The Importance of Building Trust Through Your Website
The internet keeps our modern world connected—yet, it’s made it harder to build trust as we eliminate the need for face-to-face interactions. In the treatment industry today, it’s less likely that potential clients and their families will come to visit your facility in person. Rather than a handshake, they will rely on the impression left by your website to feel secure about their choice in a treatment center.
Addiction treatment is a sensitive field. Those in need of help are often in fragile conditions. When choosing a treatment center, concerned parents and family members want to know where they’re sending their loved ones. They want to be sure that they’re choosing a safe, quality facility, with the resources and knowledge to provide real help.
Without meeting potential clients and their loved ones in person, how can your treatment program still give them assurance in choosing your facility? Your website can be an innovative platform for building trust and rapport—but how?
SHARE PUBLIC TESTIMONIES
New clients are more likely to trust your program if they can see that other people have also trusted it and had positive results. Rather than relying on word-of-mouth testimonies, the internet enables businesses and companies to establish trust through social testimonies.
“Likes” or “favorites” on your facility’s social media sites can comfort potential clients in choosing your program. You can include these numbers (or links to those pages) on your facility’s website. Also consider including positive comments and written reviews from former clients, which can give potential clients insight into the treatment experience at your facility. Reading about others’ positive experiences—like restaurant reviews on Yelp—will give potential clients greater confidence and encourage them to select your facility.
OFFER YOUR STAFF’S CREDENTIALS
More information is key in making any decision. The more potential clients know about your program and its facility, the more secure they can feel in committing to it. When a treatment program—and its website—remains general and faceless, potential clients have no real reasons to choose it. Instead, give those potential clients good reasons to select your program.
If potential clients and family members won’t be meeting your program staff and seeing the grounds of your facility in person, use your website to offer them a virtual meeting. What kind of people work at your facility? What motivates and qualifies these employees to work in addiction treatment? Provide photos, names, and background information about your staff. Rather than expecting family members to take a blind leap of faith, do what you can to give them a better sense of who will be taking care of their loved ones.
DEMONSTRATE YOUR BRAND’S REPUTATION
Ultimately, the combined elements on your program’s website should reflect your brand’s reputation. The testimonies of former clients play an important role in your reputation, but your website is also a venue where you can talk about the successes of your program.
Display any accreditations or awards that your treatment program has earned, and explain their significance on your website. Explain your program’s philosophy and what distinguishes it from others in the field. Detail the services offered by your facility, and show potential clients what value these services can provide.
One of the most effective ways to demonstrate the success of your program is with concrete, tangible evidence. If you haven’t already, establish a consistent system for collecting treatment outcomes that measure the successes of clients admitted to your facility. Give potential clients hope to hold onto, based on the experiences of other clients—like sustained abstinence rates, increased employment rates, or decreases in arrests.
A STRONG WEBSITE CAN BE YOUR STRONG HANDSHAKE
A strong handshake gives people a sense of security and confidence. Especially when first meeting you, that handshake is a simple gesture that can effectively build trust. Without even meeting face-to-face, you can earn potential clients’ trust through your program’s website.
Give them concrete evidence and personal testimonies. Let them get to know you and your staff. In the stressful process of selecting a treatment center, use your website to help concerned loved ones make their decision with greater peace of mind.