Is Your Small Business Website Trustworthy?

On Trust and Credibility
Have you ever googled for a specific product or service, found exactly what you were looking for, but made the purchase from another site which seemed more trustworthy? I know I have. Sometimes I, for better or worse, simply didn’t find a site’s navigation clean and intuitive. Other times I wondered how my credit card information would be processed. Does the company store my credit card information and if so, is it encrypted and secure from employee theft?

In most cases, this assessment was quick and more reactionary then reflective. It either looks and feels right or it doesn’t. Building trust is critical to a small business that targets the long tail through search engine and other online marketing tactics. First impressions matter (hackneyed but true).

So What Are the Determinants of Trust?
According to e-Trust, Empirical Insights into Influential Antecedent, a 2007 paper published in The Marketing Management Journal, there are three determinants of trust: (1) Information Provided by the Website, (2) Website Experience, (3) Data Security.

Information Provided by the Website
I tend to believe that buyers are, even in the most complex of sales cycles, capable of cogent evaluation. From a potential buyer’s perspective then, a trustworthy website is one that cleanly presents and makes accessible all the information needed to make a purchasing decision. That also means addressing any questions or concerns a buyer might have upfront. As Kristen Zhivago states in her book, Rivers of Revenue:

Buyer Desire is the buyer’s attraction to your product. Buyer Scrutiny is all about the flinty-eyed examination your product will be subjected to by the prospective buyer. Your job is to be fully prepared for the buyer’s scrutiny and to satisfactorily answer all of the buyer’s questions.

Trust can therefore be elicited by designing marketing materials with transparency in mind. So look at your own website and ask - “If I came to this site and thought of buying something, what questions would I have and where could I find answers to those questions before I initiated a transaction?” While I like to think siphs.com is perfect, there are bound to be things Tom and I inadvertently omitted, so do let us know what we missed!

Website Experience
The paper’s authors, Ramendra Thakur and John H. Summey, state that Website Experience goes well beyond navigation and design. Website Experience is about branding, about “the total customer experience encompassing every stop from discovery to fulfillment and post purchase service.” Every touch point with a potential or existing customer is an opportunity to build trust through carefully crafted positive experiences. So everything, advertisements, links, blog posts, content, presentation has to be scrutinized for consistency and professionalism. “A well-constructed site [with valuable and memorable information I add] is remembered, enjoyed, and talked about… The more positive memorable experiences an individual has with a website” the more trustworthy the website becomes.

Data Security
Every website user is of course, concerned with the security and use of their personal information. No one wants to be spammed, to have their email address stolen, to have their passwords shared and easily accessibly by company employees, or to have to worry about whether their credit card information is secure. Take siphs.com for example. Part of our reason for using PayPal was to eliminate the perceived risks associated with our handling of sensitive credit card information. As a new, unknown entity, using PayPal helped, in a sense, legitimize our business and appease the end user. Frankly, I am personally more likely to order something online if I can make the purchase through PayPal or through Amazon’s credit card processing system.

Which Determinant Is Most Important?
Thakur and Summey’s research suggests that “Information Provide by the Website” is the most important trust generating element. Their results indicate that it is far more relevant, surprisingly enough, than the security and privacy of personal information. From a practical perspective, this means that blogging, that providing transparency about a product or service, and that highlighting testimonials are paramount to web based businesses. So install the latest version of Wordpress and start writing!

April 22, 2008 |

Is Your Small Business Website Trustworthy?

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