Design For Credibility and Trust

July 06, 2004 | 8 Comments

I was reading Jakob Nielsen’s most recent Alertbox which talks about what he calls “The Role of Reassurance” and how to retain customers and repeat purchases. One thing he said got me really thinking:

The biggest challenge in e-commerce is to create trust. On the Web, your company is completely virtual. People can’t touch the product. They don’t get impressed by your big building or fancy decor. They don’t get schmoozed by your high-wattage salespeople. They simply see a few glowing pixels on the screen

I think this goes far beyond e-commerce. All sites should deal with these issues.

I think two hugely under appreciated aspects of creating a successful Web site are creating a feeling of credibility and trust. These are things I feel are sorely lacking on many sites out there.

In order to foster these feelings in your visitors you need to understand your users and take the time to design for them. It’s a process that should be never-ending.

It begins with user-centric design and continues with things like contingency design, and going the extra mile to keep in contact with your customers.

Too many sites on the Web today are designed with very little thought of the actual people coming to use them. I realize that not every design decision needs to be based on the users needs, and I fully understand the delicate balance between the goals of our users and business goals (speaking again to Jakob’s points) but there simply needs to be more focus on a marriage of quality visual form that fosters a feeling of credibility and user-centric function that helps to instill a feeling of trust.

Filed under: IA and Usability

Comments

1. Justin said:

I really like the statement you chose to quote. It’s so obvious, yet almost always overlooked.

Posted on July 6, 2004 12:37 PM | #

2. Mike P. said:

“They simply see a few glowing pixels on the screen”

I haven’t read the Alertbox, but this bit by itself is a touch extreme. Decent content and going further with good customer support forums or product blogs etc. can really move your company away from intangible and into something more tangible, and help someone towards taking that first step (or be the tipping point) towards the ‘Submit’ button.

Or at least that’s what we’ve sold a couple of clients on recently ;-]

Posted on July 6, 2004 01:03 PM | #

3. Ryan Latham said:

Credibility and trust are key in the success of a web site, especially those who sell goods and services. It is one thing to have a personal blog which lacks credibility and trust, if that isn’t established nothing in the end is truly lost.

However, on the other side of the spectrum you have sites that are geared towards selling something. Wether it be a product, a service, or even the selling of a belief, you need to establish credibility and trust within the design itself.

If you do not think this to be totally true, get on PayPal and sift through the shops a bit. And take a look which ones you would considering purchasing from, and those you are skeptical of. It is obvious; you can establish a great deal of trust and credibility through a design.

Posted on July 6, 2004 01:19 PM | #

4. Keith said:

Mike P – Yeah, with Nielson you need to take the good with the bad. Most quotes of his hold some truth and some, well…

Ryan – I think it really comes down to goals. Some blogs and personal sites do need to worry about this stuff and don’t. If you are blogging about something it’s important to establish who you are to readers so they know whether or not to trust that you know what you’re talking about. But then again, like you eluded to, it may not matter to everyone.

If you want to get return readers as well as garner new ones, this stuff can be very important.

Posted on July 6, 2004 01:28 PM | #

5. Ramit Sethi said:

Great points.

Our lab (The Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab) has done some work on this, which you might find interesting. Check it out at http://www.webcredibility.org.

Posted on July 6, 2004 03:26 PM | #

6. Craig C. said:

I think a HUGE factor in site credibility is the tone of the writing. It has to be approachable and friendly, but not so informal as to be unprofessional. And PLAIN ENGLISH! I’m so sick of amped-up marketspeak and obfuscating legalese. Everything is either written like a contract (“engage in our exclusive benefits”) or an infomercial (“limited time offer, new low price!”).

I’m an intelligent person. Just tell me what I’m getting and if you actually offer a good, useful service at a reasonable price I’ll buy it, stop trying to swindle me dammit.

Posted on July 6, 2004 04:57 PM | #

7. Keith said:

CraigC – Too true. Content, writing and editing play a huge part in developing trust and credibility. I expect this will be an even bigger issue of the Web as users become more savvy.

Posted on July 6, 2004 10:14 PM | #

8. Ryan Latham said:

A lot of the way the web is being written now is the over concern of making a first impression. As you said everything is written like a contract (although I see a lot more like a constitution), or an infomercial.

I am personally sick of sites of web design firms, and freelancer alike trying to make this fantastic impression on their visitor. And those who do this have their thoughts totally misconstrued. Sure, a high profile company is going to understand exactly what you say when you use some big fancy words that no one really cares about.

But you know what the average user sees? “Hey look at me, I’m pulling words no one knows out of my ass and typing them.”

Companies sometimes respect those who word their text as if they are Merriam Webster, but more often times than not they want those who can create content that everyone understands. After all they see everyone as a potential dollar, so why not make sure that all those dollars get what they are talking about.

The tone is like you said, professional, yet unprofessional. It is when we convey our message in a form that alienates the user from our own vocabulary and leaves them unable to fathom what we are dictating to them through our means of conveyance (yes, that is too big for some people, that’s why we need to dumb it down at times.)

But we also can’t say:

Wif big wurds, sum peeps don’t be understanding what it be we trying to holla at dem.

Posted on July 7, 2004 12:16 AM | #