The internet is flooded with web pages. There are thousands of pages that cover similar matters, sell the same products, and offer the same services. To stand out, website user trust factors are essential.

Unfortunately, there are many pages with suspicious legality, scams, and unprofessional companies. Consequently, internet users today need to trust a website when it comes to buying, hiring, or believing in its information.

Confidence is a very relevant factor in the user experience. Therefore, we must pay special attention to website user trust factors.

What Aspects Must We Take into Account to Give Our Users Confidence?

Identity as a Trust Factor

The identity of the business or the owner of the web page is crucial to offer trust. It is the first aspect of what the user analyzes. Whose page am I visiting?

The identity of the web owner should be displayed clearly and in a visually prominent position. This is usually at the top left or center of the page. A website that does not clearly provide the identity of the owner generates much distrust in the user. Why do you not want me to know the identity of the site? What do you have to hide?

Contact Information

If the user has any problems, doubts, or comments, they want to get in touch with the owner of the web. We must offer a link, a contact page in a clear and visible way. A user is not going to buy from an online store or hire a service if there is no easy way to contact the company.

Within the contact section, we must take into account several points:

• Fixed Telephone: Displaying a fixed telephone number offers more confidence and professionalism to the user than a mobile number.
• Physical Address: The address of the owner offers guarantees of veracity and legality.
• Email: The use of generic email accounts like @hotmail.com or @gmail.com does not provide trust or professionalism. It is recommended to offer an email of the domain itself. An email that does not offer trust is “[email protected]” since the user does not know if they will contact the owner or the person who manages the web.

Legal Advice

The Legal Advice page offers great confidence to the user since it collects legal information about the company. It transmits seriousness and legality.

Privacy Policy

The user wants to know what will be done with their data if they enter it on our website. They want to know who will treat it and for what purposes. The use of user data is a very delicate subject. Ignoring this information will produce much distrust in the user.

Company Page

For a user to trust us, it is not enough that they know our identity. They want to know who we are and what we dedicate ourselves to. A page with company information is very positive for trust in our website.

Colors and Trust

Colors convey feelings, emotions, and messages. There are colors that convey confidence and security, like shades of grey and blue. These colors also transmit professionalism. When designing the web, we must keep in mind the psychology of colors. We should combine it with the message or sentiment that we are trying to convey to the user. The colors that we choose will have to have some relation to the theme of our website. We will avoid very striking contrasts that distract the user.

Graphic Design and Distribution

The graphic design and distribution of the elements and the information convey a sense of knowledge in the matter. It also conveys professionalism.

Images/Graphics/Icons

The graphic elements, images, and banners must be related to the theme of the web page. Otherwise, the user will feel confused and suspicious. With icons, they must be representative and significant.

Language and Text

For a user to trust us, we have to use clear, educated, and professional language. We should avoid being too technical and without falling into pretentiousness. Texts should be free of spelling errors and concise.

Word “Free”

The word “free” is a very recurrent and attractive word. However, its excessive use or highlighting produces distrust in the user. It is better to use variants of the word “free” like “complimentary,” etc. For example, “Complimentary download” is not the same as “Free download.”

Word “Here”

Phrases such as “click here,” “Access Here,” or “Enter Here” are great enemies of trust on the Internet. They have been used by many false, illegal, and malicious pages.

Related Advertising

If a website has advertising, it has to be related to the theme or purpose of the website. If this is not the case, the user may be suspicious of the professionalism of the website.

Trusted Stamps

If possible, include official or third-party trust stamps on our website. This offers many guarantees and therefore, a lot of confidence.

Communication and Trust

The speed of response to a user’s query and the information offered are key for the user to trust us.

Updated and Dynamic Information

If the information we offer is outdated or is not changing, we will transmit an impression of carelessness. This will also produce little interest in our website by the user. A web page that has the same banner or an article on the home page after two months seems like a forgotten website or one to which little interest is paid.

Name of Domain

The domain of the website is one of the first factors that will influence the confidence offered by our website. In the domain, we will deal with the termination (.com, .es, .net, etc.) as well as the length and representation of our web. We should avoid numbers and scripts.

These have been some of the many aspects that influence the confidence that a user may have on our website. If a user does not trust us, they will not have an enjoyable user experience. Trust, just like in human relations, is of vital importance on the Internet.