Online Success for Businesses Starts with Trust

The Internet has profoundly revolutionized all aspects of our lives, both personal
and professional. It has literally opened up communication with a whole new
world, a place in which many people spend almost as much time engaged in as
in their physical one. While this new world is exciting for online business, laying
the groundwork for establishing trust is imperative. Webster’s defines “Trust” as
a “Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing.” Trust
is an essential component to any good relationship, particularly in people-
powered industries such as consulting, recruiting, education, childcare,
healthcare, and professional services.

Jupiter Research, one of the leading providers of research on Internet commerce,

recently revealed studies that showed 64 percent of online consumers are
unlikely to trust a website (Peckham). How do you successfully beat these odds
and reflect your firm’s honesty and your people’s authenticity to your clients?

Top 10 Tips for Successfully Establishing Trust in an On-Line

Environment

1) Use referrals as trust builders. This tried and true classic method is
still one of the best business moves to make. Ask satisfied customers to
serve as references and include quotes.

2) Solicit online feedback to establish your reputation. On your

website, include a place for comments. Although eBay is probably not a
site you would market your services through, it does provide an example
of how rating systems can build up a businesses’ reputation online and
help them profit. As iKarma’s CEO Paul Williams stated, “People (on eBay)
with an established reputation, as opposed to those without a reputation,
made 20 percent more sales with an average of 10 percent higher cost.”
(CNET website)

3) Encourage your employees to list their affiliation to your company

on their professional social network profiles. When people are the
“product,” social networks such as LinkedIn provide an outlet for the six
degrees of separation to be played out for corporate members. Displaying
connections to other people of integrity is an opportunity for your
employees to show their credibility. Taking advantage of this system can
expand your network to tens of thousands or more.

4) Provide value in your field. Become an expert in your area of

specialty, and volunteer to help others in your field. Offer online classes or
coffee webinars (you could offer participants’ gift cards to Starbucks or
other coffee shops) on topics related to your firm. Contribute articles or
other helpful resources. Start a blog on your own web site or use a third
party service like Blogger. Host a meet up on Meetup.com. Volunteer to
give talks or host workshops through your local Chamber of Commerce or
similar groups.
5) Spend time and money on the creation of a well-designed
website. According to TheWebforBusiness.com, “If your site is graphics
heavy, takes a long time to download, doesn't have intuitive navigation,
contains broken links, relies heavily on plug-ins that users have to
download separately or has other design features that make it difficult for
visitors to find the information they're looking for, they will leave.” A well-
designed website requires substantial investment (Kirmani and Rao/Yunjie
et al Research Paper). However, like a physical storefront, it also “suggests
the care the business has taken to offer a better purchase experience to
customers (Gefen 2003), and the technical and financial strength of the
company.” McKnight et al. (2002) and Gefen found empirical evidence that
the web design affects a client’s trust.

6) Be transparent. Make it clear to your customers what they can expect

and do not purposefully withhold information or accidentally leave your
clients in the dark. A study from the Wharton School of Business found
that the more you demonstrate your intentions and remain transparent
early on, the likelier you are to build trust with new parties.

7) Prominently display reputable affiliations. On your site, display any

business certification seals you have the rights to use, such as those of
the Better Business Bureau or Chamber of Commerce membership, and
the logos of reputable business partners. The saying about getting to
know more about a person based on who his/her friends are holds equally
true in the corporate culture. Displaying your affiliations also helps to
signal that you have been vetted by outsiders.

8) Hire people you can trust. An ADP survey in 2003 revealed that over
50% of job seekers submit resumes with employment or education claims
that are later found to be false. What are the best tools to expose false
information? According to recent surveys, between 25-30% of all
managers rely on a simple search engine to check a potential employee’s
credibility. (Bowers) The problem with this is that there are many people
with the same name, and information on the internet can be faulty. It is a
risky resource at best, especially considering that The Association of
Certified Fraud Examiners reports that Occupational fraud and abuse costs
organizations about $600 billion a year, or roughly 6% of gross
revenues. To help remove some of the doubt, use a background screening
service to check candidates’ backgrounds and verify their credentials and
references, making sure to get permission from the candidates before you
investigate.

