Imagine seeing a product on a marketplace for the first time. You know nothing about the brand, the quality of its products, or whether the product description matches reality.

Like most customers, you would probably start looking for customer testimonials, seeking any evidence that the brand is trustworthy.

But if you just started selling your products on e-commerce platforms, you have no sales yet, and therefore no testimonials or social proof to use, how do you bridge the trust gap to build confidence in potential buyers? It's a dilemma that almost every new entrepreneur faces.

In this article, we’ll share our top tips on how to gain trust and confidence from the most important people in your business.

Knowing how to gain customer trust is crucial to brand success. Constantly doing your best for your customers is the surest way to build customer trust and create a loyal client base.

Before customers buy from you, they need to trust that your messages and offering are genuine. They need to believe that what you’re selling is authentic and matches what you say it is. Also, if anything were to go awry, you’ll respond and support them fast enough.

Today's consumers are becoming increasingly critical of what companies are trying to sell them. According to a HubSpot study, more than half of customers (55%) now trust companies less than they used to.

Sure, at first glance, that's a pretty depressing statistic.

However, if you flip it around, you can see a golden opportunity. If you can provide better customer service than your competitors, you'll be a magnet for the 93% of customers who told HubSpot they would make repeat purchases from companies that offer excellent customer service.

Follow these 6 tips, and you’ll be well on your way to gaining a loyal client base.

Not so long ago, market research was considered something of a rarity. But now, in an age when consumers crave a personalized approach rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, it's more important than ever.

Conducting thorough research on your customers' needs, their common problems and pain points will help you develop customized solutions and messages that resonate with each individual case.

If you can demonstrate a deep understanding of their needs and provide a service that not only solves their problems but also provides added value, your customers are much more likely to trust you.

Know your audience to give your sales and marketing efforts a laser-like focus.

You must always remember that in the minds of customers there will always be a habit of buying things physically, where they can ask salespeople anything they want to know in order to better understand the product or service and your brand.

However, this is not the case when buying online: the contact is not physical, but virtual. It's very important that your online business retains the same human aspect as your brick-and-mortar business.

So spend some time creating a narrative about your brand and your values to introduce yourself to customers, so they understand and get to know you better. This will help eliminate customer skepticism about you and your brand.

The main goal is to help customers get to know you better as the person and brain behind the products, not just know the products.

You can also do this through social media by adding a human face to your brand along with interactive posts, images from your workplace. This can be an effective way to create a strong connection between customers and your brand.

Simply put, develop your business in a way that makes customers feel its human side.

The more customers know about what they're going to buy, the more likely they are to actually make a purchase.

Being specific helps - instead of saying "seasoning," it would sound much better to say "chicken and turkey seasoning".

Some things to add to the product description include:

• The exact dimensions of the product;
• The exact weight of the product;
• Product ingredients/materials of manufacture;
• Warranty information;
• Individual product features.

It's also helpful to have as many images and videos as possible demonstrating the quality of the product and its uses. This will help people visualize it in their own lives, and the clearer they see it, the more likely they are to believe that you can provide what you are talking about.

To learn more about how to make better product descriptions, be sure to check out
Product Content: 6 steps to win a customer

When was the last time you booked a hotel without checking reviews? Word-of-mouth recommendations are very important.

Power Reviews research shows that 95 % of consumers talk about the impact of reviews on their purchase decision. We trust other people's experiences, not company statements. Online reviews can help a customer get a strong and direct impression of a brand's products and its quality of customer service.

The average buyer needs to read 10 reviews before they trust a company. So use the power of recommendations by sharing positive reviews and responding to positive reviews (and negative ones, for that matter!) quickly and professionally to build a healthy reservoir of trust.

But these are not all the benefits of reviews on e-commerce platforms.

The search algorithms of marketplaces use positive ratings and reviews as a benchmark to gauge the popularity of a product and seller. The higher the number of positive reviews and ratings, the higher the percentage rating a seller gets. That in turn compels the algorithm to place the seller towards the top of the search results page.

Therefore, reviews have a double benefit for you and should be a priority if you are a new seller on the marketplace.

When we talk about reviews, we usually mean reviews in any format. But in this case, we would like to separately mention such an invaluable tool as video reviews.

Embracing the power of "word of mouth," video testimonials can be a powerful means of demonstrating the merits of your products and the excellence of your service.

Satisfied customers who are willing to speak on tape and speak lyrically about their experience with your company are a much more compelling and engaging proposition than if you were trying to convey the same thing to the consumer yourself.

Consumers trust unbiased opinions more than corporate messages, so testimonial videos can be a great tool for convincing customers to buy your business.

Especially in the video, potential customers see a real person just like them-and that's doubly credible.

As cliché as it may seem, communicating with customers is really a two-way street.
One of the most effective ways to build trust with customers is simply to "listen": to take for granted and respond positively to customer feedback.

Many trusted experts say you can't build a successful business without enabling, empowering and responding positively to customer feedback.

Receiving and responding to feedback in the first place shows that you're interested in working with customers, looking out for their interests and striving to provide the best possible experience

And how you respond to that feedback is just as important. Be positive in the face of criticism, try to understand the problem and make every effort to fix it. Offer product support and personal recommendations rather than boilerplate responses.

This is invaluable and makes customers feel heard.

Trust is the first step to winning a customer, especially when you're just beginning your sales journey. Companies that know how to build customer trust and develop long-term relationships with customers are more likely to benefit.

There are no shortcuts or secrets to building customer trust. It's very simple: make your customers your top priority at all times.

By following the tips above, you'll quickly achieve your first sales, turning "buyers" into "long-term" customers.

If you want to get more feedback on your products and content made by your real customers but don't know where to start — Good Goods is the best-proven solution for your problem.
Contact us through our website and join our community of happy customers with strong, scalable results.