Building Trust Online with Video

With more and more shopping, procurement and general commerce moving online, one concern is heard often: how to build and maintain that bond of trust with customers you haven’t even met.

Personal relationships, looking someone in the eye, a handshake – these are the essentials of business.

It’s no surprise then that the web very quickly moved from a text-only medium – in the early nineties – to the rich visual environment we know now.

While it’s now widely accepted that your website needs to have photos and imagery to be successful, video is still only being discovered by businesses. It will play a major role in winning customers – and crucially customers’ trust.

Very generally speaking, trust consists of two aspects. First, a belief in the ability to deliver what’s promised, and second the understanding that the business is highly motivated.

Hence, trust as rational and emotional aspects. Both are easily assessed in a face-to-face situation. Tone of voice, gestures, surroundings, etc give a lot away – both in terms of competence, and professionalism – but also when it comes to confidence, genuine care and enthusiasm.

Video carries these crucial elements over to the web in a way no photo or written paragraph can ever do by itself.

Different types of videos achieve different goals in this respect. Below is an overview on typical ones:

Product & Service Demonstrations Videos. These typically speak mostly to the rational fact-based side of trust. Your company shows that it knows what it’s talking about; this is a great opportunity to show competence. At the same time, by featuring staff in these demos, an emotional trust bond can be created.

Company Presentations Videos. This is a video version of the ‘about us’ section of a company website. Potential customers see the premises, the staff, the founders – this is a great way of building trust and showing some personality. Your customers see that there’s real people behind the technology – a way of standing out on the web.

How-To Videos. These are typical after-sales tools. Short videos that explain to customers how to get the most out of the product they just bought. Great and personal after-sales care shows customers that your business is interested in building loyalty – a big source of trust and word-of-mouth.

Dr. Jens Riegelsberger

User Experience Researcher

(Guest Contributer)

Get in touch with Kartoffel Films we have a great deal of experience in both video production and its application online.