UX for Beginners

Chapter 49. How to Create Trust

In UX design, it can be easy to slip into all the structures and techniques and forget about the fact that users are real people and they can tell when you’re full of shit. Context matters. Honesty matters.

Trust Is a Critical Element in Everything You Do

There are lots of ways to create trust, but when users don’t trust your design, your perspective often prevents you from realizing it.

Here are seven simple ideas that are always worth considering:

1. Professionalism

   This might seem obvious, but you need to look like a real company (i.e., not a scam). Part of that is visual design, part isn’t. Real companies will protect your data, survive until next year, and send you the stuff you just paid for. Companies often focus all their attention on the sales team and advertising; meanwhile, their website is five years old and wasn’t very good in the first place. That hurts trust.

2. Nothing is 100% positive or negative

   Top-rated product reviews are both positive and negative. It has also been shown that app ratings and book reviews are most-trusted when they do not have all 5-star ratings. A few 3- or 4-star ratings actually increase sales. Real people feel suspicious when something seems “too perfect.”

3. Democratize

   As a group your users can be like a quality filter. Some companies use artificial intelligence to identify good content or prevent fraud, when they could be using actual intelligence. If you build voting and rating tools that are hard to abuse (limit the number ...