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TRUST -
The Key to Sales Conversion
Wise Marketing for Maximum Results

Developing Trust
In the old days where trust was a given, selling was simple. No longer. Trust has to be earned and developed.

Trust is developed by demonstrating integrity -- following through on your business promises, delivering a quality product or service when and how you promised it such that you meet or exceed the customer's expectations.

Advertising to Build Trust
Beyond the surface lies the more important question -- How can my advertising generate trust?

Foremost, your advertising must project the best image to attract your ideal customer. The look and feel of all your business communications from your web site to your business card to your brochure to your on-hold phone message, must be integrated and focused to send a trustworthy message.

How do I Attract My Ideal Customer?
Keep your message simple: Recommending that an e-tailer simplify their site navigation to increase sales conversion is probably the most often-repeated advice in e-commerce. It's like your mother telling you to eat your vegetables -- it's a constant.

But it's still true, especially as the Web matures and sites offer shoppers a blizzard of choices. It's important to streamline your site so shoppers get what they're looking for as soon as possible.

If you haven't presented a compelling sales pitch by the third web page, your conversion rate falls and eighty percent of your visitors will leave your site.

"Your goal is to minimize the amount of clicks and the amount of work to complete checkout," Seacrist said. Think about removing non-essential questions in the checkout process. Do you need to offer all those e-mail sign-up options?

E-commerce superstars Amazon and eBay are not the prettiest sites, Berkowitz noted, because they've placed functionality above cosmetic appeal. Despite lacking Flash and limited other rich media, they're efficiently giving people what they want.

Amazon's "1-Click" ordering technology demonstrates an undeniable truth: simplicity improves conversion. Provide value by being the shortest distance between the customer's want and its fulfillment.

More Trust Equals More Conversion
Before customers give you sensitive information -- credit card number and home address -- they need to feel it's a safe thing to do. A shadow of doubt decreases your conversion rate.

At the point of sale, shoppers need to see a brief security and privacy guarantee. You need to reassure them their information won't be sold and they won't be spammed into oblivion.

And any guarantees about return policy or merchandise quality should be in plain English rather than legalese, Berkowitz noted. "Even if your lawyers say you need to have this 20-page window to scroll through, you can still put the top five bullet points on top."

Also aiding the trust factor are the logos that many e-tailers display to prove they're approved by third party verifiers. Logos from companies like TRUSTe, Verisign and BBB Online help reassure buyers that you're not a scam artist operating offshore.

"Very few of those options will break the bank, and what they can do at the shopping cart page is phenomenal," Berkowitz said.

Reward Your Repeat Customers
The people who've bought from you in the past are good people; they're smarter and better looking than the average person -- or at least they should believe that you think so.

It's obvious, but it's true: Romancing your repeat buyers is one of the easiest ways to bump up conversion.

"It amazes me how many sites don't pay attention to their repeat customers," Eisenberg said. "It's a huge problem that so many sites don't have a large percentage of repeat customers."
The methods of pampering repeaters are myriad -- from the kind of message you send with the product, to the sorts of discounts you offer (you are offering them discounts, aren't you?).

But whatever you do, remember that the resources spent on previous customers can cost you less in the long run than acquiring new customers.

Again, this hinges on trust. Why it is easire to get repeat business than new business? Because of simplicity and trust. It is simpler to use a known vendor that did a satisfactory job than to start anew. If you show yourself trustworthy, you work less to get the business.

Think about Free Shipping
In selling products on-line, if you offer free shipping, you'll see an immediate and direct boost in conversion, experts say. Forrester Research's Carrie Johnson calls free shipping "the Holy Grail" of e-commerce, noting that it's a hugely attractive sales persuasion techniques.

Trust is Essential
Think about it, trust is required in every business relationship and every transaction. Everything from a hair cut to a bank loan is founded upon trust.

Just look around, banks know that trust is king. What do they call their mutual funds? Securities. What do they call a fund guaranteed to be released on preset terms? A trust fund.

What do you do when you close a business deal? The hand shake is now an icon. The origin of the handshake is an action demonstrating that you have no weapon in your hand. It is the heartbeat of trust.

Trust is King
In this electronic age, where face-to-face transactions are infrequent and identity theft abounds, generating the trust to complete a sale is harder than ever.

Selling a commodity, such as a bicycle requires one level of trust (in the durability of the product, in the service after the sale of the bike shop). Increase the dollars and the trust must likewise increase -- change from a bike to buying a house for example. Think of all the paperwork involved in buying a house -- the contracts and insurance and financials -- that are all a direct result of trust or the lack thereof.

Selling a service requires a different level of trust (such as choosing your lawyer or CPA). The more is at stake, the higher the faith and trust factor have to be.

Trust Found
When Covenant Designs provides Graphic Design, Marketing, and Web Development or Web Site Positioning services, our clients trust us. They know their image is in our hands, and that their marketing and profitability goes hand in hand with their profits. We respect that trust, honor it, and are committed to delivering tremendous value. We would want the same in return.

We work hard so that you thrive. We know you measure success by results, and so do we.

To start a business relationship with Covenant Designs,
call 214-703-0360.

> learn more: contact Covenant Designs