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Study outlines top tips to increase website engagement in 2020

Often the biggest challenge online retailers face is maintaining customer engagement and this often boils down to whether a user trusts the website or not. With stats suggesting that an unhappy user will leave a website within 10-20 seconds if they are left dissatisfied, businesses can see that retaining a visitor for longer than this can be a major difficulty.

In a bid to discover how websites can increase engagement and build trust among customers, Reboot SEO Agency has surveyed 1,322 people, asking participants to choose the top five features that build their confidence towards a website. From this, Reboot has outlined the most trustworthy features on a website that encourages interaction among users.

According to the study, almost half of participants surveyed (47%) said that a company with consistent social media activity is the top feature that makes a website trustworthy – specifically, being active on Instagram, as brand interaction is made easy.

Reboot also found that 56% of users view a company that uses Instagram as more trustworthy than those using other social media platforms. 45% said they would not use a website that isn’t active on social media.

Meanwhile, 43% of users think that one of the most trustworthy features is an SSL certificate, with 58% stating they would significantly reduce their interaction with a website if they did not have one.

Additionally, having familiar payment methods, such as PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, American Express, on your website ranked as the sixth most trustworthy feature (36%). Some 92% of users said that they would not trust or engage with a website that uses unfamiliar payment methods.

Having an author bio was ranked as the least important feature that makes a website trustworthy and determines interaction, with only 2% ranking it in their top 5.

Similarly, Reboot also asked what diminishes confidence and found that customers have little confidence in a website with pop ups. 65% of users state this makes them question its authenticity and would choose to reduce their interaction with this website, this is partially due to 82% of participants being concerned about malware and security.

Correct grammar and wording are one of the most important factors for 56% of participants, websites without this arise doubt and hesitation among visitors. Additionally, 79% of shoppers said that they would not use, or trust, a website with grammatical or spelling errors.

The 6th most untrustworthy feature is a website with no reviews or case studies available, as stipulated by 40% of shoppers. 65% state they would not purchase from a website if there are no reviews, Reboot found that 93% of visitors are likely to exit the website due to this.

The survey found that, surprisingly, 65% of people purchasing online would use a website that does not have an about us page and 75% said they would continue to browse on a website that is not mobile friendly.

Reboot’s managing director, Naomi Aharony, comments about the importance of maintaining engagement and its correlation with consumer trust: “If a website has high customer engagement, then it implies customers’ expectations have been met and there has been a positive experience. This valuable interaction naturally leads to strong customer trust which has been earned from the website.”

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