Trust is a potentially complex variable that factors in our decision-making. Sometimes we give it little thought. We trust that the gas we put in our cars isn’t tainted. We may take more time to assess and develop a trusted relationship with the person who helps maintain the vehicle. With our healthcare professionals, our degree of trust may evolve over a more extended period of time through experiences and the nature of the relationship.
It’s safe to say in many situations, trust evolves, and it has varying degrees of strength. In some cases, trust has a very high degree of strength, such as when you allow the dentist to come at you with a drill.
Think about these cases in your own life; your healthcare professionals, the service for your vehicles, or any other business you may use with regularity. When you were in the initial decision process to choose, what gave you the confidence to move to the next step? Perhaps you interviewed or read reviews on a website? What kind of things did they do to build trust that gave you the confidence to move forward?
In some cases, there may have been one step and full engagement. In others, there were additional evaluation steps like in a job interview. The latter is what we want to explore here.
In job interviews, multiple people and tests are often involved. Think of each step as a micro-decision. Each could be a yes to continue moving forward or a no to stop the process.
The web experience as a series of micro decision steps
When a visitor lands on your website, the stepwise evaluation process begins. A missing factor is often the degree of trust and confidence it exhibits. The equation consists of seen and unseen variables.
The obvious variables
- Does the website have what I’m looking for? Is it evident in the top half of the site?
- Is the language clear and concise? Meaning I don’t have to search around to find the answers buried in large blocks of text.
The unseen variables
- What feeling does your website convey? For those left-brained, you’re focusing on all the words, facts, and logic. But beneath the surface, the site will still portray some level of authority and confidence that enables continuing the digital relationship. That is, continuing to read and perhaps make a request to engage.
- Color, fonts, style, and site structure play a tremendous role in the feeling of a website. Think medical websites vs. an artist or a rock band site. Do you get the sense that you’re where you want to be?
- These variables are a part of trust factors. They all contribute to the formula for trust, which focuses on building a relationship with the viewer to continue to move forward. It is at this point where digital marketing plays a vital role. IF your marketing is unexpectedly sending those looking for healthcare to sites on art in healthcare, you’re wasting valuable ‘digital dollars.’
