Do you have a small business in which you’re struggling to build customer trust? If so, you’re not alone, for many entrepreneurs this can prove to be a common challenge. Large companies, corporations, and chains can often have a much easier time when it comes to building trust with customers, making it less of an uphill climb. But just because it’s a common challenge, it doesn’t mean there aren’t workable and effective solutions you can apply.
Here we’ll take a look at some practical tips that will help your small business to improve customer trust, which can then grow your sales and your customer base in general.
Get On the Social Networks
If your business hasn't yet set up accounts on popular
social networks such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, it's time to get moving. Having a strong and positive social media presence can prove to be pivotal in building trust and authority. These accounts help to lend a sense of professionalism to your business and help where outreach is concerned.
The key to using this tip in an effective manner is that you need to be consistent about posting content. It’s not good enough to post content once in a while, with no regular schedule. The best way to engage with people and get noticed is to post on a regular basis. Of course, the content also needs to be relevant, engaging, and interesting.
There’s a good chance that by posting on a regular basis, you’ll start to build a following, which you’ll also want to engage with. Engagement helps to build your following and get your content shared.
Make Customer Service a Top Priority
You always wear about making this and that a "top priority" in your business, but in all reality customer service is something that can make or break your business. It can help you to create a trustworthy and strong brand image, or it can hurt you. Often, you only get one chance to make a lasting impression on your customers, so you can never take it for granted. The customer always needs to come first.
What does “good” customer service look like? It means being available to your customers, answering their questions and concerns in a timely and complete manner, and not letting issues slip through the crack. In many cases, this can mean it’s necessary to hire customer service reps, or even consider outsourcing if that makes more sense for your business.
Show Off Credentials and Certificates
Another way you can start to build trust with your customers is to ensure that you make it clear about any credentials and certificates your business has. A certificate of insurance is one that you can show off as it provides a sense of trust, reliability, and even authority, despite the fact your company is just a small venture. For entrepreneurs, this type of certificate shows professionalism and can even help you to stand out from the competition.
Ask Customers to Leave Reviews and Testimonials
An incredibly effective way to promote trust in your company is by posting customer reviews and testimonials on your website. This means you need to encourage customers to leave this content, which may require some sort of incentive.
Give Back to Customers with a Loyalty Program
You can also start to build trust and even loyalty in your small business by giving back to your customers in the form of a loyalty program. These types of programs act as an incentive for customers to shop/do business with you, and it shows that you value their business. A loyalty program may be all it takes to give you the edge over the competition, as you are able to offer that extra bonus to customers.
As for what kind of loyalty program to create, that’s really up to you, your business model, the industry, and the products/services you are offering. It could be a discount that you offer, a points reward system, free products, early access to new launches, and so on.
Creating Trust in Your Business is Do-Able
Thanks to tips like these, creating and improving the customer trust in your small business is more than do-able, and really it can be done in a short time when you combine all these tips together.