How to test your website's credibility with real people

Key takeaways

Test website credibility with three to five people who match your buyers and do not know you. Show the homepage briefly and ask what they remember and whether they would trust the business. Then give them a task, such as finding a price and contacting you, and ask what made them hesitate. Their reasons point straight to fixes.

• Test with three to five people who match your buyers.
• Start with a brief first-impression test of the homepage.
• Then set a real task, such as finding a price and making contact.
• Ask what made them hesitate, not whether they liked it.

Why test credibility with real people?

You cannot see your own site as a stranger does, because you already know the business is real and good. Credibility is a judgement visitors make, so the only reliable way to measure it is to ask them. Nielsen Norman Group's research shows small tests with around five users uncover most major usability problems, and the same applies to credibility doubts.

• How website design influences brand credibility
• User testing for small business websites

How do you run a first-impression test?

Show the homepage on a phone for about five seconds, then hide it. Ask what the business does, who it is for and how much they would trust it, from 1 to 7. Ask what gave them that impression. Tools such as Lyssna run this remotely, but a phone and a stopwatch work too.

• Website first impressions: what visitors judge in seconds
• Prominence-interpretation theory: what visitors notice

How do you run a credibility task test?

Give a realistic task and watch silently.

• Ask them to decide whether they would hire you and why.
• Ask them to find a price, a review and how to contact you.
• Ask them to check you are a real business.
• Note where they hesitate, scroll back or frown.
• Afterwards ask: 'What nearly put you off?'

• How customers check a business is legitimate
• Website trust survey questions that get honest answers

How do you turn results into fixes?

Group every reason for doubt into the five credibility signals: real, competent, proven, current and open. The signal mentioned most is your first fix. Re-test after changes with new people. If the same doubt keeps appearing, the fix did not work or was not prominent enough.

• The website credibility score: rate your site out of 10
• A 90-day plan to make your website more credible

When is testing not enough?

Small tests show why people doubt you, not how many. Combine them with analytics, such as enquiry rate from new visitors, and on-site surveys for scale. Do not test with friends, staff or existing clients; they already trust you and will not see the gaps.

• Website trust metrics: signs credibility is working
• Ask visitors why they did not enquire: on-site surveys

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: four of five testers say a firm looks professional, but three hesitate to contact it because they cannot tell who works there or where it is based. Adding named people and a location line to the homepage answers the doubt the owner never knew existed.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses

Credibility testing checklist

• Recruit three to five people like your buyers.
• Run a five-second first-impression test.
• Set a decision task and watch silently.
• Ask what nearly put them off.
• Group doubts by signal and fix the top one.

• The desirability toolkit: test how your site feels
• Preference testing: choose between two designs with data

Next step

Ask one person who fits your buyer profile to look at your homepage for five seconds this week, and write down what they say.