How to Build Brand Credibility for Your eCommerce Website

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If you have a new eCommerce website, earning the trust of your website visitors can be difficult. Many online shoppers will stick to big-name sites like Amazon because they know they can trust them. To get consumers to trust your business, you need to build brand credibility.

According to the Association for Consumer Research, brand credibility is defined as “the believability of the product information contained in a brand, which requires that consumers perceive that the brand have the ability (i.e., expertise) and willingness (i.e., trustworthiness) to continuously deliver what has been promised.”

So, if your online store is new on the scene, how do you boost your brand credibility and get more consumers to choose your online store?

Here’s how to build brand credibility for your eCommerce website.

Use Social Proof

Social proof is one of the best ways to build brand credibility for your eCommerce website. Social proof is a phenomenon where people look to the actions of others to decide what action they should take. For instance, say there’s two new restaurants in town. One restaurant has a lineup down the block and the other is empty. Which restaurant will you dine at? Obviously the one with the lineup because it must be amazing! You can use social proof in a similar way to get shoppers to choose your online store.

There are a few different types of social proof you can use to build credibility such as:

  • Online Reviews
  • Testimonials and Case Studies
  • User-Generated Content
  • Social Media Shares
  • Number of Happy Customers/Products Sold

Online reviews and product ratings are especially important for eCommerce websites. According to social proof statistics, in 2018, 53% of Americans considered product reviews and ratings crucial in their online shopping experience.

So, start collecting reviews for your eCommerce store. If you’re running your online store on WordPress and WooCommerce, one of the best WordPress plugins for online reviews is YITH WooCommerce Advanced Reviews. This plugin lets your customers leave reviews and ratings and customers can even add images to their reviews.

When your website visitors see that other shoppers are happy with your products, they won’t hesitate to buy from you.

Provide Superior Customer Service

The key to any successful eCommerce store is great customer service. Providing superior customer service is the best way to build credibility with your audience. When your customers know that you’ll take care of them any time they have an issue, they’ll have no problem buying from your online store again and again.

But, not only do you have to provide friendly and helpful customer service, it has to be speedy too. Customers today want their questions answered fast—lightning fast. According to HubSpot Research, 90% of customers rate an “immediate” response as important or very important when they have a customer service question. And 60% of customers define “immediate” as 10 minutes or less.

So, how do you provide “immediate” customer service around the clock? The answer is with live chat. Using live chat software you can give your website visitors an easy way to get in touch with your business day and night. If you don’t have enough support staff to offer 24/7 live chat, don’t worry. You also have the option of outsourcing your live chat or using a chatbot to handle customer inquiries for you.

Start Blogging

Blogging is not only a great way to drive traffic to your site, but if you provide helpful content for your audience it can demonstrate your thought leadership in the industry and build your brand credibility. A blog can also help you show social proof via social share counts and comments. Additionally, blogging is a great way to develop a relationship with your audience; they can tune into your blog on a regular basis to read what you have to say.

As an eCommerce website owner you can create blog posts like:

  • Staff Picks and Favorite Products
  • Industry Trends
  • How-To’s
  • Product Roundups and Lists
  • Product Reviews
  • Gift Guides

So, your blog posts can help you build brand credibility and help you generate more sales too.

Create an Engaging “About Us” Page

If you own an eCommerce website, you’ve probably spent a lot of time creating an eye-catching homepage and great-looking product pages. Your “About Us” page wasn’t your main focus. But did you know that your “About Us” page is one of the most important pages on your website? As stated by Rapid Boost Marketing, the “About Us” page is the second most visited page on websites after the homepage.

Your website visitors will head to your “About Us” page to find out more about the person behind the company. So, you need to create an engaging “About Us” page that shows your audience who’s behind the scenes and why they should trust you.

Your “About Us” page should include:

  • A Photo of You/Your Team – Putting a face to the name will help your website visitors feel like they know you. So, add photos of you and your team.
  • Your Backstory – Give website visitors a brief but engaging backstory of how your business got its start.
  • Company Values – Share your company values and beliefs on your “About Us” page to make your company stand out from the rest.

When your website visitors feel like they know you, they’ll be more likely to trust you and become a lifelong customer.

Over to You

With these tips for building brand credibility for your eCommerce website, soon you’ll have a ton of new trusting customers. And when you have loyal, trusting customers, they’ll become brand advocates for you, recommending your online store to their family and friends. With brand credibility you can grow your small online business to new heights.

Syed Balkhi
Syed Balkhi is the founder of WPBeginner, the largest free WordPress resource site. With over 10 years of experience, he’s the leading WordPress expert in the industry. You can learn more about Syed and his portfolio of companies by following him on his social media networks.

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