Why Users Don’t Trust Your Content
Two of the most important pages that go neglected, coming from a study by Derek Edmond and Casie Gillette of KoMarketing Associates, happen to be the contact information and “about” pages?
You would imagine these two pages are the staple of any website, but many small business owners have allowed these two items to slip, which causes a huge distrust with those interested in the brand.
The idea is based on the idea of trust, which David Amerland had covered extensively in his book Google Semantic Search: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques That Get Your Comany More Traffic, Increase Brand Impact, and Amplify Your Online Presence.
From his own words: “Closely associate your company and brand with trust and great reputation.”
Many businesses have taken to social media as a form of building transparency and the inclinations of trust, but the research from Edmond and Gilllette seem to prove otherwise:
Since social has been in the light these past few years as a front-runner for building trust, it’s natural that many businesses have placed a great deal of importance on the platforms. Further examination of this idea of building trust, however, has found that the traditional elements of a website were the ones that were best at fulfilling this need for trust:
As you can see by the graph, it appears that the lack of contact information, message, and other elements such as it being DIY were the main culprits as to why someone may back out of the site due to the feeling of “lack of credibility.”
Much of these same issues appear when individuals are questioning whether the site is a “waste of time,” which can be seen in this breakdown:
As it turns out – nearly 52% of the respondents in this survey said they back out and never return because they aren’t able to contact or learn about the company (through an About page).
How does one company go about fixing these issues?
As it shows it’s heavily reliant on a mixture of email, phone, and contact forms. Other elements such as live chat, scheduling an appointment, and social media play a role too, but not as greatly as the former three. The first is so important that 68% of respondents said that “company address and contact information” is “critically important” when wanting to work with a vendor.
In relation to the “users not trusting your content” it can be summarized through the following…
People want to do business with companies that have reputation and ones which are easily accessible in the event they need to get into contact.
Social media, as great as it can be, does not hold the same level of engagement as picking up the phone, sending an email, or even using live chat to contact a business.
The important pages, like the contact and about, should not be neglected in any way considering how easy they are to create; prospects use them to gauge the trust of the business and if they are omitted, then it’s likely the individuals will back out and find another company that provides this information.
In all, by creating the important pages and leaving those important channels open for communication, all other efforts placed into the content creation will be (generally) well received. An individual will feel the information is genuine because the brand behind the message is ready and willing to provide the appropriate customer service. By creating this trust, all else falls in line.
So… have you been neglecting your contact or about page? Don’t wait longer. Get them updated for the new year so you can be assured you’re not driving individuals away because they are vapid.
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Image by Jamierodriguez37
