For design guidance, we can turn to the Stanford Persuasive Technology
Lab (founded by B.J. Fogg) as they have developed a number of guidelines
for the credibility of websites. These guidelines are based on research with
over 4,500 people and are based on peer-reviewed, scientific research.
Thanks to their research, we know that you should highlight the expertise in
your organization and in the content and services you provide; show that
honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site; and avoid errors of
all types, no matter how small they seem.
Persuasion architects exploit this principle by providing glowing
testimonials on their website. If it’s an e-commerce site they will have highly
visible icons showing the site is secure and can be trusted. If the site
includes a forum, they’ll give people the opportunity to rate their peers: for
example, some Web forums (like Yahoo! Answers) let users vote up (or
down) answers to posted questions. The top ranked answer is then
perceived to be the most authoritative.