People trust other people more than websites. One of the
biggest things that turn off people from buying online is
the lack of human interaction and personality.
As said before, pictures of the author behind an ebook, the
manager of the online store or the friendly faces of
customer service staffers all help promote trust and
increase sales.
Other ways to create trust using human presence online is
to add testimonials to your site or include a discussion
board. Testimonials show that your site and product have
active customers that endorse it. A discussion community,
if active, shows that you have customers and fans actively
discussing your product.
Both these elements not only promote trust but help you
bring in the "social acceptance" factor of sales. This
simply means that people prefer to buy products that they
know others are interested in - it's also called "following
the crowd."
Lets take a look at how to use these human elements to
build trust.
Using Images of Real People
Revealing the face behind the website is a great way to
build trust. You can reveal:
· your own face if you manage the website and have a
solid interest in the website's topic
· faces of the people handling customer support
· the face of the creator of the product you're
selling
Think strategically when you are placing these images.
According to eye studies, a human face on the web is a
major attention drawer.
You should be very careful with where you place a picture
of a human face. Faces added randomly can be detrimental as
they draw attention away from important copy points like
headlines.
Use faces to draw attention to important site elements like
sign up boxes, order forms or testimonials - anything you
WANT the visitor to look at.
Marketing Guru Alex Mandossian loves using the human face
around sign-up forms. He believes that the combination of a
virtual entity like a sign-up form combined with a real
human face creates a powerful draw.
He calls this the "Sesame Street Effect" after the popular
children's TV show.
On Sesame Street, the producers found that young children
were most drawn to the TV screen when they saw shots with
real live actors and virtual puppets together. Shots with
just puppets or just live actors created less of an
attention draw.
Mandossian uses this same principle when designing sign-up
forms. You'll notice that his sign-up forms always include
a picture of himself interacting with the sign up form. For
a further boost of trust, include anecdotes about employees
or bios of the site founders. If you can see the
personalities - names or some biographical data - you can
develop a greater sense of reliance and trust in the site.
Use photos of smiling people. If a person looks confident
and happy it will be easier for the shoppers to relate to
them and will lesson any natural distrust.
And if for any reason you don't want to use photos of your
own staff you can buy webready pictures of smiling people
from iStockPhoto.com for only $1 each.
Use Endorsements and Testimonials
Busy online communities help build trust through the
principle of "social acceptance." In a nutshell, humans
have a tendency to follow the crowd.
If you observe a lot of people talking about a product or
using it, you conclude the product must be good. If you
have an active newsletter with over 10,000 subscribers (or
any other impressive number) state this on your site.
On the sign up form for your newsletter add text like
"10,000 subscribers and growing." A simple statement like
that builds trust.
If you have an online community, share recent community
posts on your site. An active community tells a visitor
that your site has a following and a product worth talking
about. If you don't currently have a community, you can
create one for free on Yahoo! Groups.
Yahoo! Groups provides an excellent email based discussion
list. Make sure to make the list Public (this means people
can view messages without having to sign up).
----------------------------------------------------
Bjorn Brands is a successfull enterprenuer who transitioned
from having his own building company to a great online
business. Check out his site and see for yourself how he
can help you do the same at http://www.moneyacces.com
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