8 Proven Ways Your Business Can Build Trust and Credibility Online

Customers are unlikely to shop with your business if your website looks unprotected, scammy, or untrustworthy. Having weak security measures in place is a surefire way to lose trust, so I’ve listed some essentials to help you reassure customers:

Get an SSL certificate

One of the first steps I recommend you take is installing an SSL certificate. This certificate is a common best practice for online businesses – you’ll recognize its form as the padlock and HTTPs protocol in your browser’s address bar.

Having an SSL certificate in place means that any data sent between the user’s browser and your website’s server is protected and encrypted.

This means customers know their information is safe from online threats, and they can shop with peace of mind. Luckily, most website builders, including Wix and Shopify, include SSL certificates for free with their subscriptions. So, when choosing a website builder, I recommend reviewing its security measures before deciding:

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Offer Trusted Payment Gateways

Customers need to trust your business before handing over sensitive information, such as email addresses, credit card details, or phone numbers. I recommend using verified and familiar payment gateways that customers already know and trust, such as PayPal and American Express.

These gateways are essential to process purchases safely, so it’s worth adding their logos to your website footer to show customers what payment methods are available ahead of checkout. This visual signal can help customers feel confident that your business will protect their private information.

Use a Recognizable Domain

Another simple way to build trust in your website and offer a sense of security is through your domain name. There are plenty of do’s and don’ts when it comes to creating a domain name for your business, such as avoiding hyphens and keeping the domain as short as possible.

Typically, a “.com” domain is the standard choice for online stores – meanwhile, “.edu” is often used for educational sites, and “.gov” is reserved for government departments.

By choosing the appropriate domain for your content and brand, you’re telling customers what they can expect from your site right away.

➡️ Learn how to boost your domain authority to improve your site’s credibility.

Include a Privacy Policy

Including a privacy policy is a must-have for any online business – in fact, it’s a legally required step if you’re collecting personal data. This page will outline how your business handles and stores sensitive information, ensuring transparency between your company and its customers.

Make the page easy to find by including a link in your website footer or signposting it in your general navigation bar or “About Us” page.

You want people to buy your products, but how can you ensure your inventory is high-quality and attractive to customers? Check out my top tips below:

• Create clear product pages – Review your pages for errors and make sure everything is concise and accurate so customers get a full picture of the product
• Include key product information – Make sure you add important details, such as a product description, product care details, product materials, size/weight, and benefits, since customers can’t see the product in person when shopping online
• Add product visuals – High-quality product photos and videos help customers visualize the product (without images, a customer is less likely to trust your business and gamble by shopping with you)

With trustworthy product pages and a detailed inventory, customers are more likely to shop with your store, become repeat visitors, and recommend your business to others.

Author's Notes

Make sure you provide as many product photos as necessary to give customers a clear, 360-degree view of what they’re purchasing. If you can showcase the product in action or in its target environment, even better! And, if you have different variants, such as colors and styles, make sure there’s a visual to match each one. I know I’ll get put off when shopping online if I can’t see the product I want to buy.

Emma Ryan Lead Writer

When building your website, first impressions matter if you want to prove your business is trustworthy. Consider the following factors to improve the overall user experience:

• Speed – Slow loading pages could push customers to your competitors since your site won’t seem well-maintained or cared for, so it’s important to optimize your site’s elements to ensure everything runs smoothly
• Navigation – Help customers find what they’re looking for with a clear navigation menu or bar (your site will seem more credible if customers can get from point A to point B with ease)
• Interface – It’s best to avoid cluttering your pages and overwhelming your visitors with a messy feast for the eyes, so I recommend breaking up text with images, using a coherent and accessible color scheme and font type, and leaving areas of whitespace to direct the attention of your site’s visitors
• Accessibility – Make your website accessible for all visitors by adding alt text to images, choosing an appropriate design scheme, structuring your content, and more

By checking and maintaining your site’s health and performance, you can create a memorable and enjoyable experience for customers when they visit your website. Reliable and consistent navigation, partnered with accessible elements and quality design, enhances your site’s credibility in the eyes of your audience. So, when you’re optimizing your site, always keep your visitors’ experience in mind.

A huge part of building trust in your website is showing that other customers have had a good experience with you already. This is where customer reviews come in.

Testimonials from other customers can influence potential shoppers and reassure users that your business isn’t a scam. They’re also a great way to shout about how popular your products or services are.

How To Respond to Reviews

How you respond to customer reviews can also have a massive impact on brand trust. Whether you’re responding to reviews on Google, third-party review sites, or social media, it’s important to share your gratitude for the feedback, sound genuine, and encourage customers to return.

