Continuing on with the explanation of Blue Archer's "ECCO" marketing concept, today is brought to us by the letter "C," for credibility.

After you've successfully exposed your website, the website needs to perform. First and foremost, it must provide credibility. If your website isn't living up to the expectations of the user, one of your competitors' sites will.

Credibility starts with design. The design of the site can help to form a perception of quality. Whether or not it's warranted, a viewer will form a perception of the quality of your organization based upon your website's design. It may not mean that the user will not end up doing business with you, but certainly having a strong design is in your favor.

Think of your website as a storefront. If you place to storefronts side by side, and one has clean windows, a new doormat, new paint and a nice awning, and the other has dirty windows, a rusting awning, and an old, crooked door, which one do you think a shopper will enter?

An intuitive information architecture also helps to provide credibility. If finding the correct information is difficult, a user may become frustrated and look elsewhere (i.e. your competitor).

Other elements can help to provide credibility as well. These elements differ based on what you sell, how you sell, and to whom you're selling, but they may include things such as online interactive product demonstrations, case studies, a portfolio, testimonials, etc.

Bob Faletti
Principal and Co-founder

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