People are more likely to purchase products they believe in and trust. And how do you convince someone how good your products and services are without first gaining their trust?
The best way to gain a customer’s trust is through effective communication. Effective communication includes how you interact with your customers, how often you contact them, and how quickly you respond to their questions or complaints. These factors all contribute to how much your customers like and trust your organization.
One study even shows how you treat a customer in the first 7 seconds can determine how they perceive your business. If you want to learn how to build trust with customers, continue reading this article. We’ve got 15 tips and tricks that will help you succeed!
Need a break from the screen? Listen to our audio tutorial below!
15 tips for building customer trust
1) Create a personal connection
People appreciate having conversations with companies that engage with them on a personal level. When there’s a human element in how your business interacts with its customers, your customers trust you more.
To create a bond with your customers, start interacting with them like you would with a friend. Show them how much you care about their needs and how you can help solve their problems. This will build trust because they’ll see that you aren’t just in it for the sale, but because you’re genuinely trying to help them.
2) Have transparent pricing and policies
Customers will trust you more if they know how much everything costs without having to ask for it (e.g., there are no hidden fees). It’s also important how easy it is for them to understand how frequently they’ll be billed, how they can cancel their subscriptions, and how to reach customer support.
Trust is built with transparency, not secrecy!
3) Keep it simple
Customers don’t want to deal with overly complicated company processes. If there are too many steps involved in how to buy your products or reach customer support, most of them will probably lose interest and go somewhere else where things are simpler.
Earlier, we talked about how important it is that your pricing policies are easy to understand – well, that goes for everything! For example, if you have a help center on your website with dozens of articles about using one specific function, people might get overwhelmed by information overload.
Keep things simple!
4) Be consistent
Another effective strategy is to build trust with your customers by being predictable in how you act. People need to know what they can expect when working with your company.
For example, if you promise to always be there for your customers and resolve their complaints quickly, then make sure you stick with that. Customers will come back if they know they can rely on you and appreciate how easy it is to communicate with your brand.
5) Be honest and open about mistakes
A lot of businesses don’t realize that transparency brings people closer together. It opens up a line of communication between you and your customers.
Be honest and open about mistakes, how they can be avoided, and how your business plans to resolve them. As a result, your customers will appreciate how you’ve acknowledged their concerns and how you plan to improve your service.
6) Encourage customer feedback
Asking for feedback makes people feel valued, but it also helps improve you as a company. Don’t be afraid to ask how your customers feel about your products and services.
You might not like what you hear, but at least they’ll know how much you care about improving your processes.
7) Be professional
Professionalism is key to communicating with your customers. How you talk about yourself and how your business conducts itself plays a big role in how people perceive you.
This includes the language you use, how quickly you reply to emails, how your social media pages are managed, and how you deal with negative feedback or complaints.
8) Listen to build trust with customers!
Show your customers that you actually care about how they feel.
By listening to how your customers feel about your brand, there’s no doubt that they’ll appreciate how much consideration you’ve given them. And if you’re open to how your company can be improved, then you’ll likely discover new customer insights as well!
9) Think about the bigger picture
When you make decisions, always think about how they’ll affect everything and everyone involved: how they will impact your colleagues, your partners, and your customers.
Think of the bigger picture – the long-term benefits you’ll have by being considerate and ethical in your decision-making.
10) Go above and beyond for your customers
Your goals should be to meet and exceed your customers’ expectations. By going above and beyond, you build trust by demonstrating that your customers are valued and appreciated. Make customer service your competitive advantage, so competition becomes irrelevant.
Here’s a great list of strategies you can use to impress your customers!
11) Know how to apologize
One of the best ways to build trust with customers is to take ownership and apologize when things go wrong. If there’s one thing that people look for when feeling disgruntled, it’s how you fix the situation in order to make them happy again.
It’ll be much easier for your customers to trust you if they know how much consideration has been put into resolving their concerns or complaints.
12) Put yourself in your customer’s shoes
Take a step back and be objective when you’re looking at how your company is perceived. Imagine how your customer feels when they’re reading your website, how they feel when they have a question, and how they feel when they purchase your products or services.
By putting yourself in their shoes, you’ll get a better sense of how to build customer trust and understand their experiences.
13) Believe in your business
Believing in the quality of your product can help your customers believe in how well it will satisfy their needs. Enthusiasm is contagious! Show how much you believe in your business by being proud of the work you do.
When you’re positive and enthusiastic about your work, your customers feel more compelled to try out what you’re offering.
14) Get testimonials and referrals
If you build trust with customers, then they’re more likely to share positive feedback and refer their friends or family. This is how word-of-mouth marketing works, which might be the best type of advertisement because it’s free and reliable!
Online testimonials serve as social proof, meaning that other people will be encouraged to trust you because someone similar trusted your brand. Focus on providing value and high-quality service to build the reputation you deserve!
15) Keep track of everything
To build trust with customers, it’s important to be organized and save all customer records. A CRM system is a great way to keep track of all customer records, including details about any previous interactions, transaction history, or past problems that have been resolved.
Keeping organized records allows you to reference past communications and provide prompt solutions to better serve your customers.
Conclusion
By building trust with customers, you’re more likely to build long-term relationships that will turn into referrals and repeat customers. Trust is essential to the success of every business, and it all starts with you!
A business cannot survive without its customers! If you build customer trust, your brand image will improve dramatically, too. Always consider how your decisions might affect your company’s credibility in the eyes of your customer base.
You and the rest of your employees represent your organization. Make sure that everyone is well-prepared to build customer trust by always putting their best foot forward!
Want to learn more about building trust at work? Listen to this audio tutorial!
