How To Build Trust Between You And Your Customers

The trust factor.

Yes. The all important trust factor.

Usually, we just talk about producing quality service and fit your clients’ requirements.

However sometimes, it boils down just to if your clients trust you enough. You may have all the quality in the world, but if your client don’t trust you, that means no deal for you.

Think about it.

Do you realize you are more willing to listen to an offer or even make a purchase just because a friend recommended you?

See. It’s because you trust your friend. You are more inclined to take that first step to look into it.

Rather then toss them aside as you would for most other propositions that are blasted your way.

The ‘Trust’ factor. Remember it.

How To Establish THE Trust Factor

1. Communicate.

Talk to them. Understand their problems. And answer their every questions, queries and doubts.

Respond timely. Respect their time. Pay a lot of attention to their needs and try to fulfil them.

Leave a mailing address. And a number to for them to call you.

2. Low price product, high quality returns

This is a good technique you can use to let new customers bite the bait. And stay with you – all the way!

At first they may be wary of taking up a high value product or service with you.

What do you do?

Get them in on a lower priced one whereby the risk is significantly lower for them.

And when you provide high quality for that, they will go thinking if they can get such good returns for a low price they pay, what can they expect with a higher priced service? Going to be excellent for sure!

3. Testimonials and endorsements.

It is always more credible for your customers hear about your company for a 3rd party’s perspective.

That’s the power of social proof.

When they see people endorsing you, naturally they feel less risk to get something from you.

4. Support – help desk

This is more of an extension of point 1. If your customers want to buy from you, they feel much more assured knowing that you have a help desk and ready support readily available for them.

5. Privacy policy.

Nowadays, people are a cynical lot. They are afraid of being exploited. Being cheated. And being violated.

State your privacy policy up front. Tell them they can unsubscribe from your mailing list at anytime.

And that you will not sell, rent or exchange their data with any third parties.

These go a long way in reassuring them. Heck even if you don’t intend to fulfil them (Hey, I’m in no way encouraging you do that!), they will still trust you because you state it down in black and white.

6. A rock solid iron clad guarantee.

People are afraid of risk. As a service provider, you should try to lower the risk as much as you can for them.

A good money back guarantee is one very good way. It send out a strong message to your customers that you stand solidly behind your product.

And that all the risk is on you.

All else being equal, your customers are going to choose you ahead of your competitors who don’t provide a money back guarantee.

Still with me? Good!

I’ve listed 6 ways. Do you have any ideas of your own? Let’s discuss them together!

All success,

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Very interesting post.

I like to add that you should be personal. It’s probably what you are talking about at your number 1 point, because it’s very important that you communicate… but it’s also very important how you communicate.

Being personal will always be an advantage if you want to build trust between you and your customers.

Hi Jens,

Thanks!

With regards to being personal, I’m in 100% agreement!

How we communicate is very important as you pointed out.

Personalization is the way to go as far as clients, friends and subscribers are concerned.

We wanna reach out as a friend. Not a person who just sells coldly.

Thanks for your input, Jens!

Warmly,
Jag

I agree with what you have to say. But when building trust, i focus on just the quality of the product, make sure there happy with it. And i make sure i charge the same price of the same product for everyone with free money back guarantees.

Hi Steven,

Great. Keep it up. Focus on quality and at the same time, letting them understand that you are bearing the risk.

You cannot go wrong with that!

Cheers,
Jag

Trust is just as important as getting sales. If your clients are not happy and they don’t trust that you are able to deliver quality products and services, you’ll surely lose sales. So, these two must go hand in hand. Great article! :)

Hi Aurelius,

Thanks for dropping by! Absolutely. Trust goes hand in hand with sales.

You are yourself a great marketer!

Cheers,
Jag

Hi Jag,
Thanks!
I agree with you.Great post, keep up the good work.
thanks

Trust is the basis of any business, I agree. Thank you for the great tips. Trust is one of those things nearly anyone can agree on, yet easier said/agreed on than acted upon. To be perceived by others as trustworthy is something that must be achieved through actions that imply trustworthiness.

E-Commerce Guy,

Agree. Sometimes it is easier said than done. But once put into action, everything just falls into place.

My first point, communication is so vitally important to this.

Thanks for sharing your view!

Cheers,
Jag

Trust is crucial! I would add a few more things:

1. Have a Guarantee – odds are most people won’t need to use it but it’s good to have
2. Have terms of services but make them drop dead simple and short
3. Only put testimonials that have a name, company name, email and or phone number. It’s too easy to fake a testimonial so you need to allow people to call them and validate the testimonial!

Thats a very nice blog.

Trust is very much important for communication.

Your right re: the customers time being of value and returning answers to their questions promptly is of great aid in building trust !
I’m new in internet marketing and find your articles very helpful !
Thanks for sharing. James

I have to agree 100%. Trust is huge no matter what business you’re in. People that are able to communicate well are by far the easiest to trust.

It is very important to maintain establishment factors.

The above factors are quite responsible for marketing development. Great post.

Hi Personal Injury Lawyer,

You are completely right about going into specifics when it comes to testimonials.

There are so many fake testimonials which you can literally smell from millions of miles away!

Cheers,
Jag

Bar Los Angeles:

Great that you find my articles useful. Always nice to hear! =)
Thanks!

Colorado Lasik:

Communication is a major key. It is just amazing how some people overlooked the important point.

