2020 was one of the biggest years on record for online shopping. In the UK alone, as high as 87% of UK households made online purchases within the preceding 12 months. With the dominance of online retail only set to rise, it is more important than ever that companies get their website right. With this in mind Reboot Digital PR Company, sought to investigate what features make customers the most likely to trust a website.
The most trustworthy website features according to customers
| Feature | Percentage |
| Recognised trust & security certifications | 29.4% |
| Affiliation with other trusted websites | 18.2% |
| Limited adverts | 17.1% |
| Address, and phone number clearly listed | 16.2% |
| Familiar payment method | 13.5% |
| Fast Loading Page | 12.3% |
| Professional design layout | 11.2% |
| Customer product testimonials | 11% |
| Up to date google/yell details | 9.4% |
| About us/ meet the team page | 9.1% |
| FAQ page | 8.4% |
| Social media activity | 6.4% |
With 29.4% of the vote, the feature that gives consumers the most confidence in a website is that it has recognised trust & security certifications. It appears that consumers are unwilling to take a company’s word for it that they are legitimate, and instead expect outside verification.
In second place with 18.2% of the vote, is that the website is affiliated with other trusted websites. Once again showing that consumers look to outside sources before giving a site their money.
In third place with 17.1% of the vote, is that the website limited adverts. To many adverts set of alarm bells for consumers. A legitimate business should make its money from the product or service it sells, not from selling tonnes of ad space.
The most untrustworthy website features according to customer
| Feature | Percentage |
| Spelling and grammar issues | 41.8% |
| No security and trust certifications | 37.5% |
| Pop-up adverts | 36.3% |
| No privacy policy or terms and conditions | 35.6% |
| Broken links | 31.9% |
| Poor design | 29.2% |
| Vague contact details | 27.9% |
| Stock images or bad quality images | 27.2% |
| Slow loading time | 24.7% |
| Bad social media presence | 18.7% |
| A lack of reviews/testimonials | 18% |
| Not mobile friendly | 16.7% |
A whopping 41.8% of those surveyed said that the feature most likely to scare them away is a website littered with spelling and grammar issues. Most business put a lot of effort into their websites, so one with glaring errors indicates a rush job, and perhaps a scam.
The second most popular reason consumers will distrust a website is if it has no security and trust certifications. The absence of outside verification would put off 37.5% of consumers in the survey.
With 36.3% of the vote, the third feature that makes consumers distrust a website is the presence of pop-up adverts. A business website should advertise the business, if the website has allowed shady ads on its site, it is a strong indication that something isn’t right. Not to mention the harm that some pop-up ads can do to consumers devices.
Methodology
- Reboot Digital PR Company wanted to find out what features make consumers more likely to trust a website.
- To do so a survey was conducted using Google Surveys which received 2002 responses.
- Respondents were given two questions. 1) which of these features would make you trust a website? 2) which of these features would make you distrust a website?
- For each question there were 12 options to choose from plus the option “none of the above”.
- Respondents were asked to select three options for each question.
- The answers were then ranked by the percentages of respondents that selected them.
Add a Comment
No messages on this article yet