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No.5 Website Reliability (May 2, 2001)
Doing business via a website and obtaining the trust of users is no simple task. To earn the trust of users, a lot of work must go into the content, usability, design, security, and other areas of a website.
However, that hard-earned trust can be easily lost. As soon as users get out of a website and into the real world, they may experience problems such as defective products or charges that don't match the prices they saw on the web.
No matter how hard one tries, it is impossible to solve these types of issues simply by improving the usability of a site. However, if you remember that a website is an interactive form of media, there are several ways of providing support for these types of problems. Let's look at some strategies that can fundamentally improve reliability.
 Clarify who is operating the site
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On an Internet with billions of websites, building a sense of reliability in users towards your site means that you must start with being perfectly open about who is operating it. Since you're already up against the impression that websites out there in virtual space are somewhat untrustworthy to begin with, your efforts to remove of any sense of uncertainty must begin with creating a site that has a human face.
Users may wish to have a method of communication other than the Internet. Your site should always provide the address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address of your company. In addition, you should also provide a map, directions, transportation, and if possible, parking information for visitors. Making a company profile available on your site that includes photos and other information about company executives will provide a sense of reassurance.
It is easy to imagine that users will want to make direct inquiries, in particular with E-commerce and sites that involve buying and selling, or with online banking, trading, or other sites that employ advanced technology. Therefore, in addition to accepting inquiries over the telephone or through e-mail, it is important to also provide support by indicating your company's hours of support and adding a list of FAQs.
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Provide telephone number and e-mail address
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Some companies have avoided publishing telephone numbers on their website due to the flood of inquiries they receive. The same is true for e-mail addresses. However, unless the site is a personal one, the company must provide a channel that directly connects the operator of the site with users. If you are inundated with inquiries, find ways to deal with it. Add more staff, enlist the help of a call center, and work on creating a website that will keep the number of inquiries from getting out of hand in the first place. Simply thinking that creating your website and getting it up on the Internet is not enough to win the hearts and minds of users.
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