationship between you and your customers. Plus, there are other obvious benefits, too. For instance, you’ll be able to incorporate their feedback into your operations. There are plenty of different ways to get feedback from customers, including sending an email request in the weeks after they’ve made a purchase.
Hire Great People
The interactions the public has with your company will go a long way toward their decision to trust you or not. You can improve the likelihood of it going your way by hiring great people. If you hire substandard employees, then you can’t be all that surprised if you face some customer issues. Basically, every customer-facing role should be filled by a person who, at the very least, enjoys other people and wants them to be happy. Of course, you can’t expect an employee’s happy nature to work all on its own. It’s also important to train your staff, too.
Don’t Oversell
Finally, think about what you’re telling the public about your company. All too often, you have companies who are happy to say anything and everything to make some sales. But that’s wrong. Plus, it’s not even effective. The truth will come out once they make a purchase, and that’s the moment they’ll know that you were all talk — and it’s hard to come back from that. You don’t need to go overboard when marketing your product.
Conclusion
A company that has earned the trust of its customers will be in a much better position than one that hasn’t. Take the steps we’ve outlined above on board, and you’ll be doing your part to establish a great relationship with your customers. And once you have that, you never quite know what it will lead to.
