Online shopping is ridiculously convenient, making it a more popular option for a lot of people who are tight on time. There’s a vast array of options available to you at just a few clicks of the button, and you don’t even have to get up off the couch.
This convenience is fantastic. Convenience alone, however, doesn’t automatically win out. If you want the ecommerce part of your business to perform, there’s certain actions you need to take to build customer trust.
Businesses using Shopify have a huge advantage in design customization and flexibility. Shopify store owners should be using this to their advantage to build customer trust by including several key things on their site that users need to see before they’ll buy. In this post, we’re going to go over all 5 things that customers are most likely to look for before they purchase, and how to implement them on your Shopify store.
1. Reviews
Every where you turn, you’ve got a brand or business claiming they’re the best at something. We’ve got the best coffee brewer, the best ad results, the best dog adoption policy. Even though my generation grew up with everyone getting a participation trophy, even we typically know that most of these people are full of it.
Millennials especially, after all, trust brands now less than ever before. And we certainly don’t trust what brands have to say about their own products, at least as far is those products being the best.
You know who Millennials do trust, though? Other customers. That’s why user-generated content is so immensely valuable. All users (including Millennials) don’t just trust UGC, they actually seek it out when making purchasing decisions, and it will directly impact what they decide to purchase.
Make sure that you’ve enabled product reviews on your Shopify store, and you’ll see a significant increase in sales. These reviews should be placed prominently on each product page. If they have a picture or video attached, even better.
There are plenty of UGC-based Shopify apps and plugins that can help with this, but my personal favorite is Shopify’s own Product Reviews plugin (pictured both above and below). It’s free, and it makes it easy to put customer reviews on different product pages, all of which will be SEO optimized. You can choose which reviews you want to publish. These reviews will even match the store’s theme, so it will be seamlessly integrated.
2. High Quality Images or Videos
It can be difficult for mom and pop stores to compete with the big brands’ big, glossy, beautiful pictures. This is one area, though, that you can’t afford to take shortcuts.
If your pictures look anything less than perfect, users won’t purchase. It’s just the way that it is. Having images and videos that show what the product looks like, how it functions, and how large it is in scale next to other items can all help you get those sales.
Fortunately, it’s possible to shoot gorgeous, high quality images that will wow your customers with the smartphone in your pocket. If you’re making product videos, you can use video creation software like Shakr, which provides you with access to hundreds of product video templates that even come with background music and stock photos that you’re free to use.
3. Terms of Service
Some Shopify stores sell products, clean and simple. The customer buys a shirt, the business sends them a shirt. Nice and straight forward.
Others sell products or services that may be complicated enough that a Terms of Service is required (or at least a really good idea). Even if they don’t, having a terms and service or a privacy policy listed for users who purchase or sign-up for your newsletter is never a bad idea. Whether you’re selling a warranty or explaining the details of your subscription service, make your terms of service clear and easy to find on your site.
If you need customers to agree to your terms of service exclusively, or if you have different terms of service depending on the item purchased, checked out the Terms Checkboxes by Saio. You can see how it works here:
4. Secure Checkout
If you’re a random store online, this may be the number one thing customers look for. They want to know that their identity and their payment information will be secure. You haven’t build customer trust enough to get them to purchase if they don’t want to put in their credit card number.
Just having a secure checkout isn’t enough, you need to tell customers that it’s a secure checkout. I recommend using the McAfee Secure plugin, which is free. It scans your site for viruses and malware that could put customers’ information in jeopardy. It also gives you a small badge you can place visibly on your site to show customers that they can feel comfortable purchasing from you. This is a crucial step you need to build customer trust, so don’t skip it.
5. Return Policy
Want new customers to purchase from you? You need to make your return policy highly visible on your site. If your return policy is good, you should actually promote it as the selling benefit that it is.
A free return policy, for example, or a full return policy minus shipping makes it easier to build customer trust. They’ll see exactly what your terms for returns are, and that you believe in your product enough to back it up. Businesses with excellent return policies also lower the risk new customers take by purchasing from you. People are much more likely to buy that $50 item if they know they can return it if it doesn’t work, after all.
If you want to take this to the next level and really make the return process effortless for customers, you can use automated systems like the Returnly Online Product Returns Manager plugin. This plugin streamlines return management and makes it so easy for users to return products– they don’t even need to login to do so.
Final Thoughts
Building customer trust isn’t always easy, especially with new visitors, but it’s a necessity. It’s not as if today’s internet users are strapped for options, after all; if they don’t see everything they need to feel comfortable about purchasing with you, they’ll find another product in fifteen seconds or less. Make sure that your Shopify store has each of these 5 requirements that customers need to see before they’ll buy. If you do, your sales will increase in no time.
Need some help creating product videos for your Shopify Store? Check out our video templates and see what we can do to help.
