Building Trust: Why Consistency is Key

Your firm’s entire presence ties together. This is why you should think holistically about how it comes across.

Each arm of your online presence is linked to the rest. Just think about your social media profiles – they’ll all link back to your website. In return, your website likely has links to your social profiles. Other external sites that you maintain a presence on – such as Trustpilot or Google My Business listings – will also direct users to your site.

Maintaining a consistent presence on these sites – as well as offline – can help to build brand recognition, which could then enhance trust in your firm.

And that could be the deciding factor in a potential client choosing you over a competitor.

The importance of consistency

Consistency across your online presence can help to build trust. When a potential client finds you through social media, for example, and clicks through to your site, they’ll expect what they find there to match where they came from. If they find anything else, this could be surprising enough to impact their expectations and then to dent their trust in your firm.

Recognisability is an important element of brand awareness. Making it as straightforward as possible for a potential client to recognise your firm can help you stand out when compared to your competitors.

And when we talk about consistency, we mean more than just making sure your phone number is the same everywhere – but don’t forget to check those details, now we mention it! Any inconsistencies can have a negative impact on a client’s confidence in your abilities.

Consistent social networking

If your firm is active on various social media networks, consistency across them is important. It’s not necessary to post the same thing across each network – tailoring your content to your different audiences can be important – but you don’t want to use one for expressing political discourse while the rest provide helpful legal advice, for instance.

Keeping your core themes and values present in your posts can help visitors to your profiles identify them as belonging to your firm. It’s also important to maintain your usual tone of voice and communication style across these networks.

You’ll also want to feature the same cover and profile photos, the same keywords in your bios, the same brand colour schemes and the same contact details across each so that they can all be visually read as yours.

Your external presence

It’s unlikely that you only occupy online real estate in the form of your website and social media accounts. Your firm is also probably present on sites like Trustpilot or Google My Business. That means you should think about how you react to comments and reviews. You want to maintain the same tone of voice, level of service and personality that your firm is known for.

If you suddenly start using different terminology to that used on your site or start acting defensive when your firm otherwise comes across as caring and helpful, this could be jarring for the client who’s received this message – and the potential clients who are doing their research into your firm.

Come up with some standard responses that you can alter depending on the situation. But ensure they’re created with your brand voice in mind. Don’t say something you wouldn’t want a representative of your firm saying in person to a client or that you wouldn’t post in a blog or service page.

Taking it offline

It’s not just online real estate where you’ll want to keep your firm’s presence consistent. As a provider of services, your colleagues will interact with people, whether that’s over the phone or in person.

It can be hugely beneficial to align your online presence with the way your teammates speak to clients. If you have an agreed approach to communication, emulate that in the way you create your online content.

Do you aim to come across as knowledgeable and confident? Or is empathetic and understanding more your firm’s style? Whichever impression you want to give your clients is how you should both speak to them and frame your online presence.

This way, when a prospective client calls you after perusing your website and social accounts, they won’t be taken aback by a communication style they weren’t expecting. Avoiding any surprises in the customer journey can keep them from questioning anything, propelling them through the funnel and towards a conversion.

Consistency to build trust

A consistent presence gives your firm the chance to minimise any possible knocks to a prospect’s confidence. It’s just one additional feature that can help to build trust in your firm.

You have control over your firm’s consistency. So there’s no reason not to invest some time in it.

If it can prevent any bumps in a prospective client’s journey, it’ll be worth it.