How to Boost Your Online Store’s Credibility and Gain More Customers
Every online store’s main goal is to sell more products. The best way you can achieve that goal is by building a strong, avid group of customers that appreciates the products available in your catalogue. Before you can start attracting the right kind of traffic and begin turning them into customers, however, there are a few things you need to prepare first.
Credibility is a crucial thing for an online store. Unless customers can trust you, there is no way you can make as many sales as you want. These three key elements will help you boost your online store’s credibility right away.
A Secured Site
Do you know why certificate authorities like Verisign charge so much for an SSL certificate? What makes those SSL certificates so much more expensive than the standard ones from web hosting companies? The answer is credibility.
When a customer sees a green padlock icon next to the address bar, they will quickly notice that your site is properly secured. When that padlock icon is clicked, then can find out more about your business, the person in charge and the certificate authority that issued the SSL certificate.
You don’t have to spend thousands to get a certificate from Verisign, but a properly-implemented SSL security is a must. It is the first step towards ensuring the safety of your customers’ personal information, which will make them feel more confident about making purchases on your online store.
Credit Card Payments
The next step to take in order to boost credibility is adding credit card payments as an option. Merchant services and payment gateway providers will once again check your business’s information and details to make sure they are providing services to the right party. Completing these checks and having the ability to process credit card payments mean a lot in the eyes of customers.
After all, credit cards are easy to use when making online purchases. The easier it is to make purchases on your store, the more customers will actually complete the checkout process and buy your products.
Some stores may find it difficult to get a merchant account for selling high-risk products. While electronic cigarettes, electronics and other product categories may be considered high-risk, they are not illegal. You can still process credit card payments with the help of services such as High Risk Pay.
Good Reviews
At the end of the day, the best way to boost your store’s credibility is by keeping your customers as happy as they can be. This means providing them with high quality products, making the shopping experience as enjoyable as it can be and offering good customer support through multiple channels.
Happy customers will leave reviews and testimonials. They will talk about your store on their social media pages. They may even blog about the purchases they’ve made or make YouTube videos about the products.
All of these third-party reviews, testimonials and opinions – and the previous elements we talked about – count towards your online presence and credibility. Don’t be surprised to find a sudden increase in customers – and sales – once you get these three factors in order.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post and the author’s views here do not necessarily reflect those of the blog owner.