If customers who visit your site aren’t convinced you’re a safe and trustworthy business they will simply go elsewhere. Read on for some valuable advice about gaining customer trust.The world of online business is a highly competitive place. Consumers are increasingly ignoring the high street and shopping online instead. While this creates fantastic opportunities for online traders, it also intensifies the risk for investors.To succeed in the online market it is imperative that you think like your customers do. You constantly have to ask yourself, how would I react as a customer? This concept of pleasing the customer is of course as old as time itself. However, the mechanics of online customer care are distinct from the traditional shop model.The central difference relates to how customers perceive your business. In the online market there is no physical shop or sales assistants, instead your website design and interface must fulfil these roles. While these parameters result in a whole range of other issues, especially those concerning website usability, your most pressing concern has to be how to gain customer trust.The retail world’s migration away from physical shops to virtual shops is a blessing as much as it’s a curse. Nowadays a trader doesn’t have to have a plush shop in the West End of London to attract customers. Under the cover of a professional, well-designed website, a business can create considerable profits from a small warehouse.However, on the negative side, online traders have to work especially hard to overcome any in trepidation which customers may feel without the security of a physical shop front. Customers know that a physical shop exists and it won’t just simply vanish overnight. Moreover, customers can leave a shop with their purchase, they don’t have to pay for it upfront on the promise that it will later arrive to their doorstep.So essentially, creating customer trust is a matter of proving your trustworthiness and legitimacy. Your customers need to feel 100% safe when submitting their payment details to your site. They need to be assured that you are who you say you are.This level of trust is easier to achieve than you might think. There is a comprehensive security product available for websites called SSL, which is designed specifically to reassure online customers. Distributed by security giant GlobalSign, an SSL Certificate will verify your authenticity to customers. They display the universally recognisable padlock icon in the customer’s browser and can also highlight your website address within a green bar.But these features aren’t merely cosmetic. Any website business who applies for an SSL Certificate must be first vetoed by GlobalSign to prove their authenticity. This approval is manifested by the issue of an SSL Certificate, from which point customers will have complete trust in your business.We sell SSL Certificates starting from the as little as £49.99. SSL Certificates not only reassure customers, they also secure your online connection by scrambling your data transfers. Therefore, data thieves cannot hack into your site and steal your customers payment details.So take some time to consider your website security and the ways in which your customers might perceive your site. Please feel free to ask a question or leave a comment in the box below. Good luck with your online trading!