A lot of research has been done on what makes a website trustworthy. In this article, I have compiled a list of five proven ways to make your website the most trustworthy. Links to the relevant research are provided.
1. Design
A study from Stanford showed that a good website-design conveys credibility within the first few seconds. It is the first thing that people see and judge your website by. A website should look clean, organized and properly outlined, so make the lay-out stimulating, but soothing. If you have too much visual or textual information, people won’t know where to look; get overwhelmed and click away. Instead, information should be well-structured under headings. That way, customers can click. on what they want to know and can take the information in on their own pace.
Furthermore, the website should be visually consistent. Use similar typography; consistent color-schemes; matching pictures and a spatial lay-out. Last, make the websites design match its purpose. A website for an innovative ICT-brand can be futuristic and dark-themed, while a cakeshop might be fun and colorful.
2. Contact information
If you show the customer you’re contact information, it shows that real people are willing to help them. Make the contact-information clearly visible and provide multiple ways for them to reach you, for example through telephone; email and a contact-form. Then, it is important to be responsive to the questions your customers have.
Besides that, show your location. People tend to trust websites more if a physical location is added. It shows that a real company is behind the website. The same goes for providing your listing-details at the Chamber of Commerce.
3. Show faces
The showing of faces makes websites instantly more trustworthy, especially in a business that requires intimacy (like healthcare or selfcare). A photograph of the owner makes people more receptive to what you have to sell, as shown in this study, or in this one. A smiling, happy face has the most impact, but even an emotionless portrait makes people trust the website more than no face at all.
Even better is to have a profile of the employees. Let them write a short paragraph about themselves: what is their expertise, what did they study, but also include their hobby’s. This way, the customer feels almost acquainted with the company and their people and will want to work with you.
4. Provide links
If you provide factual statement on your website, you should show where you got the information from. Provide links, citations, references or sources. This is shown to be the second most important feature by which people judge a credibility of a website. It is not often that people will click on the links, but just by providing the links alone, your credibility goes up, as shown in this Stanford research paper. No I’m joking, it is actually this link.
5. Accurate and up-to-date content
Make sure you update your website regularly. It conveys that you are present behind the website, and that people can still contact you. If there hasn’t been any activity for years, the website feels dead. Apart from this, researched showed that if you have mistakes (like outdated information or grammatical errors), people will be way less likely to trust the website.
Conclusion:
A trustworthy website doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated. It must show, however, that there’s a real, reliable person (or team) behind it. Good design, clear contact info, visible faces, and up-to-date content go a long way. The small details, like working links and correct spelling, are also of great importance.
If your website looks cared for, structured, and personal, people will feel more at ease and more willing to get in touch. So take a moment, look at your own website through the eyes of a new visitor, and ask: “Would I trust this?” If not, you now know exactly what to improve.