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10 Crucial Ingredients to Website Credibility

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Does your website include them all?

Creating and maintaining a business website is a strategic, proactive task. It is your shop window, through which your online customers will peer and decide whether to have a browse around. Like a tangible, high street shop, you need to avail yourself to your customer, without ramming a sale down their throat as soon as they walk through the door.

It takes skill. It takes the ability to know when to leap, and when not to leap. It takes credibility.

And this is the topic for today’s post – what makes customers run for the hills and what is it that makes them stay. Like a tangible shop, you website has a lot of boxes to tick… and this is BEFORE potential customers have made an enquiry, left a question or, better still, decided to make a purchase.

The online world can be a malevolent place

Like ‘real’ life, some people out there are not as nice as you or I. They are wanting to secure their money, goods or whatever it is they want, by means that are underhand, illegal in many cases.

With the Internet being full of scams, malicious websites and scoundrels, potential customers are growing in suspicion. The website needs to look and feel right; you may be one of the best producers of a certain product, your products may be the best in the business BUT, if your website does ooze this same quality, appearance and credibility, you are on a hiding to nothing.

This needing to look ‘alive and kicking’ is something we have talked about before; the regular addition of new, quality and informative content. The links with social media, the links with other websites, all these things meld together to create the ‘right impression’. The impression that the website is monitored, looked after and valued. It is not an online presence that has been dumped there to entice people to part with their cash.

What is credibility?

No, really; what is it? We all have different yardsticks to measure website credibility but B.J. Fogg, Stanford University defines it as this;

…credibility is defined as believability. Credible people are believable people; credibly information is believable information. In some languages, they use the same word to describe both of these characteristics: credible and believable.

Sounds all well and good but, as some of us are aware, the most convincing of con artists are believable but, what can happen is we think of credibility in a one-dimensional way. It is important to remember that credibility is:

  • A perceived quality, overall – is isn’t necessarily embedded in a person, object or a piece of information; it is the overall impression
  • It is multi–layered – other emotional factors come in to play, such as trustworthiness and expertise

Fogg also points out prominence & interpretation system – you notice something (prominence) and make a decision, or a judgement about it (interpretation).

Thus to give you a helping hand, here are the 10 crucial ingredients that lend credibility to your website:

  • Design

It is no great surprise that we judge a business by its website. The better this design, the more we seem to trust it. Studies show that consumers are naturally less trusting of websites that a tangible, on the high street retailer – 30% less trusting thus, as online retailers, we are a step behind the high street shop.

BUT… websites that are ‘pretty’, designed well, with trimmings and the like, make up for this shortfall. A study of 2,500 online shoppers conducted in 2011, found that nearly half of them trusted a website based on the design and look of a website.

Clearly, a BIG lesson for us all.

  • Security and seals

There are many different security seals and certification we can display on our e-commerce websites and it seems these marks are also important in impacting on the judgement that consumers make about websites and credibility.

Increasingly sassy, consumers are looking for ticks that say ‘we have jumped through hoops, and your can shop safely with us’. People are realising that the need to put in bank details is not always something we should be doing… we admit to always looking for PayPal or Sage Pay, knowing that our details are not data and information that the website business will have to store or keep safe, for PayPal do all that anyway.

For authenticity, use seals and marks that are highly recognised; in a 2011 survey, consumers recognised the logos for MacAfee, Verisign and PayPal. Familiarity seems to ooze credibility.

  • Clearly visible contact details

The basics like a physical address, contact phone and email contact are the three top credibility signals for you website. Various studies also go on to suggest that photos of ‘the team’ can also be a useful tool for lending credibility. If people have to look too much, for hidden information that they consider ‘basic’, you may find that your website credibility takes a sub-conscious nose dive.

If nothing else, have a prominent ‘contact us’ button!

  • Content

OK, potential customer may not read your 2,000 word diatribe on the effects of poor quality screenwash on a car’s paint work BUT, if the content is relevant (clearly not if you sell bags, hats and scarves), informative and engaging, then it all adds to the credibility of you and your website.

