Every day you are likely to read a web page that has some kind of mistake on it. There may be spelling errors, or factual mistakes. Sometimes, links do not work or information is out-of-date. How do you react?
The chances are you lose faith in websites that have mistakes and errors.
Indeed, new research (PDF) shows that more than nine in ten adults do not trust websites that have mistakes in them. In fact, this is the number-one reason why we fail to trust a site.
The study found that other issues that cause lack of trust are poor availability of a website or a site that takes too long to load. Security concerns were much less important to people than these practical concerns.
What this means for website owners is that they need to focus on the accuracy of information that is presented on their site. They also need to ensure that the site has constant availability and that it is speedily presented. The three things you need to focus on for increased trust and faith in your site are:
- Accuracy of content
- Stability of hosting
- Speed of server
Of course, you also need to ensure that any transactions are secure and that you do not have any data breaches. However, this research highlights the importance of ensuring accuracy above all other factors.
If there are mistakes in your website, people will trust you less and that means you will have a lower incidence of any purchasing or lead generation as a result of your web pages. Mistakes on your website can be costly.
