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How to build trust online? 5 tactics to grow your business online

Dec 17, 2019 | Insights

Having an impact (and payback) in the digital world is not easy. As human beings, we respond better to human interactions than to technological interactions. Get to know some practices that can really help your business grow digitally.

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We are human beings. We all have a journey, a beginning, a motivation, a problem for which we search for the solution. In this matter, as vulnerable human beings, we need to feel safe. We need to establish relations of trust with the people and businesses to whom we interact the most. Trust is vital to any long-lasting and healthy relationship. It is like that with social relations (personal or professional) either they happen online or offline.

It is certain that, online, we are behind a screen, but that doesn’t mean we stop existing as human beings. On the contrary, behind the screen – as buyers – we need to have trust in what the computer or phone screen presents us. That is, nowadays – crucial for a company or business to thrive in the digital sphere.

But what is necessary to obtain this so wanted online confidence?

We present you with 5 key subjects that will make your business perceived as reliable and, consequently, close the deal.

1- Having a real and empathetic story

As human beings, we all have a history. The same happens for our companies and businesses. Every establishment, platform, company or entity started for some reason. In this regard, if we look closely we will understand that there’s a story behind every business and it is always connected to people and to their real problems. The brand Hiut Denim, for example, showed up – among others – with the purpose of reintroducing the textile industry to a community that, in the past, was the production scene of many well-known brands.

Knowing how to tell the story of a company or product is a great first step to generate trust amongst your potential clients. Especially in the digital sphere, in which they are exposed to ten thousands of similar businesses and products.

The key is knowing how to tell your story in a differentiating way. And knowing the community for whom you’re communicating to can really help you to do it – if through a video, a closer communication on social media, texts on a blog page, or others.

And this leads us to a second topic, referentiation. 

 

2 – Referentiation, which is like saying, the mouth to mouth

Many times – much more than what we expected – our clients tell us that their main source of new clients are references. This means they have satisfied customers bringing new customers. On one hand, this is the foolproof and perfect recipe for a business but, on the other hand, it takes too long.

While a client experiment, tests and approves, and says it to a friend, weeks or months can go by. What, in fact, is not very motivating for those who want to see the business prosper as quickly as possible. Besides, there is another issue: the reference net can run out when there are no more friends to advise.

However, even if the mouth to mouth works by phases, a business will always need digital support. In this way the potential client can have, apart from the reference, a place where he can see it with its own eyes. We’re talking about online presence, which takes us to our following topic: digital marketing.

 

3 – Digital Marketing

Online presence has a surname: digital marketing. Because of that, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Nowadays – and thankfully – there is a concept that means, basically, to marketize using the internet. Now, the best part is that in just one day a small store (online) can have thousands of visits, and attract new customers. Something that would be impossible to achieve at a small physical store and, if everything goes as planned, that facilitates a lot when it comes to selling products or services. Obviously there are tools and different ways to reach the goals of a business through digital marketing. But we cannot forget that there’s always one – or more – people behind a digital marketing campaign.

 

4 – (Low) Conversion Rate

Everything looks perfect until here but isn’t. “Digital” has a problem: a low conversion rate. This means we can have thousands of visitors in a short time frame but have zero sales. This is a phenomenon that everyone knows that exists and that everyone knows it will happen to a greater or lesser extent. But in fact, all web marketeers would like to reduce it to more acceptable levels.

But why is it the conversion rate so low? How to reverse this?

 

5 – Online trust

This is the foundation of any relationship, as we said previously. It is necessary to assume that as vulnerable and imperfect beings, we are suspicious and we don’t easily give opportunities to everyone. We are conscient that none of this is fair, but certainly, someone already saved us a lot of times before we were mistaken.

Naturally,  there are two sides of the coin: on one side, being suspicious can save our lives but, on the other, it can make us lose big opportunities.

Online, trust can be conveyed through a well-constructed website, a logo that generates empathy, or a well cared and simple image. 

We don’t want to be psychologists, but to generate trust, in the first impact, two things are necessary: time and empathy.

  • Time

It is said that we need to be in contact 7 times with a brand in order for it to become familiar. Which is the same as saying: trustworthy.

In real life, all of us need time to meet someone: a talk today, a coffee tomorrow, maybe lunch afterward, and another talk. The sum of all the interactions is a key ingredient to build a relationship. And, that is why time is a good ally.

Digitally, this can mean building a healthy relationship with your website visitors through a close language. Or even through a regular presence on social channels, for example.

  • Human empathy

No, we are not confused. It is possible to generate empathy online, even through a screen. But let’s go back to the basics: human empathy is essential to feel connected to an idea, opinion, work or emotion that other person expresses. Like that, a sense of empathy is created when someone we don’t know transmits us something we can relate to. And that also builds trust.

But how to generate trust through digital?

People are going to visit our website one single time and, because of it, we don’t have time to establish a connection with them. Especially because that visit will be quick and superficial. Relevant content, a familiar and close language, digital marketing techniques or newsletters can minimize this problem, but not completely. It is necessary for the human dimension that provides empathy. And that is achieved through a good content strategy aiming to strengthen the emotional side of the brand, thus generating, in the long term, empathy with the online audience. 

And how can our website or our content be more reliable?

The video

Digital brought us smartphones with photographic cameras and camcorders without any cassettes. So, a more democratic access to the video and multimedia content creation. This media is, effectively, growing and will continue to, but not just because it is easier to consume:

Movies imitate reality and our brain believes it: we hear the voices, see the eyes and feel the emotions of whoever is on screen. It is a fact.

Movies can provide the two main ingredients that make a relationship of trust and that we’ve spoken about above: time and empathy.

  • Time: static images are seen “running” at scroll speed. Videos, contrarily, are seen longer, generally, what gives time to build a relationship;
  • Empathy: in videos it is possible to show a human side, allowing, with greater probability, an affinity to occur on the side of the viewer. The voice, the words and the image itself of the person showing up on the screen generates an immediate empathy.

In short: use more videos on your company’s website, on Facebook, on landing pages, and on institutional presentations. Preferably humanized. With that, you will obtain more engagement, which is the same as saying content interaction. If you wish to increase sales, boost ROI (return on investment), improve the quality of your leads, think about using video as a humanization and empathy creation tool. It will consequently, generate online trust.

 

If you know any brand or business that needs to generate online trust, 67 can give you a hand:

  • Strategic consulting – to help you identify the right steps to give accordingly to your goals and needs;
  • Branding – building the brand and its communication materials;
  • Promoting the brand itself through marketing and advertising.

 

Write to us at info@67.pt or contact us through the phone: +351 223 170 101.

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