Trust us!

Building trust is key for a business. If a customer finds that a company is trustworthy customers are more likely to buy from them and trust the advice that the business gives. Firstly trust needs to be established and then once this is established then a company can be seen as trustworthy.
Building rapport leads to building trust between customers and the company. In building rapport you must be patient and observe the other person. It needs to be subtle using these techniques to build rapport. Once rapport is built you can start changing people’s viewpoint more in line with your own. The key to building trust is to build a rapport with your customer.
One of the primary reasons that customers do not buy from a company is the lack of trust of the company. Even if the product has a superior quality, an excellent service or have the latest technology, if there is no trust in the company there will not be a sale. Trust is a major factor in whether a business will get the customers money.
There are a number of factors involved in building trust within a business. Firstly the company needs to be reliable, basically the company needs to do what it says it is going to do. Reliability itself can attract customers. The second factor is openness, this means giving the customer a truthful, candid answers to all their questions. Truthfulness is key to building trustworthiness and trust in a company.
The third factor is showing concern for customer asking question to show that you actually care about them. The company needs to show that they have a long term interest in the customer and their business. The final factor is being competent, this basically means the product or service must perform as expected. If it doesn’t then there will be no trust in the product or company. Google have become the biggest media company on the planet through simply doing its job well, helping people to find the information they need. It does this without bias to any one website. They don’t spend any money on advertising but they have a loyal base of user due to the fact they are good at their job.
Establishing trustworthiness can improve a company’s standing in the marketplace and also its marketshare. Trust is a key element; if a customer feels a company is trustworthy they will tell 3 people about it. But on the flipside if they feel the company isn’t trustworthy they will tell as many people as they can about it. Credibility is key for a company. Customer feedback sections are an excellent way that a company can build its trust with customers. It allows new users to get an idea for what the company is like and how it operates. The credibility is built up over time a repeatedly meeting customer expectations and even surpassing them.
In relation to a website the key element to building trust is to make the customer feel that they are safe on the website and they will not be ripped off. This can be done through secure access when paying for items and using such things as pay-pal and secure pay. Also they layout of a website can also be a factor in the credibility of a website. If it has clear and easy to use functions it will become more popular. This is because as more people use the internet for shopping and they expect to see certain links on the page. For example they expect to see the product in its relevant product category or brand and these categories to be listed on the home page. Also a keyword search is essential to allow the customer to search within your website and find the product they want quickly and easily. If you make the design and layout familiar to the customer they are more likely to shop on your website. Most of the more successful websites have a similar look but they have their own unique identity. Also minor improvements in the website can improve the credibility of a website, it shows that the site is always maintained and looked after well such as adding the time a date when the website was last updated. Also the speed of the website is key to the credibility of a website. The speed of the website is very important for the user. If there is a problem with the uploading of the website or it takes an age for the website to upload, the user will not return to the website. Customers do not want to wait for the website to purchase items.
For the website to be credible it needs to be findable, if a search engine cannot find your website then it may as well not exist.
Football website analysis
Liverpool Football Club- www.liverpoolfc.tv
Liverpool FC are one of the most famous football teams on the planet, with a worldwide fan base. They have a website to keep all their fans updated on the club. We are going to analyse the clubs website. We are going to find out what the layout is like, how much information is giving and the quality of the information and how often is the website updated. Also what is available on the website, such as club merchandise and ticket’s for matches.
Firstly we will look at the design of the website; its opening page gives the different areas of the website and other links regarding the club. It is done in the colour of the kits of the club red for the home kit and grey for the away kit. It also has the clubs crest in a prominent position on the page. It has links to its television channel, shop for merchandise, a link to its museum and tour and also a link to its twitter page. It has a very professional look with all the links easily accessible and the website is very fast. It has easy access and it is simple so the information you require is easily accessible.
Secondly we will look at how often it is updated. It seems to be updated very often because it has the latest results for the team and also it has the results for its players that are playing for their respective national teams. It has all the latest information on players, match results, league tables and the latest news on the team’s new stadium.
The services that are provided are there is a shop to buy Liverpool FC merchandise, there is a video section where the user can watch Liverpool matches from the past and recent matches. The online shop is easy to use and has a range of Liverpool merchandise and you can register in three easy steps.
The website is very fast which makes it very easy to use. The user can move to different part of the website very quickly and easily. Also the registering process is quick and simple after three easy steps you are registered and a conformation email is sent within seconds.
The problems with the site apart from it being about the scum from Liverpool! The size of the characters are very smaller and are difficult to read. There is no real range of football stories it concentrates on the positive aspects of the club and no negative news at all. Also there is no news on other football matters just Liverpool FC, which doesn’t allow for a balanced view but we believe that this was the aim of the creators of the website.



References

Pratt. N, (2006)'Travel Trade Gazete: build web loyalty by giving honest facts.'Feature sitemakers ,Hugo Burge
Wisniewski J., (2008) 'online credibility.' Internet librarian 24(2) p.57
liverpoollfc (2008) www.liverpoolfc.tv
Mikołaj M. ,(2009)"New Algorithms for Mining the Reputation of Participants of Online Auctions." Academic Search Complete 52(1)95-112(accessed March 29, 2009)