When someone lands on your site, they're making snap judgments about your credibility before they've read a single word about what you offer.

The numbers back this up. Research shows that over 81% of consumers need to trust a brand before they'll consider buying anything. And more than 9 out of 10 people check online reviews before making decisions (a number that keeps climbing year after year).

Trust isn't built with a single grand gesture, though. It’s a wall that’s built brick by brick, interaction by interaction. It's cultivated through dozens of small, thoughtful choices throughout your site. It’s a non-stop conversation with your visitors where everything from your security setup to your font choices says, "You can trust us."

Below, we’ll walk you through 7 practical ways you can build customer trust with your website. No complicated design theories or impossible-to-reach standards—just simple approaches that earn trust.

How to build customer trust with your website

Now, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to building trust with your audience. The strategies you use (from the way you talk to the navigation menu you choose) will ultimately depend on your customers and their preferences. 

And that’s going to change across industries, demographics, and followings. 

While we can’t give you a trust template (wouldn’t that be nice?), we can give you tried-and-tested ways to earn trust with your market. 

1. Get your website security right

Nothing kills trust faster than making visitors worry about their data.

Start with the basics: HTTPS encryption. That little padlock in the address bar isn't optional anymore. Most browsers now actively warn visitors when they're on non-secure sites, essentially telling them "be careful here." 

Not exactly the welcome message you want.

Security goes beyond just having an SSL certificate. Make sure you're:

• Keeping your site and all plugins updated (outdated software is like leaving your digital windows unlocked)
• Using strong password policies if you have user accounts
• Including clear privacy policies that explain what data you collect and why
• Adding visible trust badges if you're processing payments

Aim for quiet confidence. When security feels like a natural part of your site rather than an afterthought, visitors can focus on what you offer instead of worrying about risks.

2. Focus on accessibility

Accessibility isn't just about compliance or avoiding lawsuits—it's showing every visitor that they matter to you. When your website works well for people with disabilities, you're sending a powerful message about your values.

Roughly one in four U.S. adults lives with some type of disability. If your site isn't accessible, you're essentially telling a quarter of potential customers, "We didn't design this with you in mind."

Here are a few ways to make your site more accessible:

• Use sufficient color contrast so text is readable for people with visual impairments
• Add alt text to images so screen readers can describe them to blind users
• Make sure your site can be navigated using just a keyboard for those who can't use a mouse
• Structure your content with proper headings to help everyone navigate more easily
• Avoid flashing content—or provide a warning—that could trigger seizures
• Caption your videos for deaf or hard-of-hearing visitors

Webflow comes with tools like an accessibility checker and vision preview features that make this much easier. You can preview your site as it would appear to someone with different types of color blindness or check for missing alt text with a few clicks.

This doesn’t just help people with disabilities. Clearer structure, better contrast, and thoughtful design is good for everyone. 

3. Design for the user experience

Good design creates an experience that feels intuitive and respectful of your visitors' time and attention. Think of your website design as a friendly guide (not a showoff). The best design doesn't call attention to itself but instead makes the visitor's journey silky smooth and enjoyable. 

Here are a few ways to design with trust in mind:

• Create clear navigation that helps visitors understand where they are and how to get where they want to go
• Use a visual hierarchy that guides the eye to important information first
• Guarantee your site loads quickly (each millisecond of delay increases the chance of someone leaving)
• Make your site responsive so it works beautifully on any device (mobile users shouldn't feel like second-class visitors)
• Use consistent layouts across pages so visitors don't need to reorient themselves
• Include adequate white space to prevent overwhelming visuals
• Make buttons and clickable elements obvious

When people leave your site thinking, "That was easy," you've done your job right. And you’ve built trust in the process. Learn how to build better user experiences, starting with your UX design.

4. Write clear, jargon-free content

Your words matter—maybe more than anything else on your site. Clear, straightforward content shows respect for your visitors and builds instant credibility.

