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For a long time, User Experience designers were at a loss on why their painstakingly built website with comprehensive information did not get the required response from the visitor. Studies indicated that only 2 to 2.5 percent out of the first-time visitors who constitute almost 80 percent of the visit to the site become the customers. The rest of the first-time visitors leave the site within 50 milliseconds or so. This high bounce rate ratio is indeed disheartening and something needs to be done about it.
Improved technologies such as eye-tracking methods have helped to identify what the prospective customer looks for on the landing page and which parts of the website get his or her maximum attention. Based on such research, UX designers have concluded that most of the time, first-time customers look for the trustworthiness of the website. It is human to be skeptical about what seems too good to be true, even if it is true.
So what can make the landing page of the website trustworthy? Researchers were able to identify a few related and unrelated components on the about page that fostered trust.
Following is a list of 6 such components noticed on the about us pages of some websites which helped in building the trust relationship with the first-time visitor to the site.
Table of Contents
1. Age of the business
First-time visitors possibly reckon that if the business has survived for as long as it has done, then it must be trustworthy enough for existing clients to continue patronizing it. Another reason for long-standing businesses to inspire such confidence is experienced in the business line which is, by default presumed to be lacking in new businesses. Moreover, first-time visitors expect the long-standing business to have devoted enough resources to any new development in the field, which is an expensive proposition for any new business. Note that the visitor infers such things rather than makes up his or her mind after reading anything. Effectively, the UX developer can afford to avoid cluttering up the page with such details. Instead, access to such details may be given in a link on the page.
2. Including trustworthy icons & logos
Over a period, some services and Internet-related tools have become synonymous with reliability.
A business might be associated with some recognized partners or networks. I can be leveraged to your advantage. If you’re a member of the Better Business Bureau, local chamber of commerce, or business networks such as BNI, ask your web agency to make that count.
If your business is certified by ISO or some other organizations, flaunt it. In addition, make good use of these are Paypal and Verisign if your website uses them for payment processing. These icons, if included on the About Us page, automatically impart a sense of trustworthiness to the business. McAffee is another such icon that many people consider reliable. The eye-tracking methods used have indicated which part of the screen gets the maximum attention of the visitor. If icons of such reliable businesses with whom the company has some association, or whose services the company is availing, can be inserted in the specific part of the screen that is eye-catching, the visitor would unwittingly begin trusting the content of the website.
3. User testimonials, blogs, press releases
Giving access to a link that provides such information can increase the trust of the visitor, who subconsciously trusts the testimonials and other press releases. Press in particular is something that people repose immense trust on. They expect that if something was wrong with the business, it would have received bad remarks in the press.
4. Founders & Team
Your target customers may hail from big corporates or fortune 500 companies, however, they are all humans. They would like to know as much as possible. It would help a great deal if you give some information about the core people and team on the about page.
5. The layout, content, and ease in searching the required information
As mentioned before, too much information can lead to clutter on the landing page. Such concentrated information can be a bit overwhelming for the visitor, especially if he or she has been surfing for a while and reading a lot. Everybody likes choice, and the visitor is no exception. Therefore, UX developers should let the visitor decide what he or she wants to read, and in which sequence. Minimal links for the content can be provided on the home page. Lesser content also raises fewer doubts in the minds of the visitors. While organizing the content, however, the UX designer needs to establish sequential access. Cleanliness in presentation scores with visitors, as do colors. Users are not looking for complex features. That fad has passed. Now, it is strictly business. In fact, battery consumption of handsets increases with more elaborate websites. That can be avoided by offering excessive information or organizing information in such a way that the battery charge consumed is minimal. Content too needs to be honest, and straight from the heart. It has to be something with which people identify.
6. USP & Benefits
The website may have many features and benefits to lure the prospective customers, but information about such benefits needs to be highlighted as the visitor may not search for such information. Striking benefits for example are free shipping, ease in transacting online, the ability to track the order, and the bill me option. Similarly, today’s deal and shopping cart are also known to capture the visitor’s attention, for no good reason than it is an unexpected benefit on offer.
Conclusion
It is necessary to convert more visitors to the website into customers of the business. The existing statistics of 2 customers for 100 visits is appalling. Since trustworthiness has already been determined as the factor that tilts the balance in favor of the business, more should be done to make the websites perceived as trustworthy. However, trust is not the only factor that can convert the visitor into a customer. The website does have to load easily on different devices, and should not take a long time for loading either. While a simplistic approach is a current trend in website development, anything that is without style may also be avoided by the visitor. The user also expects the same experience on the handset as he or she experiences on desktops. Effectively, the UX designer does have to consider resolutions and breakpoints so that the pages uploaded on any type of device are the same.
