When someone decides to shop at an online store (a.k.a #ecommerce), the first questions that come to mind might be "is my transaction safe?" and "will the purchased product meet my expectations?". Therefore, building trust with customers is a must for an online store whose operational methods are very different from those of a physical store.
This is because, among other things, the seller and the buyer cannot transact directly, customers cannot see the products being sold, and the payment process must go through a bank transfer. These three things make potential customers who will make online transactions feel hesitant and less confident about shopping online. Moreover, the increasing number of scams in the virtual world has begun to affect the level of trust of customers. To overcome this, we will discuss some tips to maintain customers' trust in your online business:
1. Provide necessary information to customers
As mentioned earlier, in an online store, customers cannot see and try the products being sold. Therefore, we must describe the condition of the products we sell as clearly as possible, from the price, model, size, material used, available colors, and so on. As a seller, we must know and understand the information about the products we sell well. This is aimed at preventing customers from feeling cheated or deceived with the products they ordered.
2. Easy to contact
To maintain customers' trust, you must be able to respond to customer orders quickly (fast response). Therefore, it is essential to include several communication media to contact you, such as telephone/SMS numbers, BBM pins, WhatsApp, Line, Twitter usernames, Facebook, and others. This is intended so that customers can easily contact you.
If there are customers who want to ask about the product or confirm the payment, do not let them wait too long for your response. If there are obstacles that make you late to reply or difficult to contact, immediately explain to the customer why it happened so that the customer still trusts us.
3. Create an attractive website
Note that the information displayed is always up-to-date, free from spelling and coding errors, and free from broken links. Make sure that the web page is light so that it can be accessed quickly, so as not to make customers bored and leave your website. In addition, regarding the theme and design of the ecommerce website, it would be better if it is adjusted to the product and target customers.
For example, if we sell women's fashion items or accessories, it would be better to design the ecommerce website with calm colors and a sweet nuance. Customers will feel more comfortable, and it will show professionalism in our business.
4. Include customer testimonials
Based on the meaning of the word, a testimonial is a statement that is usually written to support another character and is a personal recommendation. In online business, testimonials are important to attract the attention of potential customers, as they tend to seek the opinions and responses of customers who have shopped at the store to get references for buying a product.
From testimonials, we can also find out whether customers are satisfied with the products and services we provide so that we can make corrections and introspections to make our online store better. The most important thing in including business testimonials is not to put up fake testimonials or write them ourselves. Consumers today are much smarter and know which words are genuine and which are fake. It would be better to include a link to social media accounts or at least an email from the testimonial giver.
5. Accepting Product Returns
Sometimes the products we sell may be damaged, delayed, or even sent to the wrong customer. This often happens in online stores. It may not be entirely our fault, but the product could have been damaged in transit to the customer. We must be prepared for this risk and willing to replace it. This is considered a way to maintain customer trust in an online store.
6. Protect Customer Privacy
Privacy is a crucial issue in the virtual world. Assure your customers that the data they provide for purchasing a product will not be disclosed to anyone for any purpose.
7. Show Your Care
To maintain trust and rapport with customers, we can also show our care for them. For example, we can conduct online surveys or polls about what products they expect from our store. Or we can offer customers to participate in events we organize. By doing so, they will feel valued and expected to continue shopping at your online store.
Maintaining customer trust online is not much different from maintaining offline consumers. They also need attention and care. Hopefully, the information above is useful.