You also shouldn’t be shy about responding to negative reviews. Arguably, these are even more important to tackle since you can try to turn things around with your reply. I recommend thoroughly reviewing the accusation or issue, empathizing with the customer, and offering a solution where relevant. Most of all, make sure your customers feel listened to – whether their review is good or bad.

Improving trust in your business is straightforward when you use third-party sources to do the work for you. Trust signals and social proof – usually displayed as visual elements, such as ratings, reviews, or logos – reassure customers that your business is credible.

Whether that’s through social media comments or user-generated content, trust signals work similarly to customer reviews – people seek the reassurance and endorsements of others when shopping online, especially with unknown businesses.

I’ve listed a few suggestions for when you’re collecting and sharing social proof:

• Focus on quality – Visitors are more likely to view your website as credible if you publish high-quality content and images without any spelling mistakes or loading issues
• An About Us page – Explain the story behind your business and showcase your team’s expertise and authority within your industry to boost trust
• Add reviews to your site – Reviews are a great way to highlight how real customers feel about your products and services
• Show where your business has been featured – I recommend adding links or logos to show off publications and sites that have reviewed or featured your business, since this all contributes to your overall brand reputation
• Include seals and certificates – These send a signal to visitors that your business can be trusted, since external platforms are providing a virtual tick of approval, but I’ll discuss seals and certificates more in a later section
• Improve your brand’s online presence – Gather social proof from a variety of channels, such as TikTok and Instagram, by implementing an effective social media marketing strategy and getting your business seen by a wide audience
• Share user-generated content – Give happy customers a platform by sharing their authentic content, which reinforces your brand’s messaging (not only does this help build brand loyalty, but it gives potential customers the confidence to trust your business)
• Work with trusted influencers – Using influencers to build brand trust comes with its perks, since they already have a loyal following and can recommend your business and its products through engaging content

Nobody likes hidden fees. When you’re pricing your products, it’s best to be upfront and take care to avoid surprise charges at any stage of the customer journey.

For example, charging expensive shipping fees at the end of the checkout process isn’t advisable. The last thing you want is for your customers to feel tricked and leave your store – it’s hard to regain trust once your reputation has been damaged.

Make sure your pricing is visible and transparent from the start. If you have a seasonal sale or limited offer running, highlight the change to product prices and let customers know how much they could be saving by buying the product then and there. Similarly, if you charge high delivery fees, let customers know on the product page so they can see how much the product as a whole will actually cost.

Things will go wrong, no matter how well you run your online business. Whether it’s a lost delivery or a damaged product, great online customer service should be ready to go 24/7. Here are a few top tips to help you deliver excellent support:

• Offer personalized support – Introduce yourself and address your customer directly to add a human touch to your customer service. This reassures customers that your business listens to and values their feedback.
• Respond promptly – Customers expect answers or solutions immediately, so I recommend adding an AI-powered live chat to your website to handle queries quickly. If you don’t want to use AI in ecommerce, make sure you schedule time each day to handle customer feedback.
• Remain professional – Consider how you’d like a business to respond to your review. You don’t want to make a situation worse by yelling angrily at a customer or personally attacking them. Keep your brand’s tone of voice in mind, and address each customer with patience and empathy in order to signpost them to the appropriate solution.
• Provide a variety of contact options – Make it as easy as possible for customers to contact your business by using different channels, such as live chat, email, phone, social media, and contact forms.
• Add FAQs to your website – By adding an FAQ page or element to your site, you can address common questions from customers, provide general information about your business, and boost trust by sharing details about your company’s values and certifications.
• Produce helpful content – You can get ahead of potential customer queries by posting guides and videos that show how to use your products correctly.

As a way to build credibility and trust in your website, display any certifications and recognized awards you’ve earned where customers can easily see them. It’s a great way to showcase your commitment to excellence within your industry and fill your customers with confidence when they visit your site.

I recommend adding these seals and badges to the footer of your website, or dedicate a section of your “About Us” page or homepage to show them off. If you have a few to choose from, prioritize recognizable icons and charity connections, since it’s likely these will be the ones that customers understand.

95% of customers are more likely to be loyal to and shop with brands they trust, so if you continue to refine and improve your site’s credibility, you’ll be more likely to increase traffic and conversions.

That said, building trust on your website will take time and effort – it’s a marathon, not a sprint. These eight methods, including optimizing your site’s user experience and offering clear pricing, will set you on the right path to success. Just remember to listen to customer feedback and remain honest with your community.