Trust: How to Cultivate Confidence with Your Website

Like it or not, here’s the reality… We view websites the same way we meet people at a party.

When we encounter new ones, we inevitably make judgements that are superficial and appearance-based. Then, we act on those instincts. If we like the way a website looks or if someone gives us a comfortable first impression, we’re more inclined to learn more. If not, we move along.

In a 2004 study¹ where participants viewed a variety of healthcare websites, Dr. Elizabeth Sillence of Northumbria University discovered that 83 percent of all users who rejected a site did so because of unfavorable first impressions related to poor navigation, design elements, color, font selection, and character size. She determined that an “untrustworthy” site gains its status from its appearance.

Dr. Sillence also discovered when a website isn’t initially rejected because the way it looks, the site’s content takes over as the determining factor. The results showed that 74 percent of all participants who labeled a site as “trustworthy” made their decisions based on the relevancy of the content, who was providing it, and how it was presented.

Essentially, the study proved that if the designer does a poor job, the user is more apt to deem the site as “untrustworthy” in the short run.  If the content writer does a good job, the user is more likely to “trust” the site in the long run.

So, looking briefly at both areas, what can you do to keep users from rejecting your site at first while learning to trust it over time?

Three Tips for Cultivating Trust on Your Website

1) Make sure to implement design elements that draw readers in and don’t sound the “bullshit” bells. Try using attractive images that lead readers to your content. Include bullet points and call outs to highlight the main areas of emphasis. Avoid gimmicks. And make sure your navigation is crisp, clean, and easy to follow.

2) Use an inclusive writing style that speaks personally to your buyer personas. Make sure you know who your audience is and find out what’s important to them. Be conversational, be specific, talk about benefits more than features, and avoid puffery that readers might view as overinflated or insincere.

3) Take advantage of your company’s history. If you’ve been around for a while, make sure your readers know. Longevity breeds trust, as do testimonials, case studies, and white papers. Select your premium content offers carefully, and gate them as lead generation tools if applicable. Have you helped people with your product or service? Use your content to demonstrate how and why.

Need help building user trust and brand awareness with your website? Contact me today to set up a free consultation or to inquire about one-on-one tactical strategy sessions on what your website should include.

¹  Sillence, Elizabeth, Briggs, P. Fishwick, L., & Harris, P. (2004). Trust and mistrust of online health sites. CHI’04 Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference On Human Factors In Computer Systems. New York: ACM.

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