5 Trust Signals That Turn Your Website Visitors Into Long-Term Business
In today’s world of scammers and shady businesses, trust isn’t given. It must be earned. Any prospect first coming to a website has their guard up. As they browse a site, they’re questioning everything: “25 years of experience? I bet.” “Reasonable prices? Yeah right.” “Quality results done efficiently? Sure.”
Why? Because your prospects have seen all of this before. Perhaps they falsely trusted a business, and then got burned. Their guard is up. They trust nobody.
Therefore, the job of your website is to CONVINCE the most skeptical prospect that you CAN be trusted. Here are our 5 favorite ways to earn their trust AND their business.
5-Star Reviews, Testimonials, and Case Studies
Throughout your website is tons of content about your experience, skill level, and differentiators. This content gets read with an air of skepticism. Because it’s YOU stating that you’re the best. Today, prospects and customers put far more faith into third-party claims. They want to know what OTHERS think about your business.
Reviews, testimonials, and case studies are the perfect way to show your prospects what others think of you. Lots of service businesses feature these third-party kudos. However, far too many of them do it wrong. Here are 5 tips to make your reviews and testimonials stand apart:
- Sprinkle your reviews and testimonials throughout your site. Don’t simply have a separate Reviews or Testimonials page.
- Feature as much proof as possible that your review or testimonial is genuine. Don’t simply feature a quote and add “Barbara H.” at the end. Even if it’s real, it looks fake. If you have permission, feature her first and last name, business, city and state.
- Nobody will read your long testimonial. Therefore, before the testimonial, feature a short headline that summarizes it to a t.
- For case studies, people want stories. Start with the problems your customer faced, why they chose you, what you did for them, and the end results.
- Video speaks volumes! Whenever possible, include video testimonials or case studies on your site.
Genuine Photos of Your Business, Your Team, Your Customers
Remember in the “dot com” era when every business was launching their first ever website. Long before iPhones, we used digital cameras to take embarrassingly bad pics of our team, our location, and maybe even a few of us in the field doing business. They were out-of-focus. They were dark or overexposed. They were barely usable.
Then, we discovered stock photography. Rather than rely on our amateur photography skills, we could pay a little for high quality photos. Sure, the images were better, but there was zero personalization. Images of random businesspeople that looked like models did NOTHING to earn your prospects’ trust.
Today, we’ve come full circle. Stock photography is OUT. Real, genuine imagery of your business in action is IN. Consider hiring a professional to take quality photos of your team, your location, your work trucks, your customers, and even pics of your business in action.
Suddenly, your prospects and customers see you’re a genuine business with real people and real proof. That’s trust in overdrive!
Guarantees Make It Easier for Prospects to Say “Yes!”
With today’s lack of trust, it’s more important than ever to dramatically lower the barrier of entry. Your goal with your website is to make it as easy as possible for your prospects to take the next step. Because once they do business with you, that’s when you can PROVE you are everything you say you are.
To make it braindead easy for them to say “Yes,” feature a guarantee on your service. Rather than a bland “We guarantee it” that everyone uses, give your guarantee some teeth. Here are a couple of examples:
“We guarantee you’ll love your lawn or your money back.”
“Our tax prep service will lower your tax bill or we will pay you $100.”
Remember, you’re trying to convince someone why they should do business with you and not your competitors. A strong and specific guarantee does just that by building trust.
Promote Your Differentiators
While there are probably at least a dozen businesses in your city that do what you do, you are NOT a commodity. There should be many reasons why prospects choose to do business with you rather than with your competitors. Show those off throughout your website.
Among the differentiators you should highlight, include:
- Your results — Feature the before and after projects you’re most proud of.
- Your experience — Share how many years you have in the trenches and the different industries you service.
- Your response time — How quickly you answer your phone, return emails, submit a quote
- Your licenses and training — While lots of people can cut grass, pressure wash houses, or build a shed, your training and the licenses you hold make a difference.
- Your culture, mission, and philosophy — On your “About Us” page, share your origin story and what truly sets your business apart.
By knowing more about your business, your people, and how you can make a difference, you’re building trust.
Prove You’re Local and Love Your Community
People today want to do business with other people. With neighbors. With friends. With family even. Gone are the days where we settle for billion dollar corporations who treat us like a number.
Throughout your site, prove that you know and care about your community. Do this by featuring local projects or people you’ve helped. Share your story about how you grew up in the area, went to the local high school, and have been servicing the area for years. By showing that you’re a “hometown friend,” your trust quotient increases tenfold.
By Teaming with Spartan Digital, Your Website Becomes a Beacon of Trust
Any digital marketing agency can build a website that looks and functions great. But looking great is simply one goal of your website. The ultimate goals are to get your prospects’ attention; get them engaged; establish your credibility and trustworthiness; generate interest and leads; and ultimately to convert into sales and long-term customers.
Sure, Spartan Digital Solutions employs superstar graphic designers, amazing web developers, and world-class copywriters. Beyond that, our team knows just what your service business needs to ATTRACT prospects and CONVERT them to clients and customers.
Whether you want a “website refresh” or an entirely new website, consider Spartan Digital. Book a free, no-obligation website consultation. Together we’ll discuss how we can grow your business.