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Credibility is one of the most important factors in converting website visitors into enquirers. It’s the nature of marketing pitches to make claims or promises about what you do and the results you can achieve. But getting website visitors to believe what you say is the key to generating more leads and expanding your online sales pipeline.

The following approaches to convert clicks into purchases are given to intensify your marketing credibility:

Strategy #1: State the rationale (the Reasons Why)

Persuasion expert Robert Cialdini of Influence fame reports that detailing the reasons why your claims are true adds significantly to the believability of your message.

e.g. If you pitch yourself as “The Lowest Priced Luggage Retailer in Australia”, explain the reasons why this is so.

* You buy container loads at a time and take advantage of bulk discounts (show photos of the containers)

* Your warehouse is located in the suburbs, where you have a much lower rent and therefore lower overhead

* Expound the objective of selling at lower margins and the proposal of selling great volumes.

* Explain that your media costs through the internet are much lower.

Start explaining the rationale behind what you do and watch your credibility and conversions climb. Remember that it’s also important to explain the rationale behind a particular OFFER (especially discounts or sales). A Jay Abraham marketing aphorism that has always stuck with me is “You can’t discount your way out of a marketing problem - you need to educate your way out”.

Strategy #2: Case Studies and Testimonials

If I could only use ONE credibility-boosting strategy, Case Studies / Testimonials would have to be it.

Case Studies can be extremely powerful because they are at once specific, concrete and demonstrable examples of the RESULTS you have produced for customers, patients or clients. Rembember that your clients don’t buy products and services. They buy RESULTS.

It goes without saying that your testimonials need to be genuine. Some sites feature testimonials that sound, well, fake. They use too many superlatives and read like they’ve been ripped from the pages of a Hollywood B-movie script.

To get a simple but sincere testimonial, provide your customers with a few guiding questions and let them respond in their own words. This way the site will have authentic and true testimonials.

Most of the time, testimonials from customers are featured in standard ways making the customers ignore this important section of the website. Noticeable promotion of this section would influence them to respond accordingly.

You can “Promote” a Testimonial or Case Study by:

* Adding a headline

* Displaying it in a Johnson Box

* Making graphics for key phrases and results.

* Display images and audio or video stream of the testimonial provider

* Adding the client’s logo (especially if they are a well-known brand)

* Exhibit graphs, scanned documents, screenshots or other visual symbols of results.

Strategy #3: Association Indicators, Qualification, and Membership Certifications

If your business is associated or affiliated with other professional groups, display the logo on your website. The symbol of membership will give clients the impression that your business is an organised one.

Official recognitions as verified by distinguished certifications such as ISO 9001 will be clearly recognised by your visitors. Some may come out unknown; it is your duty to EDUCATE and inform the clients about it. Here are a few tips to do that:

* Explain why you decided to pursue the certification

* Describe how you obtained it.

* Clarify the perspective of the certification (e.g. ‘Marketing Results’ is one of only 16 Google Adwords Qualified Companies in Australia)

* Explain the benefit to the customer

Membership Certifications and qualifications are beneficial because they enhance the credibility of the site as represented and it’s promoted by a 3rd party.

Strategy #4: Awards, Credits, or Acknowledgements

Holding an award will elevate your reputation and lift up your stand among other competitors. But obtaining one does not mean you do not need more improvements. Use this award as an inspiration to further render high quality products and services.

One example is the Combo IT’s “Awards” page providing particulars of the awards they have won; the page also includes nomination to the prestigious BRW Fast 100 list. Combo is highly respected not only because of the prestige of the awards, but the quality performance and services the company has executed.

Strategy #5: 3rd Party Verification Services

3rd party verification services such as Verisign, the Better Business Bureau and HackerSafe can also reassure visitors that your site is legitimate and that your business practices and customer service policies are sound. The key here is to refer to “industry standard” sources as much as possible - you don’t want to rely on little-known verification services that don’t have enough recognition to reflect favourably on you (although having said that, “official-looking” logos would probably help - that would be an interesting thing to test.)