After having a wide range of consumers have been scammed when shopping online, customers nowadays are more and more than ever. It’s not easy for them to place an order on a new online store they visited for the first time. They probably look at reviews from previous buyers to look for some proof that this store can be trustworthy. But what if this store is new and has no sale? Surely, customers will leave no matter how good the products are. This situation can be considered as a loop: no customer trust – no sale, no sale – no customer trust. You ask yourself: “How to create a trust with customers while my store has zero sales?”
Therefore, for a brand new store that has just been established, the most considerable obstacle must be how to create a trust with customer? As a new Shopify store owner, how would you overcome this problem?
We know it’s hard to gain trust from first-time visitors when having no previous conversion. This is a common dilemma which most start-up businesses have to encounter.
Fortunately, there are several methods for new Shopify merchants to generate trust from customers as a fresh starter in the eCommerce industry. In this blog post, you will learn 7 strategies to win customer trust and start to improve your business right away!
Table of Contents
1. Build a bridge to your customer by a brand story
One of the most gentle ways to build trust for your brand is through a brand story. A story is the most powerful tool to connect person to person, the human brain responds most with an interesting story. As a result, creating a brand story touching the soul of the customer is an effective way to get closer to your potential customer.
The most suitable place to tell your brand story definitely on the About us page. At the first visit, your visitors have no idea who you are, what your brand is about, why you want to start this business, they probably looking for this information in the About us page.
So, how to create a trust within the About us page actually?
Show the human side of your brand!
Why don’t you take this advantage to tell the story behind your product and as well as the story about you – the owner? By doing this, you’re placing the human element into your website.
Keep in mind, people tend to distrust brands as they think the ultimate goal of brands is to make money. But, we trust people. So, show the human side of your brand. Rather than focusing on your products, drive customers’ attention to you as the business owner.
If you’re selling handmade products, tell your prospects about your goal in making those stuff, why do you do that? You want to protect the environment, maybe. By doing that, your niche will feel like they are a part of your brand, and absolutely eliminate their hesitation buying from you.
Dove – convey the message of true beauty in their brand story.Dove does go beyond a brand story. Not only selling their products but they also inspire all the women in the world about true beauty, the beauty comes from inside. Visiting their website, you can feel like this is an organization for women, it operates for feminism rather than selling products. Do you see it? How to create a trust isn’t so hard, just “be human”!
2. Make sure customer information safe on your site
Another factor makes your website look trustworthy is customer information security. Recently, a big guy in social media platform – Facebook has shocked its users by involving in scandal disclosing users’ information. Facebook users are extremely angry, so do internet users. This scandal also makes online shoppers feel more insecure when filling their personal information on any online platform.
Disclosing users’ information is not how to create a trust with people. It harms your business.
Cyber secure is the top concern of the majority of online shoppers. It makes sense when the customers raise their alert before typing their credit card number in the purchase process. Therefore, make sure customer information safe is the top priority for Shopify website owner.
Generally, eCommerce merchants can use security boosting app in order to set another protection layer as well as informs the customer by presenting the Shopify security badge on your Shopify store to establish trust from the customer.
The McAfee Secure Shopify plugin not only helps shop owners secure user information but also place badges from a famous security company, which can help boost customer trust.
In addition, giving choices by offers multi-payment methods is another way to make the customer feel more convenient when buying from you. Some customers prefer using the payment method from a third party rather than the others.
Paypal is a great example of a common payment method among customers. In a study, 69% of participants said that they feel more secure when using Paypal to pay because they believe that Paypal doing well in protecting their financial information. Apart from Paypal, Shopify store owner can also offer Apple pay or Amazon pay.
3. Use FAQs to solve customer concerns
The FAQs page is really helpful when your business has just started and couldn’t create a live chat channel. Shop owners can list out the frequently asked questions about both brand and products then answer it for the customers. It is another way for your customers to get acquainted with your brand, and also make room for you to tell the brand story.
Take an example from Jonzara, they have a FAQs page has been divided into different categories that might be related to customer concern. FAQs’ main function is giving customer information about payment, delivery, product, etc. The questions are asked in the customer’s voice, and in each answer is a detailed explanation.
The FAQs can have this information:
- General information about products that your customer might be concerned about.
For example, BITE Beauty lipstick is well-known with 100% organic and edible ingredients. And the common concern about the product’s ingredients is included in FAQs part.
- Common queries about shipping and delivery fee as well as return and refund policy.
