Note

Building Trust with Users

The following note is taken from an UIE seminar presented by Steph Hay.

  • Users are skeptical: So how do we build trust with them?
  • Build Trust First: Trust makes users happy.
  • Gaining trust takes time: This is why it’s so valuable
  • Building trust isn’t easy: It’s not really free, either.
  • Building trust is awesome because it costs time and energy.
  • Trust comes from setting realistic expectations, then meeting them: Over and over again to infinite and beyond.

Set real expectations

Using words people actually say

Know yourself

You’re real. People trust real.

4 techniques for writing real-person content

  1. Test message in AdWords: Write user-oriented messages to test for clicks (nor conversions)
    • Specific: “Eating out too much? Learn how to budget”
    • Generic: “Know your finances. Save money. Worry less.”
  2. Embrace the unsexy words used in organic searches: Being found isn’t about selling or educating or being clever—it’s about being found
    • Toutapp: Write your Sales Email faster & know what happens after you hit “Send.”
  3. Look at entry points and top content in Google Analytics: Write more of what visitors are looking at…be proactive
    • Tealet found that its blog posts draws customers.
  4. The mom test: Your personal bullshit meter
    • If you’d feel like a tool saying it to your mom, you probably sound like a tool.

4 techniques for meeting expectations

  1. Don’t be abrupt: Be helpful even when you fail. After all, you set their expectations in the first place.
  2. Make your forms fail-proof: Be explicit in microcopy and specific in validations so the user always “wins” upon submit.
  3. Anticipate the gaps: Sweating the details of error messages or 404 pages shows
    you’re there even when stuff goes wrong.
  4. Ask users two questions:
    1. Why did you [sign up]?
    2. Why [do] you keep coming back?