9) Handle, do not hide from, negative press, buzz, and feedback in

a timely manner. Not all clients may be satisfied with your services all of
the time. Humans, and therefore people-powered companies, make
mistakes by nature; it is through our handling of our mistakes that our
true characters are revealed. Immediately address any negative publicity
by stating very specifically how your company will rectify the situation,
and then follow your word. According to Mari Peckham, it is a fact that “98
percent of people will continue to use a business even AFTER they have
 had a problem, if their problem was resolved in a prompt and courteous
manner.” Make sure this news is broadcast in all appropriate venues.

10) Protect your clients’ privacy by creating a secure online

environment. Produce a privacy policy and make sure users know about
it. If you handle user logins, use login protection similar to that used by
banks for online transactions including security questions, IP recognition,
and image prompts. Vidoop is an interesting service that makes some of
this easy to accomplish. Use encryption to protect data transfers, and
make sure your servers are firewalled. Consider getting McAfee Secure
certification to further protect your users. Appoint a privacy and security
officer and periodically subject your firm to an internal and external audit.

The rules for navigating and conducting business online are evolving and
continue to be defined, and the above tips are just a starting point.
Regardless of what new technologies develop, however, one principal which
will always remain is the importance of establishing trust with customers and
clients.
This article is sponsored by Crederity, Inc., a web-based trust-building
company that offers online identity and credential verification to people-
powered companies. Visit Crederity.com to sign up for a free beta account or
contact Crederity by e-mail at info@crederity.com for more information.

Resources Cited:

Bowers, Toni blog “Bringing in the Big Guns to Defend Your Reputation Online”
June 21, 2007. May 26, 2008
<http://search.techrepublic.com.com/search/success+and+toni+bowers.html>

Building Initial Online Trust: A Social Learning Theory Perspective and

Application on Brick-and-Click Companies. Xu Yunjie, Kim Hee-Woong, Padmal
Vitharana, Research paper, National University of Singapore. April 15, 2004. May
23, 2008. <http: www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~xuyj/paper/XU_iot_2004.pdf>

Gefen, D., 2003. Trust and TAM in online shopping: an integrated model. MISQ
27(1) 51-99.
(as appears in Building Initial Online Trust: A Social Learning Theory Perspective
and Application on Brick-and-Click Companies article referenced above)

Kirmani, A., Rao A.R. 2002. No pain, no gain: a critical review of the literature on
signaling
unobservable product quality. Journal of Marketing 64 66-79. (as appears in
Building Initial Online Trust: A Social Learning Theory Perspective and
Application on Brick-and-Click Companies article referenced above)

McKnight, D.H., Choudhury, V., Kacmar, C. 2002b, “The Impact of Initial

Consumer Trust on Intentions to Transact With a Web Site: A Trust Building
Model”. Journal of Strategic Information Systems 11 297-323. (as appears in
Building Initial Online Trust: A Social Learning Theory Perspective and
Application on Brick-and-Click Companies resource referenced above)

Peckham, Mari. “Creating Trust” on Online Business Help. Jan. 20, 2004. May 23,
2008 <http://tools.devshed.com/c/a/Online-Business-Help/Creating-Trust/ >

Terdiman, Daniel. Start-up lets sites track user karma. March 2, 2006. June 12,
2008.
<http://news.cnet.com/Start-up-lets-sites-track-user-karma/2100-1032_3-
6045265.html>

Trust Building Among Strangers: An Experimental Investigation of Mutual Trust

and Trustbuilding. Hua-Ho Teck and Keith Weigelt. Research paper as Published
in Knowledge @Wharton September 28, 2000
<http:www.knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu>

Web for Business.com website. May 23, 2008.

<http://www.thewebforbusiness.com/articles/develop/online-trust-
credibility.shtml>