Before buying a product or service, one of the things you might likely do is to go online and read reviews from other customers with regards to the company you are about to patronize. This will help you build trust with the brand. Look out for the following points in this article, 10 Effective ways to Earn Customers Trust:
- Be Transparent
- Delivering Value
- Publish Customer Reviews and Testimonials
- Improve your security
- Offer Excellent Customer Service
- Create a Loyalty Program
- Always be available
- Ask for Feedback
- Be a Professional
- Always Put Your Customers First
The same can be said about your customers, before coming to your business they have tried to find a way to trust your brand. They usually do this by reading online reviews, researching the company’s history and experience and asking questions about the product. There objective is to find out whether your brand is trustworthy.
Trust is key if you want to establish professional relationships and increase conversions. Going further to attest this, a survey on PWC shows that 1 in 3 consumers ranked “trust in brand” as among their top three reasons that influence their decision to shop at a particular retailer.
Merely mentioning it, some business might not see the importance of trust, or they feel that building trust should not be that difficult. But the problem is, trust can’t be established quickly or through gimmicks; companies that have lost consumer trust know this all too well.
As they try to repair their image, they realize that a handful of advertisements can’t undo the negative associations in people’s minds. Trust can’t be forced down people’s throats, and it can’t be tricked out of people.
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If you cannot force trust down your customers throats, it only means that you have to build it Naturally. The good news is that this article is geared at helping you build that trust naturally. Below are some tips that can assist you in doing that effectively.
Be Transparent
If you want your customers to trust you, you need to be deserving of their trust. That means being honest and transparent about what they can expect from your company.
And this should start right from their first interaction with your brand. Avoid misleading sales copy and gimmicky marketing campaigns, and don’t attempt to grab your audience’s attention with exaggerated claims about your products or services.
Instead, aim to be as clear as possible about what you have to offer, and establish accurate customer expectations from the start.
Reaching this goal also requires the involvement of your sales team. They should be straightforward with pricing information, fees, and any policies that may impact prospective buyers in the future, like return and cancellation procedures.
Essentially, every customer should know exactly what to expect before signing a contract or placing an order. And while sharing certain pieces of information may dissuade a lead or two from converting, that’s okay.
When it comes down to it, making sure that all of your customers are satisfied with their experience is much more important than generating as many sales as possible.
After all, customers that are caught off guard a few months into their relationship with your brand are highly unlikely to stick around. But those who are given all of the information they need to make an informed decision will be appreciative of that fact — and will know that they can trust your team.
Delivering Value
Another way to earning customer’s trust and confidence is when you deliver value to customers. You have to deliver value repeatedly and at every opportunity. It is not one action that does it, it is a million little things and it starts in the very first encounter.
One thing I can boast of about my agency is that we don’t work with too many clients. Instead of fighting to acquire new client, we make sure the ones we get come back for more transactions and it has been working for us so well.
Now, how are we able to do that?
By delivering consistent value.
Whether you are a freelance writer, business coach, information marketer or whatever business you do, always be delivering value to your customers either through your products or services irrespective of the dollar price on top of the transaction.
I don’t deliver value based on the price I get from client. I deliver the same value to every of my clients because it is cheaper to maintain your old client than to go acquire new ones. Take it to the bank
Publish Customer Reviews and Testimonials
No matter how trustworthy your brand, consumers will almost always trust other consumers more than companies. That’s because they know that no matter how unbiased you may try to be, you’re ultimately going to position your brand in a positive light.
But you can use your audience’s trust of other customers to your advantage by publishing reviews and testimonials on your site.
If you run an e-commerce store, for example, encourage your customers to leave reviews and add those reviews to product pages.
If you run a service-based business, on the other hand, ask your current and past clients if they’d be willing to share their experiences with your company. Then, use their responses to create a testimonials page.
Regardless of the exact approach you take, hearing from other consumers will make prospective buyers more comfortable giving your business a chance — and will help them trust your brand right from the start.
Improve your security
Make sure your customers feel safe when they shop with you. Even if you aren’t selling your products through an ecommerce platform, customers will still be visiting your website, and the amount of safety they feel while there can play a significant role in how much they trust your brand.
For example, if you spam them with advertising or maintain a checkout process that is clunky and hard to follow, customers may suspect that your platform is unsafe. So, beef up your security with basic SSL protection; use trusted payment options; and display your trust badges proudly — trust seals are the single greatest on-site factor that increases consumer trust.
Offer Excellent Customer Service
The level of customer service you provide has a major impact on customer loyalty and retention. This means it’s absolutely essential to have dedicated support staff and to set high standards for the speed and quality of your service.
Once you’ve hired and trained a team of support agents, you need to make it easy for your customers to get in touch. Offer multiple support channels, and feature those channels prominently on your site.
