5 Ways to Build Customer Trust With Your Online Store

Building customer trust is crucial for the success of your online store. Consumers who trust brands are far more likely to purchase. Furthermore, trusting customers are far more likely to return to make their second, third, and fourth purchases, and so on. Return customers that are loyal form one of the cornerstones of profitable online selling. They are valuable assets, and in this article, we discuss how to develop them. We showcase five ways to build consumer trust with your online store and turn once-off consumers into long-term shoppers.

1. Introduce Consumer Financing Features

Consumer financing features, or buy now pay later (BNPL) services, are integrations that enable shoppers to access loans from the websites that they shop. Instead of having to find financial aid elsewhere, consumers can use the integrated consumer lending platforms to secure financial support during the checkout process. This creates shopping efficiency and increases the likelihood of making a sale. The consumer-facing benefits of BNPL solutions build customer trust. The easy, affordable, and quick access to shopping financing empowers them, and they perceive this added value as an opportunity to connect with the brands that offer consumer financing. 

2. Improve Your Customer Service

Customer service is critical to building customer trust. A great customer service strategy will drive positive interactions with your brand community, showcasing the value to your existing consumers and those that stumble upon your online store for the first time. You should consider ways to improve all aspects of your customer service, from your time to first response to your time taken to resolve consumer problems. An assessment of these key performance indicators (KPIs) will provide you with insights to make improvements to your customer service strategy. This consistent approach to optimizing internal organization will enable you to build stronger and more trustworthy relationships with your shoppers. 

3. Highlight Your Achievements

Online stores should be proud of and showcase their achievements via their marketing channels. From social media posts to embedding Trustpilot reviews into your website pages, you can start making your most recent successes known to the public. This not only attracts new customers but showcases to your existing customers that you are consistently delivering on your brand promises. Highlighting your achievements is a great way to build customer trust and leverage the positive brand associations and perceptions that you have developed over time.

4. Take Accountability for Your Failures

In the same way that it is important to highlight your successes, you should also take accountability for your failures. There is no such thing as a perfect brand, and owning up to your mistakes is the nature of online selling. Instead of disregarding negative comments and letting uncomfortable leads from falling by the wayside, you should actively manage the negative information about your online store online. You should have a person or team of people, typically the marketing team, engaged with consumers online to answer their problems and provide support when failures occur. This transparency will win the trust of your customers.

5. Ensure You Are Always Reachable

Online stores should ensure that they are always reachable to build trust with customers. The modern consumer is searching for the most efficient services, and your store should deliver efficiency in your communications. You can install live chats or seek the aid of a call center to answer your consumers as quickly as possible. You should aim to reduce the time that it takes to respond to consumers, and deliver 24/7 communication support if you run an online store to successfully build customer trust.

Building trust with your customers is important for developing a successful online store. From introducing consumer financing to highlighting your successes and taking accountability for your failures, you can start building a sustainable and profitable brand community built on loyalty.

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