Not communicating = tonnes of lost potential sales!

Cheers,
Jag

Agreed, trust is the foundation of any relationship. Thanks for the great tips on establishing trust. Happy New Year all!

6. A rock solid iron clad guarantee.

Number six does it for me when I buy from someone else and so giving what I like to get I offer the same one hundred per cent money back satisfaction guarantee on the products I sell.

I have sold many items with this money back guarantee and have not experienced any significant attempts to take unfair advantage of my policy. Honesty really is the best policy!

A Traveler On The Journey!
Gene

Cheating spouse:

You are right. Trust is the foundation of any relationship.
Hmmm…but your nick don’t quite fit? =)

Gene:

Nice to hear you offer a money back guarantee. Many people are deterred from offering a guarantee because they fear unethical refundees.

Turn out the gain in income will far outweigh those who refund.

A guarantee generally helps a great deal in sales – thought I’ve to add a guarantee do not apply to certain kind of product (e.g. car.

Cheers,
Jag

I’d like to add one more :) But not too sure if it applies too well.

Sometimes, even when those 6 tips are in place, there are still doubtful prospects who are just afraid of getting scammed. So how does one deal with these?

7. Offer a preview of your product/package either in personal or in batches to those who are in that prospect group. It might be through email or whatsoever, but usually after gettin a preview, the prospects would inevitably have trusted the authority of your information and turn into customers!

:) Hope it helps,

Jasa

Hi Jasa,

Good idea. Offering a preview, or a teaser or a free trial is a great way to get their feet wet.

Once they see the quality, they will be more inclined to take on your service.

Good tip!

Cheers,
Jag

I am right with you on this one. If they trust you it really doesn’t matter what you could do. If someone feels comfortable with you having their money then thats all that matters.

Good articles. Great tips. Some of them Ive already knew some but knowlegde is never enough!

Kristin,

You are 100% right. We can never stop learning!

Keep your comments coming!

Cheers,
Jag

Thanks Jag for the response. I know, my name is eeffy, but my blog is to help cheating spouses. Anyways, I love your blog, look forward to more in ‘08!

Hi Eeffy,

Ahhhh… Nice name! Now I know who I’m talking to!

Thanks a lot Eeffy! I hope you will enjoy your stay here.

I promise more good stuff for you ok? Deal?

Cheers!
Jag

Thats a very nice informative post. Communicating with your customers is very important in any type of business.

The best way is to communicate with your customers no matter your business, ad show them that you really do care!

I think the biggest thing in sales is getting to know your customer. People like to do business with people they like.

Get to know your customer and think beyond the sale, make sure that you are building a long term relationship and not just trying to make a quick buck.

Vegas:

Absolutely right! People indeed like to do business with people they like. Because the trust is already being established.

Looking long term is the key.

Cheers,
Jag

i think one best way to build trust is to do a great job – i got clients who appreciate the effort that i put in and i was properly rewarded..

This old knowlege is known for everyone – trust is very much important for communication in every lever of life. In buisness as well. Ps. Good post, and nice blog!

Thesis, Markus:

Doing a good job really helps build the trust. The satisfaction on their face is everything to me!

Tells you that your hard work in building up the relationship and trust level is worth it!

Cheers,
Jag

For me, trust is about always providing helpful information. If your client has questions, you need to answer them for them with valuable information.

One more point to make about building a trust-bond. You have to sincerely want to build a trust-bond. If you think that you can “fake it” or trick the other person into trusting you then you will most likely fail.

Just my two cents :-)

Trust is an important issue in every business. Investing money into some starting business requires a lot of trust. Even an interview for a job should be based on it. If the employer hears the wannabe employee trash the last place he worked it’s clear that he won’t do well here either.

In my experience, giving and taking must be mutual. And if that continues to grow in time, with both sides giving and receiving, the trust can be born. And it always takes time.

One item that is critical to trust is legitimacy. If your store front / product / communication doesn’t appear legitimate you loose a lot of credibility and thus trust.

Lawn care,

Legitimacy is a key factor. That’s why badgets like e-trust or like other people’s branding is good.

When people come in and they recognize an established and familiar logo, you can reap the benefit of brand association.

Jag

Yes, definitely right on that. Trust is the major tie that binds the customer to the marketer…which leads to a high degree of confidence…and sales.

Unfortunately, it is a sad reality that there are some who couldn’t resist the temptation and abuse the trust of their customers.

Great post thanks for sharing your experience. Trust is the basis of any business.

Building relationships is hard. To get a customer to fully trust you even harder.

Great post. I believe you highlighted the 6 main keys to develop trust. As long as you focus on keeping the communication lines open, trust will naturally develop.

Yes really good post. Agree with you on majority of your statements. When it comes to money part then I would like add there will always be someone cheaper but its quality that counts. In the long run any customer will see that.

Great list…I like the point you made about the privacy policy. I think the use of a privacy policy goes a long way in developing trust between a company and its customers.

Great post. very knowledgeable.

Stephen Rolands last blog post..Links

your tips actually inspire me something. i am running a small business. honestly Im always thinking about some little tricks but not cheating. seems i did it in wrong way. honesty is way to build Trust Between You And Your Customers. thanks.

@Macy:

Glad to hear that. Trust is important. Communication is vital. Glad to see you positive steps forward to achieving this.

Good luck!

Warmly,
Jag