You’ve built a beautiful online store. You’ve curated a breathtaking array of products, from clothing to accessories and home decor. Now it’s time to engage with your audience.
Like any other channel, the internet is filled with varying opinions and degrees of good and bad experiences. The only difference is that, in this case, the stakes are much higher. Your customers have a whole buying journey in front of them. To ensure their experience is as frictionless and enjoyable as possible, you must put stringent processes, policies, and procedures in place. You need to ensure that every part of their interaction with your brand is an experience that builds their trust and confidence in you.
Here are six ways your e-commerce experience can build trust with your audience.
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Personal Trusted Reviews
Honest reviews are a pillar of trust in today’s world. When a business proffers an opinion about a product or service, it provides much-needed objectivity and avoids the most common pitfalls. Most importantly, it provides the consumer with a clear indication of what they’re buying – and the trust that the reviewer had no hidden agenda.
If you’ve bought something from an online store in the past, you may have seen reviews posted by friends or families of the reviewers. While this may be a convenient way to gain trust, it’s not the most effective. There is no substitute for an independent expert with no skin in the game. In the ever-evolving world of review management, you must establish your independent reviewer base as soon as possible.
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A Known Brand With a Consistent Look and Feel
In an era of fake reviews and fraudulent behavior, a brand with a long history of successfully navigating the retail world stands out. Established in 1912, Neiman Marcus has always upheld the highest customer experience standards. One need only visit the website to see the brand’s modern-day reputation for quality.
If your product is of high quality and manufactured to the highest standards, your customers will have no choice but to trust your judgment. Create a brand manual that will guide establishing and maintaining a consistent brand experience across all your platforms.
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A Product That They Can Identify With
Products are a key part of any retail business. Your customers can identify every product on your online store – and every product they’ve previously purchased from you. This makes it easier for them to navigate your site, locate the item they’re looking for, and make a purchase. With so much unnecessary complexity removed from the conversion process, you’ll see an increase in orders and an overall improvement in brand loyalty.
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A Safe And Convenient Shopping Environment
The safest and most convenient place for your customer to purchase your product is directly from your website. Your brand’s reputation and the integrity of your business are at stake here. It’s vital that each and every aspect of the transaction process is handled safely and with the utmost security.
Establishing a safe and trusted environment is more important than ever before. In addition to avoiding fraud, you must protect your customers from Phishing emails and malware attacks. You must also put the necessary security measures to prevent information from being stolen. One of the simplest ways of doing this is through a PCI-compliant payment processor.
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A Business That They Can Trust
Your customers will have no reason to trust your business if they don’t feel they can. You establish your business’s reputation fairly quickly in your first customer interactions. However, reviewing your product, service, and their entire buying experience will be the cornerstone of their trust in you as a business.
Your customers will have different reasons for wanting to trust your business. For some, it may be because they want to protect their personal information. For others, it may be due to favorable previous experiences they’ve had with other businesses. Whatever the case may be, your job is to listen to and understand their needs and to make sure that they feel confident in their decision to do business with you. To do this, you must establish and maintain a business they can trust.
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An Exchange Of Value
With every purchase, your customer is providing you with some sort of value. This could incentivize them to purchase, get free shipping, or get a discount. When customers feel they’re getting something of value in return for their purchase, they’ll have no reason to complain. In an age when customer loyalty is at an all-time high, it’s important that you figure out what value you’re providing to your customers and if it’s something that they feel is worthwhile.
To build trust with your customers, you must provide them with a value commensurate with their commitment to your brand. Think about the value that you provide to your customers and ensure that it’s something that they feel is worthwhile.
An Overall Improvement In The Customer Experience
The last thing that any business or brand wants is a bad customer experience. When customers have a bad experience, they’ll often avoid your brand and any brands associated with it in the future. If you want to be seen as a trustworthy business that you can rely on, you must minimize the number of bad experiences your customers have. In an era of online reviews, it’s paramount that you establish and maintain a good reputation. By reducing the number of bad experiences, you’ll see a dramatic increase in customer loyalty and an overall improvement in the customer experience.
To put it mildly, the world of e-commerce is changing. The lines are blurring between online stores and brick-and-mortar retail, with more and more businesses operating solely online, including some of the most well-known brands. Whether you’re servicing customers from a single store or a global e-commerce operation, creating a good customer experience is crucial to your business’ success.
