Does your website create brand trust?

Does your website create brand trust?

Whether you are B2B or B2C organisation, your website may be the first window of opportunity for people to glimpse into and explore your business. Therefore, it is essential to maintain interest. Does your website create brand trust? You have 7 seconds to make a first impression. Does your website create brand trust? Stick with us as we explore marketing segmentation, website design, live chat and more. 

First impressions count

You’ve only seven seconds to make that vital first impression (Cotlier, 2001). In general, these days, people are being bombarded with confusing, conflicting and complex information, so it is essential to make sure your website stands out for the right reasons. 

Research reveals that errors, incompleteness, and poor style on your website affect users perceived quality of you and your organisation (Source: Everard A, Galletta D, 2003). 

• Poor style includes includes loud or noisy backgrounds which fight against body text making your website difficult to read. Of course, this may negatively affect user accessibility. Poor spacing between words and lines can also create a barrier to an enhanced user experience, breaking brand trust.
• Incompleteness includes structural issues such as Error 404 pages which will also damage your Google listing. If you have pages which are under construction, this can also damage trust in your brand. 
• Flaws include errors such as spelling errors, punctuation and grammar. Remember to get your facts right because exaggerations and lies also damage brand trust. “spelling errors distract users and make them suspect a generally poor quality” of a system (Source: Molich, Nielsen, 1990, p.344).

Research indicates that people tend to remember flaws more than a neutral experience because flaws have a higher novelty value. All of this negatively affects User Experience (UX) and brand trust.

Is your website relevant to your audience?

If your website is not relevant, people will search else where. Marketing segmentation is key to target the best customers which fit with your core competencies; this also reduces the risk of your website becoming bland. For example, There are many different ways to segment your market, customer behaviour and customer needs are the most effective. To successfully segment your audience based on customer behaviour, it is essential to research your customers so you understanding their needs, rather than guessing what you think they want. This information should form the basis of your integrated marketing plan. 

Live chat can enhance brand trust

If you have an e-commerce website, many of the actions you are asking your clients to perform involve confidential and financial transactions. Therefore, any flaws will prevent trust and instead create a barrier to potential customers wanting to shop on your website.

Many shopping carts are abandoned through mistrust or a potential customers becoming distracted when they can’t find what they want. Therefore, it is worth considering the inclusion of a live chat facility. “Many online consumers want help from a live person while they are shopping online; in fact, 44% of online consumers say that having questions answered by a live person while in the middle of an online purchase is one of the most important features a Web site can offer.” (Forrester) 

Website design to enhance trust in your brand

The key to obtaining trust is to create a space where prospects feel safe to shop with you. Apart from the colours, tones, word of mouth, there are many other basic points to consider. It is important to have the right style of website to appeal to your chosen target market. This branding tool will help you to think about who your are targeting your website at. 

If your website was built in 2014 or earlier, there is a good chance that it is not responsive or mobile friendly. This means that your website may not be found so easily on Google because it will lose Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) points. Also it may not have SSL installed where it is hosted and this will show on the URL bar as an ‘untrusted’ site which once again damages trust in your brand. 

Contact The Brand Surgery® today for further information. We would love to hear from you. Either call 07909 693172 or use the contact form below. 

References

• Everard A, Galletta D (2003),  Effect of Presentation Flaws on Users’ Perception of Quality of On-Line Stores’ Web Sites: Is it Perception that Really Counts?, Proceedings of the Second Annual Workshop on HCI Research in MIS, Seattle, WA, December 12-13, 2003
• Forester, Making Proactive Chat Work, [cited: 22/8/18, www.forrester.com]
• Fiske, S.T. (1980), “Attention and weight in person perception: The impact of negative and extreme behavior,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 38, 889-906.

Contact us today if you would like help strengthening your brand.