4 Ways To Increase Customer Trust In Your Brand

Written by  AJ Leale, Sr. Director eCommerce 
You go online to hunt for a new camera. You’ve narrowed your final choice to two. Both appear to be equally good but they are on different websites. One website shows that the camera’s score is 4.5 out of 5 according to its customers. However, the other website has no reviews at all. It’s highly likely that you’ll be inclined to go with the first choice as the second one remains a complete mystery.
This is a common real-life scenario for many customers and it’s a great example of the power of social ratings in action. 
Scenarios like this one can be easily prevented by increasing customer trust in your brand. Keep reading to learn how to make that happen. 

1. Increase Brand Trust Through Great Content 

Content can be a powerful tool for connecting retailers with new customers. Good content can show the personality behind a brand and make customers feel more connected to it. 
Publishing content on a regular basis is also a good sign for consumers. It tells them that a brand is invested in a business, their industry, and most important of all – their customer’s problems. 
Since nearly 90 percent of people find custom content useful, it’s no surprise why retailers should focus on content marketing. 
Video and user-generated content are the most exciting content formats at the moment. 
Shoppers who watch a video are twice as likely to follow through and buy a product than those who don’t. That’s why understanding where video fits within your customer’s buyer journey is an important thing to accomplish. Some retailers are also adding high-quality videos in their stores by featuring mirrors that double up as video screens. 
Brands can also encourage users to share their own content across different social media channels. 
One of the best examples of a brand-as-publisher is the outdoor apparel brand REI. 
They have established themselves as an authority on outdoor recreation and sports. If you search for any kind of content related to camping, biking, and other outdoor-related adventures, you will most likely come across REI.

2. Offer (and Flaunt) Great Customer Service 

Many things can affect the in-store and online experience but customer service is always going to be one of the top factors that impact how shoppers perceive a brand. 
The good news is that brands have full control over this aspect and they should be looking for ways to wow their customers on a continuous basis. 
Chatbots are a great option to increase customer satisfaction levels and they can help improve revenue margins. Despite being very easy to integrate, the use of chatbots in retail is still quite limited. 
One of the biggest benefits of chatbots are the significant cost savings they provide. Their use eliminates the need for call centers without sacrificing good customer experience. 
Chatbots also save a significant amount of customer’s time which would otherwise be spent in navigating through the website or trying to reach a call center for getting more information. 
Another feature that can accomplish a lot is a great FAQ page. It serves to inform customers, overcome their objections, and alleviate any doubts about buying. The FAQ page can also provide additional product information and show customers the values behind a brand.  
Brands should also strive to improve their social media response time. A great example of a brand that provides fantastic customer support is Nike. Their customer support is available 24/7 and in seven languages. 

3. Build Social Ratings 

Social ratings are crucial in increasing customer trust in your brand. Nearly 70 percent of online customers look at product reviews prior to making a purchase so there’s no denying its power. 
The use of incentives such as offering promo codes or discounts in exchange for reviews can be a good tactic for new retail brands. Another way to encourage users to leave reviews is to make it as easier as possible for them. 
Brands can integrate a simple star rating function on an order confirmation page or in follow-up emails. They also need to make sure that they’ve got a visible profile on popular review sites such as Google Local, Trustpilot, and Yelp. 
Great customer satisfaction and social ratings are what helped Costco surpass Amazon in customer satisfaction survey. 

4. Have a Modern and User-Friendly Website 

For retail brands, the website is a home base where customers go to make a purchase or learn more about a particular product or service. It’s also a place for making great first impressions. 
That’s why having a modern and user-friendly website is extremely important for increasing customer trust in your brand. It needs to work on different platforms, especially mobile since the majority of online web traffic is conducted via mobile phones. 
Here are the most important UX principles for eCommerce that you should take into consideration when building a site. 
Check how we helped Rebecca Taylor – a womenswear brand from New Zealand – improve the customer experience of their website.

Conclusion 

Even the best customer strategies require time and patience to implement. The best time to start is now. Contact us and let Visionet help you implement solutions that will increase customer trust in your brand.