Trust is an essential component in building customer relationships. You’ll want people to regard your brand with confidence because of the way you operate your business, interact with clients, protect their data, and promote your products and services. Ultimately, this trust will help boost online conversions.

Trust signals serve as validations from customers and online communities regarding the credibility and legitimacy of your business. It can be in the form of a badge, a certificate, content, or symbols that online users consciously or unconsciously look for to help them gauge the authenticity of your website. Trust signals also make your website SEO-friendly in the eyes of Google and other search engines.

With this post, you’ll learn about common trust signals that you can use on your website and how they can help in increasing online conversions for your business (sales & lead generation).

Tips for Using Trust Signals

1. Include product info and reviews.

B2B buyers base their purchasing decision not just according to how much product info you provide to them, but also how useful the info is. You might think you’re doing a great service to your audience by writing lengthy product descriptions on your site, but you should try different methods of educating potential buyers about your product.

This is especially true if you’re selling something that’s either technical or customizable, such as software, in which case, you can come up with product training videos to show how your product works or to explain how you can tailor the program to fit specific business models or needs.

Once people have bought or used your product, encourage them to submit product reviews. Allowing them to talk about their experience with your product is a sign that you value their opinion, not to mention that their feedback can act as a valuable customer testimonial.

2. Showcase testimonials from customers.

Just like product reviews, you can use customer testimonials as trust signals to show that people are satisfied with your offering. Note that testimonials work better if your company primarily provides a service and does not have e-commerce capabilities.

You can highlight testimonials anywhere on your website – from your homepage to landing pages that focus on a particular solution. Make sure the testimonials contain a detailed account of how customers benefited from using your service, not just generic comments that might fail to impress future buyers.

Testimonials can be effective in stirring certain reactions or responses, especially when they come from real people with real interactions with your company. Don’t forget to include your customers’ name, company name, job title, and actual photos, so website visitors can see for themselves that these customers are in fact legitimate people who use your services.

Through testimonials, people who used to be unfamiliar with your business may become more interested or even move further into the next stages of the marketing funnel. Combining user-generated content with personalized lead nurturing, you can engage your prospects and eventually encourage them to convert.

3. Display your social profile.

Because social media is mainly about communicating information and sharing it with others, it can be a great venue to get people to engage in trust marketing or word-of-mouth marketing. An active, engaging social media profile can help you connect with users as you share content, initiate interactions, and build relationships with your followers.

This makes it imperative for you to display your company’s social profiles throughout your website, where people can find out more about your brand’s personality. Once in a while, you can post photos of your company events or news about your brand’s milestones in the industry to help you become more relatable as a social community.

You can even display your personal Twitter or LinkedIn account along with your picture so that you can have a more personal connection with sales prospects. Business-wise, connecting with your social media followers can help you meet like-minded individuals who can be instrumental in further expanding your professional network.

4. Share your contact information.

B2B customers might prefer to speak to a representative about your business via phone first, while others might want to receive preliminary information through email, so make sure to include your phone number and email address prominently on your website.

Aside from these, you may also indicate which people they should contact in a particular department, so your website visitors will have a name to work with.

Providing information about your business address can also add to your trustworthiness, for the simple reason that it makes customers aware as to where to physically find your company. Also, from an SEO perspective, you can be found more easily on local searches.

You can also specify your business operating hours, so customers will know when they can get in touch with your company. By making all these contact details available on your website, you can cover every possible contact point with customers. Ultimately, this extensive contact access shows that your brand’s legitimacy and can help drive more B2B prospects to convert.

5. Feature well-known customers’ brand logos.

The precept behind showing the logos of popular brands or companies in your list of customers is that if someone of that stature trusts you with their business, then others should probably entrust their business to you as well. Lately, it’s also common practice to mention media outfits that have featured a startup retailer or an upcoming tech company as a way to influence public perception.

6. Share your blog posts.

Content marketing can be a form of trust signal, too. When you share useful content through blog posts, for instance, you’re making use of an opportunity to help customers with their needs or problems through the information you provide. Your content will also show that you’re an industry expert who can provide valuable insights and instructions.

As long as you follow this path in content marketing, you’re increasing the trust signals for your business. The complete opposite happens when you serve content that’s overly sales-y, as customers are more likely to tag your business as self-serving and untrustworthy.

7. Display security badges and other seals of approval.

Security badges are also essential in ensuring visitors about the integrity of your site and that there’s no way for them to fall victim to scammers or spammers who might use their personal or financial information illegally. As a B2B vendor, you must assure your customers that your site or business has been verified for technical security and legitimacy of the business.

Examples of common security seals include verified/accredited business badges and anti-virus secure badges. These can give your visitors peace of mind while searching your website and when considering your brand’s offering.

Trust Signals in a Nutshell

Trust signals play a big role in driving more conversions on your website because they see it as a safe and secure place where they can engage with you or buy from you.

Don’t give your prospects any opportunities to doubt your brand’s credibility. Make sure your website visitors know from the get-go that your brand can be trusted.

Originally Published on PureB2B.