When people decide whether a website is trustworthy, what do they actually look at? A Stanford study found that nearly half of their comments about credibility — 46.1 per cent — were about how the site looked. For a business whose website is often the first impression, that is a finding worth taking seriously.
Most business owners would like to believe customers judge them on their expertise, their prices and their reputation. Often they do — eventually. But online, there is an earlier test, and it happens in seconds.
What the study found
The research, How Do People Evaluate a Web Site’s Credibility?, was carried out by BJ Fogg and colleagues at the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab in partnership with Consumer WebWatch, and released in October 2002. In the study, 2,684 people evaluated the credibility of two live websites on a similar topic and wrote comments explaining their judgements, which the researchers then analysed.
The headline finding: 46.1 per cent of the credibility comments related to the design look of a site — its overall visual design, including layout, typography and colour. It was the factor mentioned most often. The next most common were:
- Information design and structure — 28.5%
- Information focus — 25.1%
- Company motive — 15.5%
The researchers noted that this contrasted with an earlier Consumer WebWatch national survey, in which people claimed certain elements, such as having a privacy policy, were vital to a site’s credibility. When actually evaluating real sites, people rarely used those rigorous criteria.
Why it matters
Design is the first test
A visitor cannot judge the quality of your work from your homepage. They can judge whether the site looks cared for. A dated, cluttered or broken-looking site raises doubts before a single word has been read, and many visitors will not stay long enough to reach your credentials.
Appearance stands in for effort
People reasonably assume that a business which takes care over its website takes care over its work. Fair or not, a neglected site suggests a neglected business.
The good news: this is fixable
Unlike reputation or years in business, how a website looks is something a business can improve relatively quickly. It is one of the more controllable parts of a first impression.
What a local business can take from this
Fix what looks broken first
Before any redesign, remove the obvious credibility killers: images that don’t load, placeholder text left from a template, a copyright year from several years ago, buttons that don’t work, text that is hard to read on a phone.
Use real photos
Generic stock images of smiling office workers are easy to spot and add little. Real photos of your team, your premises and your finished work look more credible precisely because they are specific to you.
Keep it clean and consistent
A consistent colour palette, readable fonts, sensible spacing and a clear layout signal professionalism. You do not need an elaborate design; you need one that looks deliberate.
Make it easy to contact you
A visible phone number, a clear address or service area, and a working contact form are simple signals that a real, reachable business is behind the site.
Then back it up with substance
Design gets you past the first test. After that, visitors look for evidence: clear explanations of what you do, genuine reviews, and specific information that answers their questions. Good design earns the chance to be read; good content has to do the rest.
A reality check
This study is from 2002, and the web, and people’s habits, have changed considerably since. Its figures should not be treated as a precise description of how people judge websites today. It also measured what people commented on, not what ultimately made them buy. Its central insight has held up well, however, and is widely cited in usability research: visitors form quick judgements from how a site looks, and those judgements shape whether they give it a chance at all.
This article is part of our Media & Insights case study series on marketing lessons from around the world.
Does your website pass the first test?
We can review your site the way a first-time visitor sees it — what looks outdated, broken or untrustworthy — and fix the issues that undermine credibility before they cost you enquiries.