When it comes to eCommerce websites, one of the most common reasons for a high bounce rate and low customer conversions is that your website does not appear to be trustworthy. Think about it. You may have implemented a great design, spent money and hours into building a great product portfolio, engaged in online promotion and activities but even if your website’s daily traffic stat grows, your bounce rate is sky high and your sales are low.

Believe us when we say that a big chunk of your potential customers are very much aware of online scam deals, malware or phishing activities and they will be on the look out to avoid getting ripped.

This is why we advise you to think about your website trustworthiness and the 5 ways you could make it better, as described below. eCommerce business owners often make the mistake of thinking that having a secure checkout process is all it takes to prove trustworthiness to customers. In reality, the face of a website is as much important in gaining your visitors’ trust as is the checkout and payment step.

After all, you are asking your customers for money and they won’t pay a dime if they don’t thing your website is serious about business. Would you?

What does make a customer trust you

As stated in our intro, a secure check out and payment method is core to your eCommerce, but it’s not the only criteria that influences how your customers perceive your website. According to UX Magazine’s survey* on customers and trust, consumers identify trust with:

• a company’s morality while doing business
• a product that does what it says it does
• a product and/or service that is a quality one
• information that is correct and unbiased
• a company that assures security and privacy in terms of information and customers' details
• a purchase that is successfully completed if the customer follows the steps as they are described

Makes sense, right?

While we urge you think about the 6 trust points identified by UX Mag, we also put together a 5-step guide to making your website more trustworthy as of now.

5-step guide to making your website trustworthy

Design is key to leaving a good first impression

When you walk down the streets and look at shop windows, what kind of window gets your attraction? Exactly, the one that simply looks the best and is well organized, is creatively arranged and makes you wanna go in and take a peek. The same applies to your website. You need to make the 

visitor want to browse through your website, not leave as soon as he hits homepage!

The way your website is going to look is up to you; however please make sure to:

• use a simple and user-friendly layout
• use high quality images and multimedia
• no grammar mistakes please!
• choose fonts carefully and make sure these are in accordance with what your brand wants to represent (a modern feel, a classic approach, an adventurous edgy look…)
• no caps lock overuse

Update your website regularly

Always make sure that all your website information is updated in real time. This includes product descriptions, availability, shipping info, prices, all links and images.

There is no worst thing than for a customer to click on a product which appears to be available for purchase but it’s actually out of stock. Also, having old price tags or outdated links that lead to nowhere is a sign of poor website management and lack of professionalism on your part.

Moreover, making sure that all your product pages are up to date and filled with quality information helps your search engine rankings; never forget that.

Show visitors your website is alive and kicking

A very good and effective way to show your potential customers that there is a team behind the website that works hard to keep its customers happy is to regularly feature new content on the website as well as on your social media. There is nothing as bad as having a brand’s Facebook account open just for the sake of, well, having one. If you don’t have time to engage in social media, don’t bother setting up accounts in the first place; if you do, customers will become suspicious of your reputation and how serious you are about your brand.

Even if you don’t have a whole team of employees who can help you create new social content or website multimedia, there are always quick and simple ways to show you are active and your brand is alive. Update your website colors or add appropriate icons and designs during festivities and holidays; start a blog where you feature regular product launches and news about your brand; launch competitions and giveaways which are always a great way to motivate visitors to engage with the brand.

These are just some basic ideas you can expand on by leveraging what you already have and feature on your website.

Make sure your customer can easily contact you

How much do you hate it when you need to contact someone but you can’t find the contact details or even if you do, you don’t get a reply in days?

We all think that is bad customer service and so will think your customers. Always make sure contact details are clearly in sight. Also, reply to your customers in a timely manner. If requests for information become overwhelming, invest in a freelancer or a new employee who will help you out with customer care. Such investment is no loss when it comes to granting customer satisfaction and a professional customer service.

Don’t underestimate the importance of these 5 simple actions you can take to make sure your website is up to standard. Potential customers will value your brand if you value your customers by giving them a trustworthy experience on your shopping website!

*http://uxmag.com/articles/designing-to-build-trust-the-factors-that-matter