Customers tend to ‘scan’ information and thus, they may not devour every word but the fact that it is there and the fact that you add content regularly to your website is also important. And customers DO scan the dates of when things were added…

  • Returns, FAQs, terms & conditions etc.

Again, at this mid-point in our list of 10 things that add credibility to your website, the policies of when you will and will accept returns, the terms and conditions of trading, FAQs etc. may not be the most exciting pages of content but, it seems, that when they are clearly visible, customers feel they can trust the company and website. Remember the ‘perceive – interpret’ equation?

  • Product information

One of the biggest bug bears, it seems to customers is the lack of information about a product. If two websites sell exactly the same product – a white mug – but everyone is ordering from one and not the other, the answer may lay in the product description.

Which one would you buy…?

A white mug, with a handle. Great for all hot beverages. Order 2 and get a third free!

OR…

A white, porcelain mug, great for everyday use. Holding 16oz of your favourite drink – hot or cold – the mug can withstand the rigours of the dishwasher too. Standing at 12cm tall, it is a mug that is simply perfect

Delicate, but not flimsy so why stop at 1? Buy 2 and get the third free!

Don’t underestimate details in product descriptions; 60% of shoppers said they used the product description as a cue of whether to buy, or not…

  • Testimonials

When there are genuine testimonials on your website, they attract attention. Experts, for some time now, have been telling companies that stories to content is a key factor is adding credibility to a website, and now, after various studies, it seems that this is the case.

Make sure they stand out; give them some whopping quotation marks to help them stand out!

  • Reviews

Testimonials are when people love you… reviews are when people are commenting on the product. So, let’s go back to our “white, porcelain mug, great for everyday use”. If the reviews looked like this, would you be so keen to buy…?

3 out of 5 stars – relay poor quality, cracked when washed… [read more]

79% of customers trust online reviews; think of it as the online version of ‘word of mouth’ – we all know how strong that can be.

  • Reputation & recognition

Not strictly an online element but, worth mentioning. Reputation and recognition are both important in helping the customer decide if your website is credible… or not. Now, for new businesses this can be difficult to establish thus, you need to make sure that your online presence covers as many bases as possible.

People, if they like your products, may do a separate search on your company thus, you need you social media stuff to pop up, you need some business listings etc. and they all need to be consistent (see Part 1 and Part 2 of better search engine results for local online businesses for a helping hand on this!)

  • And finally, customer service

This is not last because it is the least important but, in the steps that potential customers take in ‘whether to make a purchase or not’, this one of the last… but, customers of online retail websites have higher expectations of customers service, far higher than when they approach any other industry.

We expect brands and businesses, or so it seems, to not only be grateful for our business, but value it too.

In summary

Credibility of a website is directly linked to interest; if you garner the interest of a user, this lends to your credibility and, it seems, as consumers, we are more likely to use it.

Is your website credible? Are you sure…?

Usability, your website and some hard lessons…

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The festive season is nearly upon us and those of us who do not leave our Christmas shopping to the last minute on Christmas Eve, may have already started to cast about on the web for THE perfect present for him, her and the dog.

Invariably, you will come across websites that you will quickly navigate away from; somehow this is not a conscious decision, it just seems to happen. And there may have been many reasons why…

It doesn’t feel, look or sound right.

We came across a brilliant, frank and comprehensive usability checklist that should you choose to work through it, will ‘catch common usability problems’ on websites. If your website does not strike the right chord with the consumer – trust, authority and security – then you could be losing an awful lot of sales.

Here, we have highlighted some of the more common aspects that you may need to take a look at on your website in order to answer the question, is it cutting the mustard?

The checklist

To publish the whole thing here would be keeping you logged on till Christmas, but all flippancy aside, we believe that the very comprehensive nature of the checklist highlights just how important your website or online presence is to your evolving business.