Here’s how to write content that better builds trust:

• Use plain language that's accessible to newcomers while still respecting expert knowledge
• Break up long paragraphs into digestible chunks
• Lead with benefits, not features
• Be specific rather than making vague claims ("increases conversions by 27%" beats "boosts results")
• Use active voice to create clarity about who does what
• Include specific examples that help visitors visualize working with you
• Proofread everything (typos and grammar mistakes chip away at credibility)

Industry jargon might make you sound smart in a boardroom, but on your website, it creates distance. When visitors have to Google words to understand what you're saying, they start wondering if you're being deliberately confusing or if you simply don't understand them.

5. Find (or request) third-party validation

Third-party validation is powerful because it's not coming from you. It's coming from people who've already taken the leap of working with you. Think of it as social proof that helps potential customers feel more confident about their decisions. After all, if others had a good experience, they probably will too. Right?

Right.

Here are some different ways you can use third-party validation on your website:

• Showcase authentic customer testimonials with real names and photos when possible
• Display ratings and reviews from trusted platforms like Google, Trustpilot, or industry-specific review sites
• Feature case studies that tell the complete story of how you've helped specific clients
• Include logos of notable clients or publications that have featured your work
• Add industry certifications, awards, or badges that demonstrate your credibility
• Share user-generated content that shows real people using and loving your products

Don't have much validation yet? Well, you’ve got to start somewhere. Start asking for it. Reach out to happy customers and ask if they'd be willing to share their experience. Most people are happy to help if you've provided value to them.

Visitors can spot fake testimonials from a mile away, so never manufacture social proof. One genuine, specific testimonial is worth more than a dozen vague, generic ones.

6. Nail your SEO strategy

SEO isn't just about climbing search rankings. It's about building authority and trust before visitors even click on your site.

When your website consistently appears in search results for topics in your field, Google is essentially vouching for you. It's telling potential visitors, "This site knows what they're talking about." That implicit endorsement carries weight.

Here's how to use SEO to build trust:

• Create genuinely helpful content that answers the questions your audience is actually asking
• Focus on expertise-demonstrating keywords rather than just high-volume terms
• Build a content structure that shows the depth and breadth of your knowledge
• Earn quality backlinks from respected sites in your industry
• Make sure your site loads quickly and works well on mobile devices
• Craft compelling meta titles and descriptions that set accurate expectations
• Use structured data to help search engines understand your content better

Good SEO practices align perfectly with good user experience. Clear headers, logical content structure, and fast-loading pages don't just please search engines—they help human visitors too.

7. Keep your branding consistent

Think of your brand like a person. If someone acts differently every time you meet them, you start to question who they really are. The same goes for your website and broader online presence.

Consistency doesn't mean boring and it doesn’t mean it’s not personalized. You can still be creative while maintaining a recognizable brand identity that reaches your target audience. Think of it as variations on a theme rather than starting from scratch with each page.

Here’s how you can do it:

• Use the same logo, colors, and typography across all pages of your site
• Maintain a consistent voice and tone in all your content
• Guarantee your messaging aligns with your brand values throughout
• Extend this consistency to your social media accounts, emails, and other touchpoints
• Apply the same design principles to your visual content, from photos to illustrations
• Make sure product photography follows a cohesive style
• Keep your navigation and page layouts consistent to avoid confusing visitors

The goal is to make your brand instantly recognizable regardless of where someone encounters it. When a visitor jumps from your Instagram post to your website and feels at home, you've built another layer of trust.

Start building trust by design with Webflow

Usually, with a list like this, we might say to pick and choose a few tactics and see what works, but that’s not going to cut it here. To build long-term sustainable trust, you’ll eventually need to incorporate all of these strategies. 

Don’t try to boil the ocean, though. Start small. See what works, and scale from there. 

Ready to put these trust-building strategies into action? Webflow makes it easier to implement most of these principles right from the start.

Webflow gives you a head start on creating a trustworthy website experience with built-in SSL security, responsive design capabilities, and accessibility tools like contrast checkers and vision preview features.

Our platform combines design freedom with the guardrails you need to maintain consistency, performance, and user-friendly experiences. Whether you're starting from scratch or looking to improve an existing site, Webflow provides the tools to build trust by design.

Get started with Webflow today to build websites that foster confidence from the first click.