So, how to add an FAQs page to your store? There are apps that provide Shopify merchants with different ways to present a FAQs section. Some apps will charge you a monthly fee. However, at HappyPoints, we provide you with free FAQs set up. Other than that, you also have 2 more free custom task, so you can improve your store better.
4. Offer a free trial or sample
Who in this earth does not like free stuff? Giving free trial is a great chance for the customer to know more about your product quality.
At the first visit, there is no social proof or reviews about your service or products. So what can make visitors believe in your product quality? Simple, give them a try. You can see in food physical store, the seller gives the customer a piece of food to try, then she will make a decision based on her taste.
Ecommerce merchants can also apply this form into their business, but the term “try before buy” is not available for all business type. This only fits for a business who provide service. Take Netflix as an example. They give their audience a free trial in 30 days. After that, the audience can decide whether buying Netflix package or not based on their experience.
For the other ecommerce business types which selling products can be give away in a small quantity such as food or cosmetic , giving give away or free sample is a brilliant idea. This can generate interest in your product first and gradually convert users into your actual customers.
There are various ways you can give out your products for free and gain some feedback as well:
Choose a number of people who are interested in the same kind of product and ask for feedback. Then, you can display it on your site to gain customer interest and trust.
Give your new collection for Influencer, these people have influenced among a niche audience. By means of this, your products will be spread out to your target audience. Read more about influencer marketing here.
Truth be told, trust comes before sales, especially in the context of a variety of new e-commerce businesses have been established every day. The customer has a countless choice within one click.
5. Provide a clear return and refund policy
More than 90% of people interviewed in Harris Poll said that an excellent return and refund policy affects their buying decision. Therefore having an excellent return and refund policy is key to building trust with customers, hence keeping them purchase at your store.
As well as in the brick-and-mortals stores, return and refund policy is an essential part of online business. One obvious drawback of shopping online is that the buyer doesn’t have a chance to feel the product in hand. Therefore, a fair return and refund policy are appealing to visitors. A concise and clear return and refund policy is a guarantee, a certificate of the product’s function. Missing it, the consumer might have a suspicion about the quality of the product and refuse to buy it.
Now, let’s take a look at a real example of how to create a trust with customers:
A great example from Sephora – cosmetics retailer system of France. Sephora charges no fee for their return products. Customers can give items back if they are “new or gently used condition”. They also offer various return methods for shoppers to choose the most convenient one for them. Thanks to the policies, Sephora’s shoppers can feel free to purchase the product by online or in-store and give it back if they are no longer into it.
Return and refund policy should be included in the customer service part. Creating a link in FAQs back to return and refund policy page is another way to get the visitors to read more about it.
6. Present high-value information through a blog
It’s hard to create engagement with the customers when your website is brand new, right? We will show you an effective channel to attract more customers: Blog.
Having a blog does not directly affect your conversion, however, it helps you a lot in gaining trust from the visitors. And, it’s good for your content marketing strategy. Furthermore, posting valuable articles on a regular basis is essential for SEO and helps you have a high ranking on the search engine.
In addition, via the blog channel, customers are able to know the niche you are focusing on, as well as helping you build brand awareness in customer’s eyes. On the other hand, it also helps customers see that you put a lot of effort in this business both in terms of content and products.
If you don’t know how to create a trust with Blog, we suggest you start with:
- Create a post of how essential your products are and instruction on how to use it.
- Update events that your target audience will care about. For example, we have a post summary Shopify Unite 2019 to keep Shopify users up to date.
- Let the audience know about an upcoming sale so they can stock up on your goods.
- Talk about the development of the industry, so you can set yourself as an accessible source.
- Describe how your product was made. A backstage tour can be very interesting.
7. Take care of your product page
The product page is the heart of eCommerce website. This part plays an essential role in the customer’s purchase decision. All the effort you have done above will be meaningless if your product page is unreliable.
The main function of product pages is to display your products and tell customers how awesome it is, why it is important or what kind of problems it solves. Thus, a clear and precise product description will give customers a well-thorough look about your product without hold it in hand. Besides, high-quality photos are a must for keeping customer’s interest and supporting product content.
However, there are a lot more you need to know in order to make a high-convert product page.
Ultimately, how to create trust with customers?
Now, you should know how to create a trust with your customers, even your online store hasn’t had sales yet. Just keep in mind, as a fresh starter, there is no other way to avoid the situation of no sales, no social proof. Every business rises from the bottom, so do you. And, we’d love to know what strategy you applied to your store in the comment section below!