Frankly, if it is not sleek and delightfully easy to use, then your website falls way below standard. Here we have summarised the key points from under each heading…

USER EXPERIENCE

 

This looks at everything from currency, language as well as pricing being clearly displayed. It also suggests that users are look for measures of credibility. For example, on Locally’s newly designed and launched website, we have several written ‘references’ from people who have been more than happy with the websites we have designed them, along with the service we offer. We do this, like many other business, to lend a sense of credibility and authority to our website.

It also suggests that in terms of user experience, your website also needs to look and feel uncluttered, with text that can be easily scanned and images that can be enlarged or zoomed in on.

This section has 7 areas that the checklist suggests that you look at in detail.

HOMEPAGE

 

Your homepage invariably is the landing page – the first page – that your website visitors and potential customers see; the feel of this page needs to be spot on! There is no room for error.

As well as checking for the obvious spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, the checklist suggest 8 additional checks such as a clear to call action (tell your customer what they need or must do!), along with all the important information the visitor needs to know. It also suggests that all images and video used needs to be relevant to the page.

ACCESSIBILITY

This section has 4 checks that all play an important part in ensuring that your visitors can access the parts of the website they need quickly and easily. It points to technical aspects of your website that are not immediately obvious and to factors which you think may not be important… but they are! For example, when a customer hovers their mouse over a graphic, what is the caption that is displayed…?

NAVIGATION

This section is about how your website is mapped, especially in the case of larger websites; sitemaps are important and that any links are descriptive – the ‘click here’ is no longer sufficient! It also suggests that sorting information is not done along alphabetical lines, unless there is no better way of doing it. Customers, it seems, prefer information to be grouped in sections that are related e.g. items and accessories that are related to ‘kitchens’, and another section for ‘bathrooms’ etc. How is the information navigable on your website?

SEARCH

Being able to search your website quickly and easily is important, and it seems that websites that have this function stand head and shoulders above the rest. The search facility needs to be on every page, in the same place. But a common pet hate, it seems, that customers detest are search bars that are too narrow or small, meaning that as they type the words or phrase becomes obscured.

LINKS

According to the usability list, important commands should not be links, but buttons such as ‘pay now’ etc. and small details make all the difference; for example, the colour of a link changes once a customer has clicked on it.

But the most important part of this section is making sure that any links of your website are still active; there is nothing more off-putting for a potential customer when they click on a link only to find that it is broken one.

LAYOUT

This is section that looks at more than just the aesthetic appeal of a website; for example, is all the important information a customer needs at the top of the page?

Is the layout, design, colours etc. and the ‘feel’ of the website consistent throughout the website? And finally, is your website responsive? This section also includes that website should fit the screen of the user – did you know that horizontal scrolling was a non-no?!

PROCESS

This section of the checklist looks at the whole practical process of building and testing a website; with the excitement of either a new or re-vamped website taking over, companies and business tend to have a habit of launching it… without really checking every single aspect of their website and hence, the small but important ‘teething issues’ are not spotted and repaired prior to launch. This can not only mark you down with customers, it can also cause problems in the all-seeing eyes of search engines…

Just like you wouldn’t launch an expensive advertising campaign in the press without intense consideration, launching your website should go through the same process of consideration and goal-setting.

FORMS

Increasingly, websites are inviting customers to be part of a newsletter drop or a ‘join’ a website and this necessitates forms. However, it seems that customers are put off by lengthy, complicated forms hence, this checklist has 5 essential must-check factors, from your form supporting auto-fill and being simple, usable forms rather than lengthy version that seem to collect information that feels superfluous (why do you need to know how old you customers are?!)

CONTENT

Finally, is the section on content that has 6 must-check factors:

  • Contrast between text and background
  • Content is ‘scannable’. That is, customers and visitors are able to scan down the page, looking for key information they need
  • Written in language that is understandable
  • Contact and company information clearly displayed
  • Content is useful and up-to-date
  • Upper case letters are avoided unless they are in the right place!

Having the right look and feel to a website is more than just pretty pictures and flashy bits; there is far more to creating a delightful, successful website. Is your website due a re-model?

Check out the FULL checklist – how does your website do?