How to Build Trust for Your Online Store: A 14-Point Checklist

The online shopping concept entirely depends on trustworthiness. Buyers can’t touch or feel the products, they’re unsure about the quality and timely delivery of products, yet they provide ecommerce websites with their credit card information. How come people are putting all their trust in online stores? I’ll discuss the store trust checklist capable of helping you build a trustworthy online store. 

The Importance of Trust in Ecommerce

About 85% of online shoppers run online research before purchasing from ecommerce websites. Their salient concern is about determining the trust level of online stores in terms of legality, price points, product quality, timely shipping, privacy, and security. How do they get ideas about all these? 

They search for reviews, search engine results, and visit the ecommerce site to find out if every aspect(i.e., About, Contact, Error-free Content, Sharp Images, UI/UX Designs, Checkout Process, and more)  is well optimized for visitors. They also look for accurate product descriptions, transparent transaction methods, and crystal clear terms and conditions. So, you have to build on your customers’ trust to succeed as an online store owner. Only winning consumers’ faith won’t help much; you need to consistently maintain faithful relationships with the buyers to achieve your long-term business goals. 

How to Build Trust for Your Online Store

The chances are high that once you gain your customers’ trust, they’ll shop again and again from you. It’s always easier to make profits from returning customers than acquiring new ones. Here, we’re going to present you with an effective checklist that can help you build trust for your online shop. 

1. Beautiful Web Design 

The design of your website is the first thing visitors see when they somehow land there. This is your chance to impress them right away and create a sense of trust in their mind. Keep the navigation simple and intuitive so that they can easily find the pages they’re looking for. Keep the call-to-action buttons easily visible. And, don’t forget to implement aesthetically pleasing UI/UX designs to provide visitors with good shopping experiences. A clutter-free website with convenient navigation can win visitors’ hearts. 

2. Necessary Certifications

What if someone receives a notification from his/her browser stating that your website is not secure? This is the worst scenario for a new visitor. You can avoid this issue by using a secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate. Ensure that your website address is certified with SSL and starts with HTTPS to avoid the pop-up notification about the unsafety of your website. 

3. Optimized Product Pages

Prospective buyers will need to visit product pages to purchase their desired products. Ensure that you have accurate product information, including sizes, colors, materials, key features, specifications, and more. Use high-quality images and multimedia files to add value to the products. The sole purpose of a product page is to drive visitors to the checkout page. It would help if you integrated crystal clear CTA buttons to help them make a purchase. Update the product page content regularly to maintain relevance with trends, new prices, and occasional sales. 

4. Well-written Content

Ensure that every visible word of your website is free from spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Impeccable spelling and acceptable grammar are the two things you need to maintain throughout the entire website. A trivial error sometimes makes a big impact on visitors’ minds, and they start to doubt the competency of the people who run that website. However, other than error-free writing, you need to maintain a friendly tone and engaging language to hook your readers for more time. The longer they’ll stay on your site, the stronger their relationship with you will grow. And, this relationship ultimately results in increasing your website’s trustworthiness. 

5. Authentic Customer Reviews

Prospective customers want to hear from your existing customers. Most people conduct online research before buying a product or service. Include a review section on your website. Leverage all the user-generated content to gain customer’s trust. Your visitors are likely to turn into customers if they see people talking about the good experiences they had with you. An ecommerce website is not trustworthy if it doesn’t have a dedicated section for reviews, ratings, and other user-generated content. 

6. Mobile Responsiveness

A large number of internet users browse the internet from their mobile devices. You need to build a website that doesn’t face any design issues when opened from cell phones. Ensure that no text is truncated and no design element is missing. Keep the website as responsive as possible for mobiles and tablets, regardless of their sizes and operating systems. Without a responsive ecommerce website, you’ll miss out on a large number of customers for sure. 

7. Informative About Us Page

People want to know who they’re buying from. Every company has a story to tell with a well-thought mission and vision statements. Add all relevant information about your company and yourself to the About Us section. This will create a positive notion about your business, and potential customers may trust you after getting a brief idea about your identity. You should also add a Contact Us page filled with contact number, email address, mailing address, and social media handles.  

8. Security Badges & Logos

Security badges and secure lock icons are two important components of an online store. They persuade customers to have faith in the website and make a purchase without any doubt. Verisign, TrustE, McAfee, Norton, etc., are a few examples of security badges that can increase the trustworthiness of an ecommerce store. Moreover, you can add a ‘Secure Checkout’ button to create a sense of security. 

9. Detailed Privacy Policy

Since online shoppers need to provide their personal details and credit card or debit card information while checking out, they need to feel safe about their data security. A privacy policy states how companies get buyers’ information and how they use it for future events. You should explain every aspect of the usage of these data in your privacy policy. A well-crafted privacy policy helps greatly to build on the prospective buyers’ trust. 

10. Clear Return & Refund Policy

You’ll hardly find an online store that hasn't experienced issues related to return and refund. You must always be ready to handle such contingencies despite being cautious in the first place. Have a clearly defined return and refund policy so that there remains no scope of misunderstanding between buyers and customers. Besides, these well-stated policies show that you really care about your customers. 

11. Optimized Checkout Process

A well-optimized checkout process plays a vital role in determining the success of an online shop. Customers eventually reach a point where they think again before buying something. It would help if you asked for only the information required for a smooth checkout. Don’t ask too many personal questions as it may raise doubts in their minds. Keep as many payment methods as possible. Make sure every customer finds at least one convenient payment method for them. A secure checkout copy or logo can be very useful to gain customers’ trust and induce them to complete the transaction. 

12. Effective Customer Service

Customer service is an integral part of the ecommerce business. Your buyers may need the assistance of a company representative when they are looking for information that isn't readily available on your website. Besides, they may have questions regarding the order confirmation, shipping methods, and current status of shipped products. You must employ an effective customer service team to communicate with buyers and solve their problems promptly efficiently. 

13. Helpful FAQ Section

There are a common set of questions visitors ask when they browse ecommerce websites. You should compile relevant frequently asked questions and add them to your website’s support page. FAQ sections prove that the business owners have concerns about their customers. This also contributes to enhancing the trust level. 

14. Easy-to-find Physical Address

A physical address tells of the authenticity of a business. Many ecommerce businesses don't have a physical address, but you should have some existence outside the online world. Adding an easy-to-find physical address will help you establish the genuineness of your online store.

Royex Technologies, a leading Website, Mobile App, and E-commerce Development Company in Dubai, have certified developers who can bring reality to any of your ideas. We have experience developing over 300 projects for our clients in the GCC, including several E-commerce websites, service applications, etc. So we have the expertise perfect for your e-commerce requirements. If you need an eCommerce website with SEO optimizations, feel free to call us at +971566027916 or mail us at info@royex.net, and we can send you a proposal based on your idea.