According to Webbed Feet, 92 percent of consumers say they trust earned media, such as social media, word of mouth and recommendation from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising.
Here’s how to build that trust from your first interaction with subscribers, leads and customers.
1. Set expectations with email and other marketing channels
One thing that will build trust from the very beginning is being clear on what a person should expect from signing up to your email list, commenting on your blog or performing another action with your business.
2. Follow through on promises
Information that provides insights into what a user should be expecting from your messaging on a marketing channel will help them begin to trust your company within that context if your business consistently delivers on that promise.
Stay true to what you’re promising to provide to your audience at all costs to maintain the trust you’ve built up to this point. If there comes a time that the frequency of your email, subjects covered in your messaging or another change is necessary to make, alert your audience to the impending change and why you’re making it.
3. Provide premium content for free
Providing compelling content to your audience that would otherwise have to be paid for is a powerful way of building trust, since you’re giving away tremendous value for seemingly little in return.
Offer a free eBook, white paper, video, instructional course, presentation or other piece of content as a thank you to a subscriber or a lead for performing a particular action with your business.
4. Add testimonial, reviews and customer feedback to the experience
Start highlighting the best experiences existing customers have had with your business in order to influence others to begin trusting your company.
Whether this involves adding customer testimonials throughout your website on landing pages or embedding tweets from customer’s praising your company, showcase the customer testimonials, reviews, case studies and feedback to help others understand your existing track record.
5. Build upon the prestige of your most influential customers
Similarly to the idea of including client testimonials throughout your website, showcase your most prestigious customers front and center to build your credibility through their reputation.
Include the logos of the most influential individuals, organizations and brands that your company has worked with to date as an additional sign of credibility for new subscribers to take into consideration as they browse your website.
6. Share press mentions and awards across your website
Another way to build trust with your audience is to showcase favorable mentions of your organization in the press and awards you’ve won.
Showcasing the logos of the publications your company was featured in on your homepage or on a media page will further develop trust with first time subscribers.
7. Use email autoresponders to customize their experience
Establish a sequence or a few sequences of email autoresponders that are catered to the variety of actions a subscriber might be taking with your organization online for the very first time.
An autoresponder email is triggered when a user takes a particular action like subscribing to an email list, filling their cart or after they make a purchase.
8. Truly understand your audience
It’s important that your organization have different buyer personas set up to better categorize who your customers actually are, what interests them and which of these interests motivates them to take action.
Understand who your ideal buyer is from the beginning by conducting market research, surveys, focus groups and analyzing available data sets.
9. Show your personality using conversational language
There are many service providers a customer can choose from, which is why it’s so important that your company’s offerings are unique. Show personality across your marketing messaging to stand out with your customer base and match more closely to their interests.
One way of showing your company’s personality as it pertains to the industry as a whole is to using familiar language across of all of your organization’s messaging.
10. Offer world-class customer support
It’s important to offer excellent customer service to your audience from the beginning if you’re looking to build trust with them right away.