In an increasingly technologically interconnected world, building and maintaining user trust in your brand is ethically crucial and more important than ever. Developers need to consider why transparency is paramount among the countless digital features and practices that often undermine user trust. A lack of trust can also keep clients from maintaining an ongoing relationship with websites or applications, impacting a company’s product growth, goals, and reputation among users. 

Methods for Building User Trust

Open-Source Software

Open-source software allows anyone to access, inspect, and update the source code. Utilizing open-source software provides numerous benefits for users and developers alike. Open-source communities value ethics and create a sense of authenticity and transparency between both sides of the interface. A greater developer presence via accessible code is also linked to quality since more analysis of encoding errors leads to faster implementation of solutions and software fixes.

 Public access to a company’s code not only allows for others to assist in the innovative expansion of an app or website, but also holds developers accountable in a way that builds user trust. Open-source software also minimizes the perceived threat of data collection, which benefits developers by further building trust.

User Experience Design

Developing and improving a solid user experience demonstrates the importance of usability and ease in building user trust. A user is more likely to trust a functioning interface that allows them to efficiently navigate your website or app, while glitchy and overly complicated designs may lead individuals to grow frustrated and even fear for the security of their personal information. Functionality, consistency, and updates to both UX and UI design are thus key to increasing user trust and building a community of users that habitually return to your website or app.

Google demonstrates an example of the power of strong user experience design. Google has consistently designed its apps and products in a way that prioritizes ease and convenience. The reliability of the search engine is enhanced by the way seemingly small features like functional and accurate visual cues ensure a sense of security for the user. This created a lasting sense of trust that has empowered Google to become the default and one of the most trusted large tech companies.

Privacy Practices

Instating general policies and practices that protect your users’ data and sensitive information is essential to building and maintaining user trust. Developers should consider how necessary user data collection really is; do you truly need to require and keep email addresses and other personal information just for authentication and account creation?

One approach to avoiding this includes utilizing a single-sign-on (SSO) authentication tool, which is built upon a foundation of mutual trust and transparency. Single-sign-on (SSO) is an authentication mechanism that allows individuals to use a single login credential to authorize account access to multiple applications. To succeed, SSO requires a partnership of trust between an identity provider, the SSO solution, and a service provider, the application. This trust is established through a shared certificate between both parties that verifies the source of identification information. An example of this process in action can be seen in Google’s sign-in system; logging in to a Gmail account will verify access to Drive, Docs, YouTube, Google Calendar, and more.

Addressing privacy concerns through a multifaceted solution to data collection is an effective approach as well. An excellent option for your website or app is humanID, an identity provider that offers an easy-to-use, one-click authentication solution that achieves the perfect balance between anonymity and accountability. The combination of guaranteeing privacy protection and preventing bot activity and duplicate and spam accounts results in the significant generation of user trust in apps and websites that employ such solutions. The SSO process also enhances the user experience as mentioned above for all parties involved. The more seamless login makes the process easier for users and benefits businesses through increasing security and lowering the risk of compromised passwords. When users feel protected and secure while digitally engaging with your brand, they will increasingly trust the brand and return to your app or website consistently.

The Importance of Building User Trust

Building user trust is crucial to achieving your website or app’s long-term goals relating to growth, product development, authenticity and reputation, and consumer safety and satisfaction. The detrimental effects of lacking user trust can be avoided through achieving transparency through open source software, designing a seamless and efficient user experience, and upholding privacy standards that guarantee user protection and security. Establishing SSO authentication tools like humanID as an alternative to intrusive and unnecessary data collection will also succeed in building and maintaining user trust in your website or app in the long-term.