How To Make Visitors Comfortable With Online Purchases

The amount of people that are doing their shopping online continues to increase rapidly. Ecommerce websites will continue to take a higher percentage of sales from brick & mortar stores as shoppers realize & appreciate the convenience & ease of online shopping.

For those who shop online or have considering making purchases over the internet security is major concern. If the person browsing the site does not feel comfortable providing their personal information the sale will be lost.

For any business that hopes to make sales online establishing trust should be a priority. When users have no hesitation to trust the seller & provide the necessary information the business has a chance to succeed.

Here you’ll see six ways that you can tackle the issue of security concerns & put your visitors at ease.

1. Show You Security Credentials

Most online shops use services like Verisign to process payments in a safe & secure manner. If this is the case show visitors that this is what you are doing. You have probably seen plenty of websites that show a Verisign banner to show that payments are secure. This is good idea.

2. Build Your Reputation

People tend to trust well-known brands that they recognize. For example not too many shoppers these days are hesitant to make a purchase at Wal-Mart’s website because they know Wal-Mart is reputable business.

While you may not be able to build a brand name that is globally recognized if you can get to the point where those in your target market are familiar with your brand they are likely to have increased trust.

3. Provide a Guarantee

Some online sellers try to put visitors at ease by offering a money back guarantee & by publishing the details on their website. This can help but guarantees are only as good as the company that stands behind them. Adding a guarantee isn’t a bad idea but don’t rely on it as your only method of encouraging visitors to trust you.

4. Display Your Return Policies

One of the drawbacks to buying items online is that there is greater chance that you will not get exactly what you want because you haven’t been able to see the product in person. For this reason returns are common. You can help would-be buyers to feel more at ease if they see your return policies stated on your site.

5. Accept Multiple Forms of Payment

Different buyers like to use different methods of payment. Some may prefer to use PayPal but others may want to use a credit card through a direct merchant account. The credit cards of choice will also vary so giving the buying options will help to eliminate sales that are lost for this reason.

6. Have a Site that Looks Professional

Visitors tend to be more trusting of websites that have a professional appearance & less trusting of those that look amateurish. Take the effort to get a website that accurately reflects the professional image that you want your business to portray.

Steven Snell is web designer & blogger from New Jersey. He maintains an e-commerce web design gallery that showcase outstanding examples of e-commerce websites.