{"id":1091,"date":"2011-06-23T13:47:24","date_gmt":"2011-06-23T13:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.springest.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=1091"},"modified":"2011-06-23T13:47:24","modified_gmt":"2011-06-23T13:47:24","slug":"why-do-we-trust-a-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/springest.com\/blog\/why-do-we-trust-a-website\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do we trust a website?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size:20px;font-weight:bold\">Background<\/span><br \/>\nOne month ago Springest teamed up with Usabilla.com to investigate the trust perception of Learning &amp; Development provider websites.<\/p>\n<p>The test was dispersed through social media networks gathering 33 responses.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1138 alignright\" style=\"margin:5px\" title=\"Usabilla - Analyze your tests-2\" src=\"https:\/\/blog-uk.cdnhub.nl\/2011\/06\/Usabilla-Analyze-your-tests-2-300x213.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"219\" height=\"156\" \/>The motivation for this investigation was to optimise the overall perception of L&amp;D provider websites trustworthiness in order to increase website activity and visitor satisfaction.<\/p>\n<p>Participants were asked to click on the items which influence their trust perception and underpin this with comments.<\/p>\n<p>The screen shots display the example websites of L&amp;D providers we cooperated with and the heatmap indicates what participants clicked on.<\/p>\n<p>The results of the test indicate that perceiving a website as trustworthy is mainly influenced by two different factors, i.e. the use of visual elements and the actual content itself.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:20px;font-weight:bold\">Visual influences on trust perception<\/span><br \/>\nThe majority of test\u00a0participants expressed to find a classic and professional logo very important.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1175 alignleft\" style=\"margin:5px\" title=\"Usabilla - Analyze your tests\" src=\"https:\/\/blog-uk.cdnhub.nl\/2011\/06\/Usabilla-Analyze-your-tests1-300x210.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"219\" height=\"153\" \/>Even more important than the logo seems to be the choice of pictures.<\/p>\n<p>Participants stated that pictures need to match the message and should seem real.<\/p>\n<p>The website using an own picture was commented as:\u00a0<br \/>\n<strong><em>&#8220;Looks like it&#8217;s a picture from campus, not just generic..<\/em>it <\/strong><em><strong>gives the idea of truthfulness and trust\u201d.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Another website was perceived rather negatively because of the main picture chosen.<br \/>\n<strong><em>&#8220;I don&#8217;t find anything to help me trust this page. Especially this model&#8217;s smile doesn&#8217;t help&#8221;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:20px;font-weight:bold\">Trustworthy content<\/span><br \/>\nAspects of the content which seem to have the biggest influence on trust perception were:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1175 alignright\" style=\"margin:5px\" title=\"Usabilla - Analyze your tests-3\" src=\"https:\/\/blog-uk.cdnhub.nl\/2011\/06\/Usabilla-Analyze-your-tests-3-300x208.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"243\" height=\"168\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Testimonials<\/li>\n<li>Accreditations<\/li>\n<li>Most popular courses<\/li>\n<li>Up-to-date agenda and news<\/li>\n<li>Easy to find contact details<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is self-explanatory that testimonials and accreditations positively influence trust perception if provided by respected and known external parties.<\/p>\n<p>Displaying &#8216;most popular courses&#8217; was perceived as a positive mean to communicate that there is demand for courses, reassuring participants of the popularity of the provider and thus trusting the website.<\/p>\n<p>Another important aspect of a website&#8217;s content is the up-to-dateness of the agenda and news,\u00a0it appears to create the impression that someone is taking care of the site.<br \/>\n<strong><em>&#8220;Latest news is a great way to keep fresh new content going.&#8221;<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nEven though\u00a0all before mentioned aspects appear to be important, the most crucial aspect seems to be the contact details displayed on the website.<br \/>\nParticipants stated that contact details need to be easy to find, especially a phone number for establishing direct contact and <strong><em>&#8220;speaking to a real person&#8221;<\/em><\/strong>.<br \/>\nThe results indicated that contact details should never be hidden or difficult to find as it most probably creates mistrust among visitors.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>&#8220;..easy to find contact information, digging around for it makes me wonder why it&#8217;s hidden.&#8221;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:20px;font-weight:bold\">Recommendations<\/span><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1139 alignright\" style=\"margin:5px\" title=\"Usabilla - Analyze your tests\" src=\"https:\/\/blog-uk.cdnhub.nl\/2011\/06\/Usabilla-Analyze-your-tests-300x216.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"243\" height=\"175\" \/>Summing up the comments, reactions and click responses of the test participants, the following recommendations can be formulated for improving the trustworthiness of Learning &amp; Development provider websites:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Give good thought to your logo and how it will be perceived by your targeted visitors.<\/li>\n<li>Use real pictures, representing your business and matching the message of your website.<\/li>\n<li>Display partner and customer testimonials to demonstrate how satisfied others are with your business.<\/li>\n<li>Show by which organisations you have been accredited. It assures visitors of your quality standards.<\/li>\n<li>Provide a top 3 of the most popular courses.<\/li>\n<li>Keep your agenda and news up-to-date.<\/li>\n<li>Do not hide your contact details, it creates mistrust. Be transparent and make them easily accessible to visitors.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>These recommendations might seem simple and the necessity of their implementation self-evident. Nevertheless the test results demonstrate, the devil is in the details and all of these recommendations are important for creating a trustworthy website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Background One month ago Springest teamed up with Usabilla.com to investigate the trust perception of Learning &amp; Development provider websites. The test was dispersed through social media networks gathering 33 responses. The motivation for this investigation was to optimise the overall perception of L&amp;D provider websites trustworthiness in order to increase website activity and visitor [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why do we trust a website? - Springest - For Life Long Learners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/springest.com\/blog\/why-do-we-trust-a-website\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why do we trust a website? - Springest - For Life Long Learners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Background One month ago Springest teamed up with Usabilla.com to investigate the trust perception of Learning &amp; Development provider websites. 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