If a consumer doesn’t trust your business, you’ll never win a sale. From small commodities to huge purchases, consumer trust is required at every sale. So the question is, does your business’s marketing build consumer trust, or does it just focus on selling? Consumer trust is the “secret sauce” for gaining more new customers, so let’s do a deep dive on it.
What is Consumer Trust?
Consumers are inherently skeptical when it comes to making purchases. And why shouldn’t they be? They are exchanging their hard earned money for some good or service.
When a consumer looks for somewhere to make a purchase, they want assurance that the vendor they select will uphold their commitments. This includes the product delivered, the price charged, the quality of the product, and more.
Think about it in your own experience shopping online. If you’ve never purchased from a particular online retailer, you are skeptical initially about whether they can deliver as advertised. Most consumers will go looking for content that eases their concern before making a purchase. Would you buy something expensive from a website that seemed like it was made in the 2000s with no quality content on it? Probably not.
Consumer trust is all about showing consumers that your business can deliver exactly what they’re looking for. So when they finally click the purchase button, make a visit to your shop, or sign a new contract, they are assured that your business will give them what they are paying for.
What makes a consumer trust a business?
Consumers want to see that your business is capable of delivering a product as advertised. So in general, a consumer is going to look for signs that your business is serious, professional, and reliable.
Some consumers may look towards customer reviews on your Google business page, Yelp, and other sources of consumer input. Some may look directly at your website to see what content you have available. Others may go to your social media pages and look through past posts.
Regardless of where the consumer is looking, they want to see consistently high quality content before they start trusting your business. What the consumer sees when they search for you should be relevant, consistent, helpful, and professional. This will ensure that the idea of purchasing from you stays plausible in their mind.
On the opposite side, imagine you’re a consumer looking at a business. You see inconsistent content that is low quality. You see some poor customer reviews. You see a mostly inactive social media page. It’s likely that you will just abandon this business and search out a more trustworthy looking business instead.
Consider the example below. If you were looking on a business’s social media page, which image would make you trust the business more? (Note, first image taken by Arwing Creative, second image created using generative AI)
For small businesses, it’s not an option to lack trust building marketing content. Your business’s marketing must build trust, or almost all potential customers will pass by your business. So let’s now figure out how to make your business look more trustworthy.
How can your business build consumer trust?
As we’ve discussed, building consumer trust means making sure a consumer sees consistent, quality material wherever it is they’re searching for your business. So, your job is to make sure that you have trust building content everywhere that you are visible to a consumer.
Business Website
First and foremost, your business’s website should be a trust building machine. From the moment a consumer enters your website, they should see content that makes them believe your business is a professional organization perfectly capable of delivering a quality product or service. Here are some ways you can ensure your website is maximizing consumer trust:
- Ensure your website has a clean, simple, and easy to navigate layout. Confusing or frustrating websites are a sign of a scam, which will quickly lose all consumer trust.
- Use high quality media throughout your website including graphics, photos, and videos. Professional production is recommended if possible, as it is a direct reflection of your business’s professionalism.
- After an initial introduction, place content on the website (text, photo, and video) that demonstrates you are an expert in your area.
- Add testimonials to the website. Consider filming some of your satisfied customers giving their description of how your business satisfied them.
- Make at least one section or page dedicated to educational content. This could be in the form of a blog (just like this one!), short videos, or whitepapers.
Review Sites
Consumers by and large rely on reviews to judge a new business. So it’s vital that you direct happy customers to leave you reviews. Many consumers are more than happy to sing praises in a review if you have provided a good product or service to them. All you need to do is politely ask!
Your Google Business profile will likely be the most viewed source of reviews, so it’s a good idea to direct happy customers there to leave a review. Make it as easy as possible for them to leave you a review by providing a direct link or QR code.
You should also consider responding to reviews where possible. It shows that your business truly cares about its customers, and also allows you to share your side when you get a bad customer review (many small business struggle with poor reviews from people who never even shopped from that business).
Social Media
Many small businesses make the mistake of using their social media for either purely selling, for entertainment, or for some combination of those two. Both have their time and place, but they don’t do much to build consumer trust. If a consumer is shopping for new furniture, and all they see on your Instagram are calls to make a purchase and people dancing around a couch, they probably won’t take your business too seriously.
Your business should use some of it’s social media space to build authority in your segment. So if your business is a gym, this would mean posting content that shows consumers some good ways to exercise or perhaps explains why certain pieces of gym equipment are better to use than others. This is your opportunity to show consumers that you are an expert in the field and should be trusted with a relevant purchase.
Another point on social media is consistency. Keeping a consistent posting schedule shows that your business is reliable and maintained well. You will want to consider planning out your social media posts 2-4 weeks in advance, and ensuring you keep consistent messaging throughout. Your business doesn’t need to post every day, but will want somewhere around 2-4 posts per week.
Some social media content should be produced professionally if possible. Pinned or featured posts are a great use of professional media on social media pages. This is a visitors first impression of your business, and it gives immediate credibility. Thinking of having some social content produced? Head to our services page to see what we can offer!
Branding
We could easily write several blog posts on branding, but we’ll keep it short and sweet here. Your business should keep consistent branding across all marketing channels. Ideally, you have a professionally developed logo with a branding/styling guide to drive consistency. If not, contact us and we can get you set up with those quickly! Use the guide to ensure all of your marketing content looks and feels cohesive. It should use the same color schemes, designs, and fonts where possible.
Think about it from your own perspective as a consumer. If you see a brick and mortar shop and then look for their online store, would you trust it if the branding didn’t look the same? Additionally, do you trust the online store if the logo and graphics look unprofessional and low quality?
Where to get started?
As with any marketing effort, it can seem overwhelming to to tackle consumer trust. Start with a simple audit of your content where you review what you have, and write down your observations. Does the content build trust? Are you missing any vital areas?
From there, you can focus on one or two things at a time to start maximizing consumer trust with your marketing. Remember, professional content will go a long way in building consumer trust, so consider getting help if you find that you need new content produced.
Lastly, always consider the consumer’s point of view. Think about what it is your target consumer is looking for, and make your content from there. Blindly making content without focusing on your audience is likely to backfire!
Want help with making trust-building content? Or perhaps you’d like a free marketing audit? Contact us today to see how Arwing Creative can help your business build more consumer trust. Our consultations are always free!