Establishing trust and rapport is the first step in the sales cycle.

Scott Allen, one of the blogosphere's innovators, writes in Virtual Handshake, Survey Findings: Transactional Trust in Social Commerce and helps explain this new medium for trust and transactions with,

...the initial findings of the survey on transactional trust in social commerce (eBay and other online auctions; craigslist and other classifieds; social networking, et al.) that I did for Rapleaf. Today we’re releasing the full findings: Transactional Trust in Social Commerce (PDF, 13 pages, 113K - Right-click and Save Link As or Save Target As to download)

This is an important document and deserves a wide audience. Allen reminds us that,

Transactional trust appears to be much more important to buyers than to sellers in a social commerce setting. The top four issues for buyers to determine trust all ranked higher in importance than the number one issue for sellers...

This seems to have a good basis in fact. Only 43% of sellers reported ever having any actual trouble with buyers, while 61% of sellers reported experiencing an actual problem with the seller.

Allen suggests a basic check list:

- Verified identity Valid contact information -- street address, phone, web site and e-mail Online social presence Feedback from others you’re done business with Ratings as a simple way to aggregate that feedback

Mastering trust with the basics from Scott Allen will aid the small business with on-line transactions.

Posted by Anita Campbell July 25, 2006 01:17 AM