Do Buyers Trust You?

Trust is a Key Element of Success

Last year, Content4Demand conducted a survey and found that only 13% of industrial buyers trust vendor-created content. What does that mean for you? It means that 87% of the people who land on your site don't trust what they see -- and that means a big percentage of your visitors are reluctant to buy. So how do you beat these numbers? Consumer websites like bestbuy.com and amazon.com have product descriptions written in-house. These descriptions are important because they contain the specs that users need to see. However, the real engine that drives sales on these sites is the customer reviews. Of course a retailer like Best Buy is going to say that a product is great, but the person who bought it and reviewed it has no reason to say it's great if it isn't. Moreover, when a product is no good, people are very vocal about it online. That's how customer reviews build the trust that is so crucial for sales. As an industrial marketer, it may make sense to add a feature to your site that allows customers to review products. However, for many industrial marketers, this isn't feasible. A customer who buys a waterjet cutter probably doesn't have time to leave a review of it. Moreover, a blank review section is worse than not having one, because if customers see that you have a review section and no reviews, they might think no one is buying your product. Instead of a review section, you can build trust by asking your engineers to participate in marketing efforts. Engineers are too busy to do the writing themselves, but they can help make sure that your content provides the kind of information that other engineers -- your customers -- want. Another option is to have a copywriter interview your engineers and write content based on the conversation. Our copywriters frequently interview engineers and ask the question, "What are your customers most concerned about?" Answering that question goes a long way toward bridging the trust gap. For more information about using your content to build trust with buyers, contact Ecreative today. Photo credit: TerryJohnston / Foter / CC BY