10 Simple Trust Signals Your Website Should Always Have

By Gordon Smith on 31-Aug-2017

Websites are all about trust. Users are (almost unconsciously) looking for signals that will build their trust in a company when they visit the website. Websites can build or destroy trust through the presence or lack of trust signals. We see many websites which lack these simple trust signals. They are so easy to implement and yet so many websites lack them. It's no wonder these sites fail to engage users and fail to convert users to buyers! So let's go - how many of these simple trust signals does your website currently have?

1. Clear language and 100% correct spelling Nothing puts users off more than bad spelling and grammar.
2. Links to active social media channels Users are looking for evidence that they are not alone in trusting this new company they've just stumbled on. Links to active, responsive social media channels will be checked by users.
3. Privacy policy Users may not check your privacy policy but the lack of one suggests you don't care about your user's privacy.
4. Terms and conditions Nobody wants to be bound by a spurious set of terms and conditions, just for browsing a website. Or do they? Actually terms and conditions signal trust because they show the company is professional, cares about their relationship with the user and wants it to be clear and legal.
5. Copyright with current year displayed It's so simple to implement an automatically updating copyright year notice. Yet we so often see copyright notices that show a date or 5 or even 10 years old. This indicates the business behind the website is defunct - or seriously behind the times.
6. Snappy logo A well-designed, unique logo shows you have invested time and effort into your brand.
7. About Us page This page is usually one of the most-visited pages on any website, especially B2B and B2C service websites. Quite simply users want to know about the people they will be dealing with. If it's a trade website, they want to know who will be turning up on their doorstep.
8. Team photos And we don't mean fake photos of young women wearing headsets. We mean real, professionally shot photos of the actual team members at their place of work. Smiling!
9. Non-stock photography Use your own, professionally shot photography. Because the presence of generic, stock photography makes a website look fake and destroys trust.
10. SSL certificate/encryption Google is already flagging insecure websites. SSL certificates cost as little as £50 per year and are an absolute  must in today's online environment.

Have I missed out any obvious trust signals? Let us know.