Trusting the Faceless Websites

SURE YOU CAN TRUST THE WEB?
Trust simply can be defined as integrity and surety. For web transaction, customers need to have an assured confidence on a web provider’s ability to deliver. Closely related to this issue is the debate if web transactions are trust-worthy. To be trustworthy means warranting trust and reliable, which is the biggest challenge to web-site transactions, do they deserve customer’s trust and confident, are they dependable and reliable.
Trustworthiness is an important factor in the completion of commercial transactions, which is also true for internet commerce. In the internet commerce environment, people do business interacting with a customer interface, which in this case is the internet vendor’s website. To gain user’s trust and be trustworthy, web-sites must be designed carefully to induce feelings of trust, which will influence the decision to buy from a specific vendor.
Customers have expectations when transactions are been made. If these expectations are met and contracts honoured, customers in most cases are more likely to trust in a vendor. Trust mainly is needed for a long-term exchange relationship. For web vendors, it is financially beneficial to cultivate long-term customer’s trust in order to leverage knowledge of their needs and requirements to provide more customized products and services.
Joel and Carol [2006] researched customer’s perception of quality and satisfaction with online purchases. It was discovered that out of three things: web interaction, delivery of product and retailers preparation to handle problems, product delivery has the strongest influence on customer’s satisfaction and future purchase intentions. Some other factors considered by customers before trusting e-commerce vendors include:
• Competence in product design,
• Manufacturing quality,
• Order processing,
• Delivery,
• After sales service,
• Response to consumer’s need,
• New and better web-design easy navigation [ease of use] and better advanced technology,
• Communication links [providing a hint of humanity/human face],
• Careful web management

For any website to be trustworthy the website must look professional, if not the organization may be losing potential customers and be lowly rated by customer and reducing trust.
Basic steps to building a reliable web-site:
• Minimum links
• Professional and attractive layout
• Provide sufficient information about
1. Web/ service provider
2. Product/services rendered.
• Provide full, visible and traceable contact information
1. Have a well detailed “About US”
2. Information on top staff
• Provide room for customer feedbacks. This
1. Inculcates customer’s participation
2. Build and increase interest
• Constantly update the web-page
• All links to the web-page must be working effectively
• Make sure information posted are correct, recent and valid.
• Finally, a website must be informative, easy to navigate and generally pleasant to peruse by the people.
How much do you trust the WEB!
Trust has become an imperative element of success for companies having online transaction. However, Board Survey found that conducting financial transactions and
(94 JOURNAL OF WEBSITE PROMOTION) purchase though a website may create the most anxiety among users.

Some hindrances to trusting a web-site

• Lack of Security and Privacy: This has proven to be the most vital points in ensuring online trust. Ballenger, Hiller and Smith (2002) found that customers don’t trust merchants that are not able to protect customer information or poor management of customer data. Security threats include destruction, disclosure, and modification of data, denial of service, fraud and abuse (Kalakota and Whinston 1996).

• Website Usability: Vicks, Berman and Jones (1999) argued that information is an important mechanism to reduce uncertainty. Everald and Galletta (2006) et al also found that poor design, errors, incompleteness and perceived quality are limitations to customer trust.

• Expected Product Performance: Customer satisfaction has a stronger impact on trust for repeat customers than potential buyers. So it is essential that the product meets the customer’s expectation to ensure a repeat purchase or positive word of mouth advertising.

• Electronic Customer Relationship Management (e-CRM): e-CRM has positive effects on customer share development. It strengthens trust and cultivates loyalty. A lack of this factor will only give a rise to cognitive dissonance in a customer, therefore acting as a limitation of trust.

• Tangibility: Customers are more bothered about the intangibility of web-site transactions. This fear is brought about by some factors:
1. Trusting online payments
2. Insecurity of user’s private information
3. Not seeing or feeling what is been bought.

• Communication: Most consumers trust and need communication to complete transactions. Their belief is grounded on hearing and be heard instantaneously.


FANS FOR EVER!
Unlike transactional sites, football sites seem to get more trust. Contrastingly, people seem to have less doubt about football sites, this could be because of emotional and psychological attachments hardened followers feel about their clubs. Obviously people feel less urge to doubt information provided on websites and less-bothered about security when making transactions on football sites. Contrary to Herington and Weaven’s (2007) view, that “online service quality has no impact on customer delight, e-trust or the development of stronger relationships” fans do get kicks from buying clubs merchandise from official websites.In this case, quality service does not guarantee fans retention, fans basically are just delighted been a fan and have built a kind of trust.
The internet is far from achieving its potential e-market place due to consumer reluctance to engage spontaneously and continually in online transactions. This could be attributed to lack of trust, which is a critical impediment to the success of e-commerce. Consumers seem to fear providing credit card information to commercial vendors, simply because they lack trust to engage in business with these vendors.

Arsenal FC is a typical example of a club offering lots of merchandise online. These could be bought with any master-cards, but the club has its own Arsenal master-card. The club’s website has an assuring opening page informing their web users its “YOUR CLUB, YOUR CARD.” A very re-assuring way to build customers trust and assure them the website is trustworthy.
The club is currently building a more interactive web-interface, by providing users opportunities to communicate and have a web-chat with specific players at specified periods. The club offers various rewards, benefits and rates [0% on card purchases for 3 months] for transacting online.
The club’s website can be easily navigated; users can easily trace and acquire any information sought. The first page is basically informative, providing present updates on matches, discount prices, chat dates amidst others.
Mainly what the club has done is a segmentation of facts and news. Users will easily navigate to precise page and extract information wanted.
WEB UPGRADE:
Having considered some aspect of Arsenal FC web-page, it is apparent the club work on the following;
• Immediate response to inquiries unit,
• Fans feedback section.


References:
Angriawan, A. and Thakura, R. (2008) 'A Parsimonious Model of the Antecedents and Consequences of Online Trust: The Uncertainty Perspective.' Journal of internet marketing 7, (1) 74-94

Baker, E. M., Tedesco, J. C. and Baker, W. H. (2007) 'Consumer Privacy and Trust Online: An Experimental Analysis of Anti-Phishing Promotional Effects.' Journal of internet marketing

Collier, J. E. and Bienstock, C. C. (2006) 'How Do Customers Judge Quality in an E-Tailer?' MIT Sloan Management Review 8, (1) 35-40


Ejike, O., Patricia, B., Ian, R., Scott, D. and James, M. (2008) 'How Do You Build Trust into an E-Commerce Website.' European Journal of Marketing 25, (5) 7-9

Martin, S. S. (2008) 'Cyberpsychology & Behaviour.' International journal of communication 11, (5) 549-554

Mukherjee, A. and Nath, P. (2007) 'Role of Electronic Trust in Online Retailing.' European Journal of Marketing 41, (9) 1173-1202

Patrick, Y. K. C., Jen.Hwa, H. P., Lee, L. P. B. and Anson, K. K. (2007) 'Examining Customers’ Trust in Online Vendors and Their Dropout Decisions: An Empirical Study.' Electronic Commerce Research & Applications 6, (2) 171-182

Sherman, E. (2008) 'Want to Target Online? You Better Build Trust.' Advertising Age 79, 10-10


TANG, Z., JEFFREY, H. Y. and SMITH, M. D. (2008) 'Gaining Trust through Online Privacy Protection: Self-Regulation, Mandatory Standards, or Caveat Emptor.' Journal of Management Information Systems 24, (4) 153-173