Then, as customers reach out with questions and issues, make sure to be consistent with your responses. Create a set of guidelines for your agents that outlines appropriate answers for more common inquiries, and ensure that they have the tools they need to find solutions to more complex ones.
Of course, that’s not to say that you should take a one-size-fits-all approach to serve your customers. Encourage your agents to see these responses as the basic framework for their interactions, but to treat each customer as the individual they are.
After all, it’s hard to earn trust and loyalty when your customers feel like they’re being treated like numbers. Instead, your goal should be to offer an efficient, consistent service with a personal touch.
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Train your agents to deliver the information each customer needs, then take the time to make sure that the customer’s needs have been met. And if there’s an opportunity to above and beyond — take it.
A few extra seconds of effort can be all it takes to make a customer’s day. And that can go a long way in establishing the kinds of relationships you want for your brand.
Create a Loyalty Program
This may seem like an obvious suggestion, but creating a loyalty program is one of the best ways to earn customer loyalty. In fact, 76% of North American consumers say they’re more likely to choose retailers that offer loyalty programs3.
The reasoning behind this is clear. When you offer rewards for repeat purchases, you give your customers a clear incentive to stick with your brand instead of switching to one of your competitors.
And this is a strategy that can be adjusted for any industry and business model. While discounts are the most popular form of reward, the possibilities are endless.
E-commerce retailers, for example, often offer free bonus items to frequent shoppers, along with early access to certain sales and promotions.
B2B companies, on the other hand, can offer perks like exclusive content, and invitations to webinars and in-person events.
Regardless of the exact approach you take, the goal is to make it more advantageous for your customers to continue buying from you than to test out their other options. And the more you cater to their needs, the more effective you’ll be in getting them to stick around.
Always be available
Along those same lines, it’s vital that your brand always be available, in some way, for the people who need it. On landing pages, including a phone number or an instant chat box can instantly increase your conversion rate. Why? Because people feel comforted knowing they can talk with someone at any time they choose.
Make sure your customers have multiple lines of contact for you at all times — and if you have a dedicated account representative, give your clients that person’s cell phone number in case of an emergency.
Building trust won’t come quickly, and won’t always be straightforward, but these seven strategies can get you headed in the right direction. From there, your most powerful strategy will be consistency.
The more consistent you are with your brand personality, your customer service and your basic products and services, the more loyal your existing customers will be and the stronger your reputation will grow.
Ask for Feedback
Customers want to know that the brands they purchase from care about their opinions and needs. And the best way to show that you do is to ask for feedback and input regularly.
Send surveys on a regular basis and ask your customers to share their opinions. Have your products lived up to their expectations? Are they able to get the support they need when they have questions? Are they satisfied with their overall experience with your company?
Most importantly, your surveys should include an area in which customers can provide suggestions as to what you could be doing better.
Then, as you review the responses, look for opportunities to improve. When you use feedback to make real changes, you not only show your customers that you value their input, but can also make the kind of adjustments that have a positive impact on your entire customer base.
Be a Professional
Being yourself doesn’t mean you should be or remain a novice at what you do. Be a professional. Why do you think I am a sought after freelance content writer? Because I am good at what I do when I want to do it.
Customers tend to trust individuals who are serious about what they do. It was after a client preach to me about the important of creating SEO friendly content that I went further to study in details how to create SEO friendly article that I was able to confidently increase my writing fee.
Now, I can boast of creating SEO friendly content for clients and I keep to it and they like me for that.
Always Put Your Customers First
When it comes down to it, your ability to earn customer trust depends on your ability to reliably give your customers what they want. And one of the best ways to do this is to build a company-wide customer-centric culture.
Within some companies, the only employees that really focus on customer needs are customer service and support staff. And this is far from ideal.
Instead, it’s in your best interest to encourage all of your employees to think about your customers, and how they can work to make a positive impact on those customers in their own role.
When each of your teams is encouraged to consider how the decisions they make impact your customers, they’ll be much more likely to make the kinds of decisions your customers want.
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This focus makes building trust much easier — because when your products and services reflect a focus on customer needs, it’s not hard to convince your audience that you care.
Conclusion
Trust and loyalty are the building blocks of a strong customer base. They’re essential for earning long-term customers and can make all the difference in your company’s success.
And earning customer trust doesn’t require any sort of complex strategy. The best step you can take is to offer excellent customer service, and make sure that your support team knows the importance of their roles.
From there, be as transparent and honest with your customers as possible at every stage of the buying process, and ask for their feedback on a regular basis.
You can also give customers an unbiased look at your brand by sharing customer reviews and testimonials, and give them an incentive to remain with your brand by creating a compelling loyalty program.
Essentially, the goal is to put your customers first and to make sure that those customers know they’re your top priority. When you accomplish this goal, you can be confident that customer trust and loyalty will follow closely behind.
