Building trust at first sight

The expression “there is only one chance to cause a good first impression” should be carved on every marketers’ computer screen frame. Slamming a post-it on it won’t do. Needs to be carved. Permanently. So they don’t forget that causing a good first impression with a potential client can mean the difference between a sale and a fail.

Now, many sales personnel in the FX industry think the first impression is when they call the client for the first time. When a customer gets a call however, they’ve already left their details in your website’s sign-up form, which means a good 1st impression was caused, but how many customers have visited your website and didn’t trust your brand enough to leave their name and phone number?

A client’s visit to your website is when your company has the opportunity to convince said customer to stay and look around, rather than quickly bounce out and back into the Google search results page, and that decision is made within a split second, so make sure you build trust from your website.

How do you do that, you ask?

1 Define your target audience and speak to them in a language they understand. An experienced trader does not speak the same language that a newbie trader does and the level of language used, the amount of lingo and the type of information you would share with each segment is entirely different.

2 Make the text easy to read. People live busy lives and too much text can drive them away. How can you build trust if your customers don’t know what you are offering them? Display the text under headings that guide the reader along your page without having to scan the entire text. Choose easy to read font types, font sizes and colors and display the text.

3 Be transparent as you explain your service, from the process they’ll need to go through to sign up, to the different programs you have available and how your brokerage makes money.

4 Display your badges of honor. Your regulation is your way of letting clients know you abide by a higher standard of rules and regulations, so display that on your site, as well as any money-back guarantees and payment assurance logos that will allow customers to know that they won’t fall victims of fraud.

5 Show them who’s boss. Establishing yourself as a source of knowledge and becoming an authority in the world of Forex goes hand in hand with building trust. When a customer visits your website, they come looking for information. Give it to them. Offer tips, how-to guides and other valuable and helpful information for free. Add new content often so they keep coming back for more.

6 Be human. Use your “About Us” page to show your human side. Business don’t do business, people do business. Put a face to your company and make it more approachable. Tell them about the team members and the founders of the company. Add a personal touch and “show your face”; customers will be much more likely to trust what you have to say.

7 Let them know who is talking about you. Posting mentions of your company in the press as well as testimonials are a great way to build trust in your brokerage. Having others endorse your business speaks volumes about the quality of your service.

8 Protect their information. When you ask clients to provide you with personal details, assure them that their information will be used appropriately, that they will not be spammed and that it will be safely stored. If the information is sold or otherwise used by third parties, disclose that.

9 Post your social media accounts. When a customer sees you have a few thousand followers on your social media account, your company is immediately established as a figure of knowledge and authority on a subject matter. Having a few thousand followers means your page is liked by many, that the content you produce is valuable and that your company has been around for a while.

10 No surprises. There are certain website behaviors that have come to be expected by a user, such as clicking on the company’s logo to go back to the home page, responsive display on mobile devices and not finding broken links. Make sure your website works according to the user’s expectations, because even one broken link can put a hole on the customer’s trust.