Home » 10 Things Modern Businesses Do to Appear More Trustworthy

10 Things Modern Businesses Do to Appear More Trustworthy

By  //  July 30, 2023

Never before was it so easy to appear legitimate. You can register a business in a few days, make a site in a few hours, and create social media platforms in a few minutes. However, consumers are more than aware of this, making them skeptical of online businesses, often wondering whether they’re legit. 

While massive conglomerates make promises that look straight out of a Sci-Fi movie, most small enterprises struggle to prove they’re real businesses. With all this in mind, here are the top ten ways they can appear more trustworthy. 

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  1. Secure website

You want to start by making a secure website and ensuring SSL encryption. This way, all the data your customers share with your site (the most common form of interaction in 2023) is secure. So, HTTPS encryption is your logical first step. Other than this, you need to keep your software up to date.

Now, security depends on both parties (you and your customer), so help them make better passwords (we’ll talk more about this later), insist on 2FA, and educate them on risky online behavior. 

  1. Customer testimonials

People have a limited amount of trust in marketers and business executives. They want to hear from people like them, ordinary customers who have already done business with your brand. You’ll easily grow your credibility by gathering these user testimonials and publishing them on your website and social media.

Reviews are even more effective. There’s no better seal of approval than for someone to use your product/service and then describe specific details of what they liked (or even disliked) about it. This makes it feel far more credible.

  1. Trust seals and certifications

It’s not enough to just have a secure website. People don’t know if you are trustworthy before they’ve done business with you, so you need to offer them some proof or reassurance even before they interact with you in a traditional sense.

One of the first things you want to do is display trust seals. You need to apply for certification and get a snippet to get these. Making your site HTTPS (discussed in the first section) is how to get there. Remember that this is just a badge and that the verification process matters far more. 

  1. Stronger passwords

If you insist on a stronger password policy, you’ll protect the personal information of your customers and reduce the account takeover rate. Sure, it would be ideal if every user protected their passwords or used a tool that helps create strong passwords but, as a business, this is a risk that you can’t afford to take.

Keep in mind that this protects your brand double-fold. On the one hand, it ensures that there are no such breaches. This means that you get to prevent any unfortunate occurrences in the future. At the same time, by just making this requirement, you’re already indicating that you care (even before anything problematic happens).

  1. Professionally-made website

The design of your website will reveal a lot about your enterprise. People make mental connections even where there are none – it’s just human nature. Since most people have only interacted with you through your website, this will be detrimental to how they form their first impression of your enterprise.

If your design is sleek – your enterprise will be seen as tech-savvy and modernistic. If it’s responsive, it will be seen as efficient. The same goes for a minimalist and clean layout. Unfortunately, the other way around will hold, as well. So, make sure that everything runs smoothly. 

  1. Greater brand visibility

People expect to find your brand high in the search results. If they can’t find you on the first page of SERPs, they might assume that your enterprise is not as credible. 

While SEO is an intricate art of interpreting the latest algorithm rules and playing by them to position your enterprise a lot better, this isn’t always the public perception. People use GoΩgle rank to evaluate the credibility and professionalism of businesses. The better you’re positioned, the more they trust you.

There are two ways to get this quick reputational boost. One of them is sponsored content or PPC. However, this is not as effective since you’ll get labeled as an ad, and people will know you’ve paid for this position. The organic approach of SEO is far more efficient. 

  1. Collaborations with others

By working with other brands and individuals, you’ll passively gain a lot of credibility. After all, people usually don’t have enough time to research businesses properly, but they’ll still assume someone else has done the work. This means that if they see an influencer or a brand associating with you, they’ll assume they wouldn’t risk trusting you (and in their mind, these brands/influencers did their research).

However, this is a double-edged sword. How many times have you seen a brand having to cut ties with a problematic organization or influencer in the past few years? It’s not just that they’ve tied their reputation to yours; you’re also tying it to them. 

  1. Strong social media presence

It’s highly improbable that your enterprise can survive without a strong social media presence. Just imagine you have a site where you brag with a million satisfied customers, only for someone to visit your Instagram and see you have less than 1,000 followers.

Buying followers won’t work either since bots are difficult to hide, and when discovered, you risk ruining your reputation. In other words, you need to grow your social media presence organically. You also need to do this simultaneously, increasing your website traffic and customer base. Ideally, you should hire specialists to get this job done. 

  1. Secure payment options

People are uncomfortable paying online if they’re unsure that their payment options are secure. Remember that integrating a new payment option doesn’t take much effort and that a failure to include a major option (like PayPal) will not look good for your brand.

Generally speaking, you should include all the major names like:

  • PayPal


  • Stripe


  • Amazon Pay


  • Apple Pay


  • Google Pay

 

Other than this, you should also allow people to pay with their cards. Remember that since all of these are automatic, adding another payment method won’t make your brand’s accounting any more complex than it already is. 

  1. Clear and transparent contact information

Ultimately, people want to know how to contact your brand. Make no mistake, you can make a rudimentary website in minutes and social media accounts in seconds. This doesn’t prove that you have a business.

At the same time, registering on Google My Business and providing actual contact info will be something else entirely. The best thing about all of this platforming is that it doesn’t take too much effort and will drive your sales up. In other words, you have plenty of reasons to do so, even without reputation building. 

Appearing credible is a crucial bottleneck for any enterprise in existence

Asking people to spend money on your site without assurance that you’re a legitimate business is unrealistic. Keep in mind that they’re the ones taking all the risk and that they’re not even asking that much of you. They just need a tiny shred of proof, and if your offer is good enough, they’ll buy without hesitation. That’s all there is to it.