10 Ways to Build Trust on your Online Store

With so many e-commerce stores to choose from, it’s important for your customers to trust your business in order to increase your conversion rates & grow your online store. Without trust, they will go to another website that they trust that sells similar products as you, to feel more at ease. Here are 10 tips for building trust with your online store!

Building Trust = Increases Conversions

Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links. If you go through them to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I only share about companies that I truly believe in and use myself! For my details on affiliate links, please visit my terms of use.

1. Offer Great Incentives

Consumers have many e-commerce websites available for them to purchase a similar product that you sell, which means they will shop around for the best deal possible. You have to tell them what you can offer to them that will make them want to purchase from your company!

How you present shipping & return policies will affect your customer’s decision to buy. People would prefer to see “Free Shipping over $80” versus seeing a $75 product with $5 shipping. Same price, but less enticing!

Here are some great incentives ideas:

• Free Shipping – This is the incentive people look for the most!
• Expedited Shipping – Offering a speedy delivery is a great option
• Free Gift With Purchase – Makes them feel valued
• Money-Back Guarantee – You’re basically telling them you know they’ll love your product so you have no problem guaranteeing money-back.
• Discount for Next Purchase – This is great to add as an automatic email after every customer purchases! You should always reward your customers and make them feel appreciated.
• Free Loyalty Program – I’ve joined many loyalty programs, and I’m most likely to purchase from that company again! Provide them points for the amount of money they spend or for doing tasks, and they will feel determined to reach that first milestone. It’s an exciting and fun way to get return customers.

2. Shoot Lifestyle Photos

Show your product in action! Rather than just using the product photos, show someone using the product to entice customers. Using pictures of people can help establish a human connection with your product. Help them envision their life with your products and how they can help them.

I have been on many e-commerce websites where I only see product images or flat lay photos. I don’t build a true connection with these types of images and have been more enticed to buy when I see lifestyle photos. Invest in a photoshoot, it’s an amazing return in investment for your business.

Here are great examples of lifestyle photos! If your product is one to be applied (makeup, skincare, etc) then show a person physically applying it. If your product is for a certain activity or purpose, show it in that environment on your online store.

3. Have Secure Checkout

When a consumer is ready to buy, security is a major concern that might affect their decision.

• Ensure you are using a trusted & secured third-party payment provider
• Use recognized payment brands like Paypal or Amazon Pay. I typically recommend having your main payment provider (Shopify Payments or Stripe) and then allowing the option to pay through Paypal if this is something the customer feels most comfortable doing. Consumers will not want to submit their personal banking information if it doesn’t look like a reliable payment provider.
• Show trust seals or provide a description that all transactions are secure at checkout.

4. Protect your Visitor’s Data

It’s very important to stay on top of legal requirements for websites! You may lose leads/sales because they cannot trust your business/website to move forward on making a purchase decision.

GET AN SSL CERTIFICATE – Having an SSL certificate protects your visitors from having their information stolen, like credit card information, login information, personal identification, etc. Most browsers will block you from viewing the website and will ask for your consent to proceed. If your visitors click on your domain and gets a warning page right away, this is not a good first impression! I recommend checking to see if HTTPS is at the front of your domain, and there is a lock beside your domain (on Google Chrome), stating that your website is secure. Having HTTPS not only helps Google and other search engines to find you credible but also makes your site load faster. Therefore, SSL will reassure your visitors that they can safely do business with you through your website.

PRIVACY POLICY – Want to read more about why you need one? Read this blog post, I’ve written all about it! Privacy Policies explains the personal information you collect from visitors and what you do with that data. Since you’re collecting visitor data on your website (through payment processors, contact forms, email marketing signup), you must disclose this on your website. Visitors take their privacy seriously and sometimes want to know how you’re using it. It is illegal not to disclose this information.

5. Easy to Use Navigation

Make it as easy as possible for visitors to find the products they’re looking for. Mega menus are a great idea! Keep the actual menu simple but allow them to navigate further if needed. Too many links on the main menu tend to overwhelm. The mega menu below was designed for a client of mine! This allows people to shop by subcategories if needed but keeping the navigation simple and clean.

6. Live Chat & 1:1 Support

Providing 1:1 customer support on live chat and providing great customer service will make your visitors feel more at ease before purchasing. There are many scam e-commerce stores out there and it’s hard for people to know if they’re buying from a legitimate website/person!

The live chat app & company I recommend is Chatra. You can also use a Facebook Messenger widget for customers to message you directly from your website!

7. Have a Stunning & Updated Design

Many online stores will sell similar products as yours. So how do you stand out from this crazy e-commerce industry? A stunning design. If your website is outdated or has a poor user experience, they will purchase from a website that is nicer and more updated.

An outdated and unattractive website can make your business look unprofessional to modern visitors. I recommend getting an updated design around every five years, to keep up with the contemporary look of new sites. If your site looks like it’s from the early 2000s compared to your competitors’ new stylish website, they will most likely decide to spend their money elsewhere. It’s similar to a storefront by making sure the store looks clean and on-trend with other stores in order to gain sales. If you have a disorganized website with a variety of different fonts, and colours that don’t look cohesive together, visitors will find it confusing on your brands’ message. 

8. Promote Media Mentions

Have you been featured in an awesome publication, magazine or website that is worth promoting? It’s an amazing way to show social proof if you’ve been featured by top publications that people recognize. Show a logo list of publications you’ve been featured in on your online store home page! This will make consumers know you’re a reliable company right away.

9. Feature Positive & Negative Reviews

Reviews help build credibility. Most people won’t purchase a product until they’ve seen real reviews from past customers. Feature both negative and positive reviews! Consumers will find your business more authentic and trustworthy. Deleting negative reviews is never good for business. People will notice this – and will call you out on it.

10. Send Personalized Emails

Rather than sending the generic email that everyone gets when placing an order, give it some love! The best Shopify app for your online store that I recommend is Orderly Emails. It allows you to send a customizable order confirmation, shipping and abandoned cart emails to match your branding and style. You can include product recommendations that the customer might like, discounts, and more! This will leave a better first impression for first-time customers, compared to the generic order email that every Shopify website owner is provided with.

For ongoing email marketing, I recommend Flodesk all the way! You can choose from a variety of premade templates that are modern and trendy. With Flodesk, you pay one price, no matter the number of subscribers you get (unlike some other email marketing platforms). The best part, you can get 50% for life using my affiliate link right here! Flodesk usually is $38/month. However, you can sign up for only $19/month and pay this price forever (yep that’s right, not just one month of a discounted price)

Trust = More Sales

Once you’ve built trust with your online store, you can sit back & watch those sales come in! All of these steps will help your conversion rate, and make your customers feel more at ease when returning to your website for more.

Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links. If you go through them to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I only share about companies that I truly believe in and use myself! For my details on affiliate links, please visit my terms of use.