As an Internet Marketing Strategist, I‘ve long been intrigued with how the live and in person experience of building credibility and trust translates to the “online” experience.  For most of my career I’ve sold live and in person, selling IT consulting services with fairly large price tags…anywhere from several hundred thousand to multiple million dollar deals.

Building credibility and trust was always an important part of that sales process.  But how does the offline experience show up in the online world?

I recently had a bad experience with an online purchase that reminded me of one of the most important aspects of building trust and credibility.  So I thought I would start here.

What’s the best way to ruin a budding client relationship?

Surprise them!  Now this may seem…well surprising!  But whether you sell in person, offline or a combination of…sales 101 always teaches that prospects and customers do not like SURPRISES!

Let me share my first hand experience with a SURPRISE.  A beautiful display ad caught my attention when I was on Yahoo.  The ad was a promotion for a new shampoo and conditioner called Ookisa.  It promised to strengthen your hair, give it more body and more shine; all things that my head of hair could use!

Normally I would just breeze by, but the ad was promoting a free offer; just pay the shipping charges of $5.95.  Hmmmm…I know there’s always a catch to these things…but the ad looked so professional and seemed so convincing that I did it…I hit “click”.

As I went thru the process to sign up for the free offer…I kept a keen eye for phrases like “we will continue to bill you if you don’t cancel” or “your next order will arrive in 30 days” etc.  After all I am an Internet Marketing Advisor and I know how these things work.  But happily none of these phrases showed up. 

I was really impressed with this companies’ approach and looked forward to having beautiful hair and becoming a loyal customer!

Fast Forward About 30 Days

Imagine my SURPRISE when I discovered a charge from Ookisa for $99 on my bank statement.   My reaction wasn’t pretty…veins popping out of neck, eyes popping out of head, bad words coming out of mouth!  Forget about bouncy, shining hair…Ookisa was making me pull my hair out!

I was over the top angry and immediately found the customer service number and called.  I told the customer service agent that there was a mistake and explained what had happened.  She proceeded to tell me…”I’m sorry there is not a mistake.  When you signed up for the free trial, you agreed to either return the product in 30 days or to be billed $99 for the product.”

Ok…now I was having trouble breathing.  “Listen, I checked for that kind of language when I was singing up and I never, ever saw anything like that.”

“It’s there she proceeded to tell me.  On the sign up page there is a link that says terms of use.  It’s all right there.” 

I proceeded to go to the sign-up page and yep…there it was.  But instead of being highlighted in the typical hot link color of blue, it was presented in a very soft gray color.  A color that could just as easily be noticed or not.  And the link was nowhere near the sign-up box…where your attention is focused.

I clicked on the link and imagine my SURPRISE when it popped up with what looked like a contract which clearly stated that I would be billed $99 if I did not return the product within 30 days!

Use the Sales 101 Rule of “No Surprises” to Build Trust and Credibility Online

It’s even more important in the online sales world to follow this rule. No surprises mean that the “terms” of the exchange i.e. money for product, e-mail addresses for free e-book etc., are not hidden or printed in tiny non-readable text at the bottom of the page.   

A best practice is to include a check-box that when checked, indicates the client has read the terms.  Alternatively,  put the link to the terms smack dap in the middle of the sign up process with a call to action…”Read our Privacy policy” or “Read all about our Return policy” etc.

Including the No Surprises rule in your online sales process, goes a long way to helping you establish long and enduring client relationships. And instead of an unhappy customer spreading bad press, your happy customers will rave about you and your company as fast they can “click”.