Before you can start to make significant sales — or any sales in some cases — you need to have a customer base that trusts you enough to spend their money with you. You need, therefore, to send out positive messages and to show there is a reason for those potential customers to put their faith in you. There are several ways to do this, and we’ve listed out some of them below.
Better Security
Everyone is aware of the potential issues present when buying online. Even buying face to face can have its problems. Security is something that needs to be taken very seriously, especially if you want to have a loyal customer base who not only buys from you, but who also leave positive reviews and tell others about the great experience they had with your business.
To do this, you need to prove that you are taking their security and the security of your business seriously. You can use SSL protection on your website which will certainly help when it comes to making online sales, and you can display the badge to prove this. You can also only use completely trusted payment options like PayPal with its own inbuilt security systems. Never ask for a bank transfer as this will be viewed with suspicion.
Be Contactable
If no one can get in touch with you, there is going to be an issue around trust. Whether it is to ask a simple question or for something more serious, a customer will feel much more trusting of you if they can speak to you. This might be face to face, through email or social media, or on the telephone. Depending on the nature of your business, some of these options might be easier to put in place than others.
In order to be contactable, you should, at the very least, have a professional email address — ideally one that links to your website URL. These are relatively inexpensive, and you can set one up when you create your website. You should also have a landline telephone number. Again, these are simple to set up especially if you use a VOIP system. There are a number of different setups to choose from, and grasshopper features are some of the best.
Be on Social Media
If you have a social media account (or maybe even more than one account) and you are active online, you can quickly and easily build your brand’s visibility and instil trust in your customers. The more followers you have, the better, but even if you only have a small amount, it’s still a good idea to be as active as you can — posting something every day if possible. The more you post, the more people will see not only what you do, but that you care enough to give them the information they are looking for.
Social media offers an extremely flexible way of connecting with your customers and giving them a more personal overview of your business, which is a great way to build trust. You can even do this for free, although there are options to pay if you want to grow your social media following more quickly.
