Design Concepts That Build Trust for B2B Websites in 2017

Building trust while running a B2B business is critical: each visitor that comes to your website is a potential client that can bring in huge earnings. The page should grab your viewers attention and persuade them to achieve a goal: whether it's to read a blog post, submit contact details, or make a purchase.

Each website visitor forms an opinion about your business based on how you present your product or service. By employing design concepts and ideas that build trust, you're able to leverage your visitors much easier.

According to Suzanne Morris, Co-Founder, Managing Partner & Creative Director at Sagefrog Marketing Group, - Now more than ever, web design is both an art and a science. Aesthetics are no longer the main focus or measurement of website success. Rather, it's using a combination of design, text and data to enhance the user experience and help facilitate visitors to take a desired action.

It's important to keep in mind that web design and marketing are closely linked, and shouldn't be considered independently. Your complete B2B marketing strategy should combine design concepts with marketing strategies that build trust among you and your website visitors.

Customer Explainer Videos

Integrating a customer explainer video into your website does a lot for your overall design scheme. Visitors like having the power of choosing between absorbing content, videos, or both. The purpose of these videos is to help demonstrate how a product or service works. According to Internet Retailer, 85 percent of people said they were more likely to purchase a product if they saw an explainer video first.

For example, if you have a product on your website that lists product features and even includes graphics, it still might not be clear enough for the visitor to conceptualize it. This is exactly what virtual storage company Dropbox did when sales slowed. Consumers simply couldn't wrap their head around the concept of cloud storage. An animated explainer video helped their signup rate skyrocket.

Visitors won't purchase what they don't understand. As an added benefit, the more your website conveys what you're offering, the less they'll be likely to reach out to the sales team before making a decision. This eliminates customer service inquiries and frees up internal resources.

Card Layouts

Website card layouts are a popular design concept for many reasons. One reason is because, since the concept became popular with the rise of Pinterest, people are familiar with it. And because mobile users have surpassed desktop users, the focus of web design is shifting towards smaller screens.

The card layout is easy on the eyes with a simple, organizational pattern and most importantly, it works will with responsive designs. Card grids and sizes can adapt to any screen size; this versatile style is perfect for hosting blog content -- which you should absolutely have as a B2B business. A survey conducted by Evercoach found that 81 percent of online consumers trust the information they get from blogs. If it matches the brand aesthetic, use a card layout for your blog.

Social Proof

Establishing social proof on your website can go a long way with visitors. Social proof is when you display your social media handles on the page, showing visitors that you have a following and frequently engage with your current and potential customers. Of course, the more of a following you have, the better it looks. If you have 10,000 followers, it demonstrates your authority in the subject.

However, numbers aren't everything when it comes to social proof. Visitors also care about how active you are with your social media. Your social proof placement should fit in line with other aspects of your design, and not haphazardly thrown on the page.

The Whitespace Advantage

A rookie mistake is to assume that your website should be filled to the brim with content or images. B2B websites should be clear and concise, and white space gives your visitors a break. White space is essentially just empty space, and can be any color you desire (though lighter colors are easier on the eyes). Too many images, shapes, colors and interactive elements make your site look less like a B2B business and more like a late-night infomercial.

These breaks are critical for processing information, especially when your business has a lot to process and consists of many moving parts. The key to using white space is ensuring that the white space has a balanced relationship with the other objects on the page.

In fact, white space has been proven to improve website readability and performance. It completes the "less is more" design mantra that's so effective with web design, and forces the visitor to focus on what's important. Take a look at how other businesses are using white space to convey simple, elegant looks while still embodying the brand image.

Use Trust Symbols

Web design experts should understand the importance of placing trust symbols on your website. This includes security seals like, such as the BBB seals or secure checkout seals. For awards and press mentions, be sure to use logos. If you have a "Satisfaction Guaranteed" promise, be sure to place it in an appropriate place. These logos help increase your conversion rate by building legitimacy and security -- especially if you sell products online.