When someone searches for a tradesman, they are looking for a professional they can afford and trust. Hence, creating relationships and building credibility with their customers is a must crucial for a tradie.
On the other hand, it’s a big challenge for a tradie to convince potential customers that he is an ethical, reliable and trustworthy choice.
So how do tradesmen convey trust to consumers, especially if they have never heard about the company before? How can a tradie use the Web to build ‘trust banks’?
- Through a Website
- Testimonials
- About Us Page
- Blog
- Through Social Networks
- Through Review Websites
- 73% of consumers say positive customer reviews make them trust a business more.
- 65% of consumers are more likely to use a business which has positive online reviews.
- 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
- Through Emails
It’s important for a business or service provider to create a strong first impression on potential customers. A well-made website helps you do that. When someone visits your website they should be greeted with a professional layout that is also easy to navigate. Let’s look at website features that will help you earn consumer trust.
Adding testimonials to your website can help build trust in your services. For best results, do away with anonymous testimonials.
For instance, consider this testimonial on an electrician’s website: “Todd was very professional and knew what to do straight away. I will definitely recommend him to others.” It inspires confidence among prospective customers that the electrician is established, legitimate and trustworthy.
Successful tradespersons realize the power of testimonials to sway the minds of customers and build credibility and trust. This in turn leads to increased website conversion and sales.
The ‘About Us’ page on your website helps you connect with potential customers and instill confidence in them, which is crucial to you building a relationship with them. If your visitors only see a form on that page they may question your legitimacy. Instead, provide them with the story behind your company, the mission statement of your business and appropriate service-related photos to assure them that you’re a real business and not just a faceless website.
Website blogs are a great way to build online trust and credibility. Regular publication of informative articles aimed at your target audience will gain you followers. With followership comes loyalty, meaning your readers are a lot likely to call you for service when in need.
Blogs allow you to display your expertise. Showing people how you accomplish a job or talking about the tools and techniques you use to finish a task will establish your authority and win you trust. Pictures and videos help illustrate the effectiveness of your service. Make it a point to respond to all the comments that your blog posts receive to build a relationship with your readers.
Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Google+, etc. play an important role in inspiring confidence in prospective customers. A tradie must be active on these social channels and also on other locally relevant networks to personally engage with their audience. Personal interaction helps you build trust by answering your follower’s questions, responding quickly to their feedback, addressing their concerns, and posting relevant content.
If a prospective customer is facing an emergency, solving their issue on time will help you win their trust.
For instance, someone has just tweeted: “Emergency – Window needs to replaced #Sydney #Carpenter #homeimprovements #asap.” Now if you have been keeping a tab on hashtags related to your industry and locality, you will likely see this tweet in time.
Reply by saying you are ready to solve their issue and also provide them with a link to how you have handled such issues in the past. A testimonial of a satisfied customer will further strengthen your case. This should win you the tweeting person’s trust and make them contact you. Solve their problem on time and they will undoubtedly return the favor by praising your service on their social pages.
If any of your customers posts something negative about your service on social media sites, accept your mistake apologize for the inconvenience caused to them. Ask them if they have suffered any damage, and let them know you are doing your best to provide a temporary solution or an immediate fix to their problem. When delivering an apology, do it sincerely and timely through social media. It will prevent or stop negative posts about your service and help prove you are a reliable tradesperson.
By using social media to build brand trust, your business will stand out from the competition and will quickly draw the attention of your target audience.
Before buying any product/service, customers look for reviews and opinions about the product or service they’re considering. This is referred to as social proof – basically the need for people to look to others for information on how to make a good decision.
According to Local Consumer Review Survey:
These stats make it important for tradies to have good online reputation. Review websites (like RatemyTradie, TradeCritic) help them do so. Tradesmen are rated on these sites on the basis of value for money and the quality of service they provide. Great ratings on such review websites help tradespeople build confidence and trust in their targeted demographics and dispel any kind of uncertainty and mistrust. This online recommendation will be considered by other people looking for services and will thus help you grow your customer base.
Such review websites help customers find a quality tradesman who’ve been approved by others.
According to reports, emails with personalized subject lines are 22% more likely to be opened and emails that include testimonials from happy customers get more engagement and click through.
Emails can help you build credibility and trust if they provide your contact details, are transparent regarding your service policies and demonstrate quality. Positive interactions encourage trust so invite recipients to get in touch with you through their feedback or questions. For this the email’s actual reply-to address should be a working address that is actively monitored.
When you have the recipient’s permission to send them email, they will be far more interested in your service and will be more likely to convert into a sales lead than would an unaware recipient. Also, always remember to include an unsubscribe button, even after a contact has requested that you send him your marketing emails, because receiving an unsubscribe request is much better than receiving a spam complaint.
If a subscriber finds an irrelevant marketing email from your end in their inbox, they won’t look for the unsubscribe button; they will instead send your email directly to their spam folder. They’ll likely click on the spam button before they even open the email. Their decision is based entirely on the subject line of your email. That’s why it’s essential to build engagement from the very first email and the very first subject line. Personalized subject lines will help you build trust and increase open and click-through rates.
Modern consumers crave communication and interaction. They want to speak/complain to the service providers directly. Tradies must thus embrace the online world to build trust and credibility in their prospects, thereby increasing their sales.
