Building on yesterday, I'd like to speak directly to the most critical points in your post-click marketing: your 'trust moments'. These are the moments when your respondents ask themselves if they should deepen their commitment to you—or not. There are many smaller trust moments in any conversion path, but today I'll address the top three: landing, asking and delivering.

You want these moments to be no-brainers. You really want them to be non-events—meaning your respondents are so engaged, with so much desire, and so much confidence in you, that trust is inherent. You want your trust moments to become trivial.

For most online marketers, trust moments are anything but trivial. We inadvertently make our trust moments these huge, momentum taming roadblocks. Points at which respondents stop dead in their tracks and question why they're doing what they're doing. Bang! That's the sound of the door to conversion being slammed in our face. Ouch.

Take heart. If we identify these all-important, make-or-break points, we can lessen their likelihood of causing our conversion rate to quiver in fear.

Yesterday, I spoke to engagement and time spent as metrics for assessing what's right or wrong in your conversion paths. Trust moments can exist at any point in your conversion funnel. They are interactive not independent of your engagement and time-spent evaluations.

Trust Moment #1: Landing
Your first trust moment happens immediately when your respondent lands. In a split second he draws a conclusion as to your credibility. He decides if you're worth a second look or not.

• Trust increases with the perceived quality of your landing page
• Trust increases when your landing page message matches whatever was clicked on

Part of trust on the landing page is respecting the respondent's time and attention. If they feel a lack of respect, their trust in you (as a good match for them) declines precipitously. Therefore...

• Trust decreases as what's asked of the respondent is outside of their comfort zone
  

Good News
Each time you are successful in moving your respondent deeper in your conversion path is a huge coup for the trust the respondent places in you. I call it completing the trust cycle. And the more times you can do it, the better your chances of conversion.

Trust Moment #2: Asking
For many conversion paths post-click #2 is the tough one to get. That's usually the one with the commitment on it. You can identify your commitment as the point at which the respondent is no longer anonymous.

You need to wait to ask until your case is so strong that they want you to ask. That means they need to want it—a lot. If they want whatever it is you're offering, they're happy to exchange something for it. Remember the trade has to be perceived as fair and equitable. If you're offering something of so-so value, don't expect much in return.

• Trust increases when what you're asking matches in scale to what you're offering

Then there are mechanics. People trust other people more than they trust machines. They also look for comfort when they're giving up personal data. You can evaluate the trustworthiness of your forms in these terms:

• Trust increases when the form is warmer and more humanized—in language and/or visually
• Trust increases when you make a short, profound statement to bring comfort to the exchange of personal information. All of our forms say something like: "Your personal information, including your email address, will be held in the strictest of confidence and will never be shared with anyone."
• Trust increases when you ask the right questions--or more specifically when you don't ask the wrong questions. Requiring questions to be answered on forms is one thing. But requiring questions to be answered that the respondent may be uncomfortable or unable to answer is a sure way to lose them.

Trust Moment #3: Delivering
This is post-conversion, but don't tune out. Just because you got what you wanted, doesn't mean your opportunity to build trust is over. Deliver whatever you promised quickly, directly and without interruption. Why? Because we all know that each completed conversion path is merely a step towards retaining a great customer. Your brand is on the line. And what you do post-conversion has a profound impact on your perceived trustworthiness going forward—with this respondent—and with others as word of your behavior spreads socially.

No respondent is an island. Build trust and it will come back to you.

Enjoy SES today and visit us in booth #1016.

—Justin Talerico