6 Ways to Build Trust with Your Real Estate Website

Your real estate website is often the first representation of you or your brokerage that your potential clients encounter. Given that they’re considering one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives, you’ll want your site to convey trustworthiness, expertise, and an outstanding customer experience.

To start, you’ll definitely want to cover all the basics — bio, contact info, a responsive site that meets today’s functionality standards, and property listings connected to a CRM, if possible. But here, we’ll go deeper into the ways you can signal trust and value to hopeful buyers and sellers. Follow these suggestions to show your prospects that you’re committed to their satisfaction.

Consider your audiences and how they found you

We can’t stress this one enough. Who, specifically, are your audiences? Are they buyers looking to settle down in a specific part of your territory, or are they inbound leads that know your brokerage by name? How are they finding you? Did they hear about you from a referral, flow in from one of your social media channels, or find you via search or a brochure box?

When you’ve given this some thought, confirm that the words on your site reflect it. Let your visitors know they’ve come to the right place. It won’t hurt if you can speak to your audiences' pain points and how you’ll solve them.

Elevate customer and user experience

A poor customer experience online suggests that the experience will be poor all the way through closing. Label links and buttons in a consistent way that clearly conveys what happens when the user clicks on them. Whether you’re working with an agency or an in-house team to build the site, make it clear you want to avoid deceptive design practices, which can erode trust before it’s even been established.

Demonstrate trustworthiness and expertise

Eighty-three percent of buyers who used an agent and responded to Zillow’s 2022 Consumer Housing Trends Report said that an initial impression of trustworthiness was very or extremely important. This finding was consistent with prior years. Often before they ever meet you in person, leads will be judging your online presence — both consciously and subconsciously.

Not coincidentally, search engines will also be judging for trustworthiness as one signal, and ranking based on it. Take Google’s E-A-T guidelines. The acronym stands for “expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.” (They’ve subsequently added an extra E for “experience.”) They use an accounting example to illustrate:

Between leads and search engines, it serves dual purposes to say something authentic, unique, and that speaks to the specific value you or your brokerage bring to your clients. For a simple and useful guideline, try answering the “who, how and why” questions that prospects might have about you. Artificial intelligence probably won’t be able to do this for you. On that note, don't just follow the SEO guidelines, try to show empathy, which is a pillar of emotional intelligence and one of the core drivers of trust.

Gather reviews and testimonials

After a close or transaction, ask happy clients to let you interview them or to fill out a form or survey. Ask for nuanced, conversational testimonials, which are far more convincing than canned written responses. Think of this as an opportunity to gain invaluable customer insights. Get permission to post the best quotes on your site and social media channels or nurture newsletters. Marketers call this social proof, and research shows that online reviews are trusted almost as much as personal reviews. Reviews also allow potential clients to get to know an agent’s personality and set expectations for a transaction. Top agents make asking for reviews a regular part of their marketing strategy.

Make an intro video

This is another way to build trust and reinforce the type of agent or brokerage prospects will work with. Answer some questions for your audience. Who are you, how do you work, and what unique qualities do you bring to the home buying/selling process? Are you an authority in your geo farm? Do you specialize in helping first-time home buyers? Illustrate it all with a sharp story or anecdote. Humans are hardwired to absorb and retain stories.

Be responsive

Having an initial impression of responsiveness was also very or extremely important to 81% of buyers surveyed in the trends report. If a lead funnels into your CRM or fills out a contact form, follow up as soon as you can. Five minutes later isn’t too soon, but 24 hours later is too late. Call them or write out a personalized text message or email. When possible, match the mode of communication they’ve used. This all sends a message to your leads: You’ll give them adequate attention, treat them as a priority, and communicate on their terms.

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