Good usability is key, but it’s time to design for trust. At the end of the day, consumer trust in a brand is what keeps them coming back. Consider Amazon’s loyal consumers—not only has Amazon managed to build trust with their customers in the United States—they continue to grow and adapt to consumer needs. They keep their products at a great rate, offer fast delivery and their return process is effortless. Should you need to contact their customer service for any reason, you’re met with knowledgeable reps who will solve your issues right away. Amazon has grown so much that for many people, it’s a one stop shop—and that happens to be the case for me. I trust Amazon to keep me informed of my deliveries, any delays and refund statuses. I’ve hardly ever had to contact their customer service department but when I have, a resolution is reached within minutes. I can’t say the same for other ecommerce websites, so I always turn to Amazon—as do millions of other Americans.
It’s easy to create a website that’s user friendly—it’s time to focus on creating websites that provide users with more engaging, compelling and effective content. Human Factors created an entire design toolkit specifically targeted to aid designers with these three factors. The diagram below illustrates some of the core factors in this process.
Part of building trust is also keeping consumers informed about data—what is being collected, why it’s being collected and how it’s used. Consumers are becoming less trusting of companies and are reluctant to share minor data like their e-mails or even phone numbers. Privacy and data collection have been in the news over and over again with no resolution—it’s time to change that.
Consumers are looking to brands to do more and be better. It’s not enough to just provide a product, consumers want the brands they support to have a social impact—with so many incredibly necessary movements arising, brands are expected to take a stand or lose their customers, brands are expected to be consistent, open and as transparent as possible. A website that just has products or services for sale isn’t enough and the way the website is designed also plays a huge factor with the consumer. Consumers want to be able to see all the website has to offer including any subtexts or hidden privacy notices, clearly. With the importance of data and data collection rising, companies will want a competitive advantage by collecting the most data. In order to do so, they need to win their customers over through transparency and trust.
Sources:
Enginess. (2020, January 13). How Web Design Affects Customer Trust. Retrieved from https://www.enginess.io/insights/How-Web-Design-Affects-Customer-Trust
Gubaidulin, I. (2016, November 7). Designing for Persuasion, Emotion and Trust. Retrieved 2020, from https://uxdesign.cc/designing-for-persuasion-emotion-and-trust-cdac44c61d53
Morey, T., Forbath, T., & Schoop, A. (2015, May). Customer Data: Designing for Transparency and Trust. Retrieved 2020, from https://hbr.org/2015/05/customer-data-designing-for-transparency-and-trust
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