Making a sale on the internet requires trust. Building trust on the internet isn’t as easy as throwing up a website and driving traffic to it with an ad.

The internet is filled with scammy websites. It’s also filled with awesome products to buy. Which creates an atmosphere of distrust. This makes for a massive opportunity for e-commerce brands who understand how to build trust on the internet.

Building trust on the internet requires people knowing, liking and trusting your brand enough to buy from your e-commerce site. The order in which these happen is key.

I don’t even know you.

Knowing an e-commerce brand online means that someone knows your name, what you sell and what type of person uses the product.

Scenario A: Imagine someone walked up to your car window at a stoplight and asked you to swipe your credit card in their card reader for a snack they were holding in their hand that gave you energy. If you’re like me. I’m not taking a snack break!

Scenario B: Imagine someone else walks up to your car window at a stoplight. You roll down the window and they introduce themselves. They see you have kids in the back and mention they are also a parent who invented this snack specifically for busy parents who would rather not take their kids to the drive thru, but have them snack on something healthy with out breaking the bank. Plus, what kid can’t wait a couple hours til dinner! Then they mention that they’re selling these bars and parents get a free bar when they try today. You say how much is one bar. They reply saying “They’re $4.25” and you agree to pay. They pull out the card reader and you swipe away.

This is a picture of two scenarios of selling the same product. This happens everyday as e-commerce brands attempt to sell their products online. One goes straight for the sale, while the other takes the time to get to know who they’re talking to and for the potential customer to get to know them.

In e-commerce & life, taking time to get to know one another makes all the difference in creating a lasting relationship. Without it, you’re just being transactional and most e-commerce businesses can’t afford to just be transactional.

Looking at how you currently approach marketing. Are you being transactional, or do you know your customer? If you know them, do they know you?

Falling in like with a brand.

Liking a brand is being willing to give a small amount of your time, attention or money. This is the start of a relationship that may lead to a sale. Like any relationship. Nothing’s promised, but everything is earned through a mutual give & take.

If you see a post from a brand you’ve never heard of before on a social platform and you agree with the first sentence of the post. You’re likely to read the next sentence. If you finish reading that post and agree with what they said, you’re likely to read another post from them. Maybe, even give them a follow. This is what it looks like to “Fall in Like” with a brand.

Falling in like with a brand online is important, because how else will someone be able to trust you if they don’t like you enough to let their guard down?

In theory, getting people to like your brand is done by giving without any expectation of anything in return. In one word, UNSELFISHNESS. In a few harsh words: Want people to like your brand? Stop being selfish.

Do one unselfish thing today as a brand. Here are some ideas. 1. Un gate a piece of valuable content you used to exchange for email. 2. Offer a FREE PRODUCT to the first 5 people who respond via DM. No strings attached. 3. Go live and answer peoples questions for free. 4. Create a post that tells your customers how they can save money today. 5. Email 1 customer letting them know you just mailed them a free product.

Trust is a must.

Trust is the most vital element of every online relationship between a person & a brand. Whether you’re selling something or want to help people for free. Trust is a must.

Without trust, you’re no better than the spammers we talked about at the start of this post. Not really, but in the minds of the people seeing your brand. Without trust, you’ll never make a sale or be able to help someone online.

Most e-commerce brands want to make money online. Trust will help you do that faster than any marketing channel. Trust creates customers who tell their friends and family about your brand.

To build trust, do the thing you’d want a brand to do for you. Of course while making sure you’re continuing to run your business profitably!

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you.

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