We would caution against implementing any of the aforementioned suggestions without measuring their impact on visitors. Ultimately, every website activity, change, or enhancement should directly impact the goals of the site, the strongest of which is to increase the bottom line. Blindly adding elements that you may think will enhance trust and build more confidence in your users is not enough. Remember, customer-driven changes should influence decisions.
Social proof is very often abused, as witnessed in the Dr. Oz debacle that occurred in 2009. The name of this well-known celebrity was being plastered all over weight-loss products because he had endorsed a specific ingredient that these products were using. The offending companies were using social proof, Dr. Oz’s endorsement, to enhance trust in users and motivate them to purchase. Dr. Oz and Oprah ended up suing these companies over their claims.
The new age of digital photo editing and enhancement makes it even easier to plaster faces of celebrities on websites to try to promote and endorse products. Many times, these types of hoax companies get away with this practice since their products are not so popular, and it’s virtually impossible to monitor all activities over the Internet.
Memberships and affiliations with professional organizations can improve the odds that visitors will trust you. Similarly, many ecommerce companies use services to ensure the security of their websites and their compliance with Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards. These services scan websites on a regular basis to ensure that all transactions will be safe and secure. Using a well-named security service brings comfort to your visitors. Adding these security icons and seals has resulted in large increases in conversions for some of our clients.
It’s important to realize that you should not expect your visitors to do the digging and make sure you are a legitimate business. You can’t expect them to look up the various memberships and professional affiliations you have with different organizations. You can’t expect much from them because they have come with a purpose, and if you do not do all you can to address all of their concerns and remove anything that blocks their path, you will lose them as potential customers or clients.
It’s key to realize that not all memberships will resonate well with users. Some of your customers may appreciate your affiliation with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), whereas others will associate this affiliation with a small business and would not want to work with your company as a result.