Building Trust In Your Small Fashion Business

Creating a fashion business of your own is no easy thing to do. It’s a commitment to an incredibly involved world, including the procuring of fabric, the making of garments, and a hardy effort to produce new lines and sales on a monthly basis. 

Not only that, but finding customers in a world where fast fashion is king can be next to impossible for small names. But does that mean you shouldn’t try at all? We don’t think so! 

You can build trust for your very own fashion business, whether you’re reselling vintage items or handcrafting dresses yourself. In doing so, you’ll be able to pull to the front of the small business fashion community, and generate a good following that you can rely on. Without further ado, here are some tips for managing that. 

Have a Reliable Customer Service Policy

Customer service is the bread and butter of generating business trust. If you can resolve an issue without much fuss, and clearly show a customer you’re willing to work with them to satisfy an awry order, the word of mouth marketing can bring in 10 times the amount of custom. 

People want to know that a company does its best when something goes wrong, and when that specific issue is the one thing outlined in a 5 sentence review, they’re going to be far more willing to check you out compared to your competitors. So, fineline your customer service policy, and always think about what you would find satisfactory if you were the customer involved. 

Demonstrate Your Efforts for Sustainability

Sustainable fashion, sustainable shipping, and sustainable waste production and control, are the things modern businesses should strive for. Not only is it a simple, responsible way to leave your mark on the world, but it’s something the fashion market cares deeply about. 

If you want to generate trust for your small fashion business, being transparent about these efforts will go a long way. Outline your policy well on your website; dedicate a whole page to it, to ensure customers interested can find out all about it when they visit. 

Similarly, make the occasional social media post about your efforts to be sustainable, and how you use ‘green’ methods to make fashion accessible to people. Beyond this, you should also work with suppliers that demonstrate similar ideals, and price your efforts at a fair point in order to pay yourself and any workers well. 

Make Your Website a Secure Place to Be

It’s not just about how you look on social media – it’s whether or not you’ve got the digital security to back it up. And that’s where good web design comes in; it’s not just about the visuals! And while it’s a good idea to visit various web design gallery pages to see where other websites have succeeded, without an insight into the dangers of the online world, no one’s going to trust you with their card details. 

So, once your homepage gives the impression it needs to, make sure you’re ready to keep the hackers out as well. A secure website, with an SSL lock and a clearly well coded HTML layer, is the first sign a customer is in the right place. Secondly, a secure checkout option fitted with data encryption, as well as a handy cart to load all their purchases into, will be the next green flag they’re looking for. 

Streamline Your Shipping Options

Shipping is a very annoying thing to try and control as a business owner. Why? Because of the recent uptake in supply and demand for reliable delivery companies, as well as the age-old issue of getting something from one side of the world to the other! 

At the end of it all, you could be charging customers upwards of $50 in shipping costs just for a couple t-shirts, and even then they might not turn up! So do your research carefully, and only go with a shipping option that can be relied upon. 

It might cost you a bit more for a long term contract, but you need to ensure customer peace of mind here. And when you care about the result of a transaction, your customers will put a lot more trust in you. 

Research Collaborations Well

If you ever want to work with someone else within the industry, do your homework. Most small brands turn to relevant influencers here, but you can choose from big and small creators alike. Just keep one thing in mind: avoid scandals where you can and work with people you’re genuinely thrilled to be in contact with. 

If you do, your customer base will take note of your efforts. And when you can share in a similar passionate audience, you can double your order intake overnight when a good review is posted. 

When it comes to building trust in the fashion, hair and beauty industry, you need to become noticeable on popular search engines such as Google. This is especially important if you’re running a location based business and you want particular clients to find you in a certain area. Becoming the top result on a search engine will instantly build your credibility, so you may want to look into hair salon digital marketing methods such as SEO. There are a number of reputable, online agencies dedicated to helping small businesses improve their search engine optimization strategies so that they can gain trust from their clients and get noticed in a busy online space.

Be Yourself

This is the one thing that modern shoppers are looking for: humanity! If you can be yourself, you’ll be far more popular as a business owner than if you tried to put up a purely professional wall. 

The more you act like yourself, and form your business around this particular tone and style, the more chances you’ll have to appeal to the perfect customer. Someone who will come back time and time again to purchase, and talk about their wonderful experience with you via their own social media profile. 

Of course, there’s nothing unprofessional about a unique sense of brand personality, but make sure you choose yours carefully. It should look and feel like you, as well as represent everything you want out of the fashion industry. 

Building trust in a fashion business won’t happen overnight. People aren’t just going to flood to the site, buy in their droves, and then spread the word over social media. You’ve got to take it slow, make sure you’re in a good position to build a customer base, and then go from there. Once you’ve got your company ethics and operations in the right place, the popularity will follow. 

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