How To Build Brand Trust With Transparency: What Can Web Designers Do To Help?

Many Australian businesses rely solely on their online reputation to drive consumers. In recent times, gaining the trust of consumers has become difficult, as every marketing strategy is scrutinized and analyzed for discrepancies. It’s hard to trust a brand’s website, especially since it’s the main touchpoint for communication and exposure.

A big part of building trust is to show transparency. Keeping secrets and skirting over issues will only arouse suspicion among consumers, even if it’s unfounded. A modern website needs to be clear about its intentions and show visitors that the brand is trustworthy. To achieve this, web designers need to change the way they look at UX and design choices. Here are a few ways they can help.

Be clear with solutions

Consumers tend to view clarity as a sign of transparency. When your website is simple to use and direct with its solutions, the consumer is a lot more likely to trust it. Take distractions out of the way and minimize the need for navigation. Many popular brand websites contain only a link to the customer portal. This kind of direct approach is very effective at building trust.

Paint a strong argument for why your brand’s products are essential. If you can prove your point without using distractions, the visitor is going to view the brand as more legitimate. If you’ve created a short and simple path to the solution the consumer is looking for, they’ll appreciate it.

Be open with reviews

A lot of Australian businesses fear to implement reviews because of the potential backlash that could occur. Even if your product is effective, what’s to stop someone from giving a bad review because of the delivery? Someone might even maliciously give out negative reviews to impact your rating. This could impact consumers that come across the review and sway their opinion. The thing is, this isn’t as much of a problem as most would think.

Simply having reviews on your website is enough to convince consumers that you’re trustworthy. It shows that the brand is willing to give voice to consumers that have tried their products, even if the end result wasn’t a positive review. Search engines also value having reviews available, and it’s a key part of SEO strategies. The algorithm will recognize consumers’ reactions and see the traffic that comes from them. Others will view the reactions and this brings in more attention to the brand. This contributes to the brand’s legitimacy online.

Collect data with informed consent

Data collection has become a hot topic among online websites. As marketers use the information collected from websites to craft a better advertising experience, this information is also shared with various parties. This isn’t seen as a positive, as some users prefer to avoid having their information shared. It’s become a pressing matter due to the many leaks that have occurred within marketing agencies.

Most modern websites will inform a user whether or not they require cookies to be tracked. This is done in the form of a popup window. Unfortunately, users have grown sick of this message and some avoid websites that require any form of tracking. Having the popup appear right as they visit the website would be an annoyance, so try to avoid it. Instead, use it exclusively when a user inputs data that the website wishes to track. This will inform them at a more convenient moment, while also being seeming more trustworthy.

In your popup, try to include a checkbox for selling personal data. Websites that include this in a link on their page give consumers a choice, which they view as honest and transparent. They’re more likely to stay on the website, even if they would have originally been worried about their data.

Make the website appealing and convenient

They say you should never trust a book by its cover, but consumers regularly break this rule when it comes to websites. They are more likely to trust a more attractive and modern website, over a website that looks outdated. Building a visually pleasing website with quick load times requires effort, something that shows dedication to consumers.

It also improves website rankings on search engines. Quick load time is something that appeals to both consumers and search engine algorithms. Achieving these load times with an attractive and convenient front end is pretty difficult without a dedicated SEO team. Australian businesses often consult GWM Sydney for guidance in website for SEO. It’s a lot easier to optimize the website with proper techniques when assisted by an experienced digital marketing team.

Explain the website’s idea and how it should look, and see if it can be modified to better fit the demands of search engines. At the same time, keep elements to a minimum to improve load times independently. It’s going to boost the ratings of the website and put it on the first page of search results, which is most trusted by consumers.

Explain prices upfront

In e-commerce, the price of products can fluctuate drastically depending on a few factors. Delivery has an enormous impact. An individual ordering from Alaska won’t incur the same fees as someone ordering in western Europe. A business centred in Australia will often have to incur massive fees due to oversee delivery. This can confuse consumers that expected one price but are quickly met with rising delivery costs upon checkout.

Instead of letting this become a surprise for the checkout page, make it obvious right from the start. Once someone enters the page for a specific product, have the various fees shown in a dropdown menu below the price itself. Have smaller text lines in the dropdown menu that explain what the fees are for. This will stop the consumer from getting an unpleasant surprise when they go to checkout.

Conclusion

There are many ways to make your website look more trustworthy. Make the conscious decision to keep the website transparent and full of relevant information. After applying some of these tactics, consumers will be more likely to remain on the website and trust the brand associated with it.