In 2023, a founder came to me with a problem:
“We’ve spent months on this store. We have great margins, clean design, fast shipping – but no one’s buying.”
I took one look at the site and knew exactly what was wrong: Everything was polished – but nothing felt real.
It looked like a high-converting landing page. But it read like a scam.
No soul.
No proof.
No human behind the screen.
They didn’t have a traffic problem. They had a trust problem. And fixing that changed everything.
Here’s what most early DTC brands don’t realize: Customers are skeptical. They’ve been burned.
They don’t trust anyone – especially a brand they’ve never heard of. Your product can be excellent. Your price can be fair. Your website can be fast.
But if people don’t believe you, they don’t buy.
That’s what what helped this brand out. Here are the 4 biggest changes we made – and why they worked.
1. The site looked like a startup clone
Same layout. Same icons. Same “clean” branding every DTC brand uses.
To customers, it felt like a thousand other sites they’d already bounced from. And that sameness breeds distrust.
We didn’t overhaul everything – we made intentional changes:
- Changed the font to something less common
- Swapped out stock images for custom lifestyle shots
- Rewrote the homepage to sound like a real person, not a SaaS dashboard
Suddenly, it felt human. Distinct. Not perfect – just real.
And that’s when metrics started moving:
Lower bounce rate.
Longer time on site.
Higher conversion on PDPs.
If you don’t look original, you don’t feel trustworthy.
2. Their emails sounded like every other brand
Before we started, their email strategy was simple:
Discount. Countdown. Buy now.
No wonder nobody replied.
So we flipped the strategy:
- Wrote a plain-text welcome email introducing the founder
- Sent a follow-up with a short story about how the product was created
- Asked post-purchase customers: “What almost stopped you from buying?”
That one question alone generated dozens of replies. People didn’t just read the emails – they talked back.
Because suddenly, it didn’t feel like automation. It felt like a conversation.
When email feels human, it earns trust.
When it feels like marketing, it gets ignored.
3. There were no reviews – and customers noticed
Nothing kills trust faster than silence. You can have the best product in the world – but if no one’s saying it but you, people walk away.
They didn’t have many reviews to work with. But we made the most of what we had.
- Highlighted 4 reviews front and center on the product page
- Used real names and photos wherever possible
- Shared a short “customer voice” quote in the first welcome email
Even just a few authentic voices made a massive difference.
And here’s what we avoided:
- No generic “5 stars!” filler
- No review plugin buried at the bottom of the page
- No fake names or stock avatars
Proof doesn’t need to be loud. It just needs to be real.
4. The brand was faceless – so it didn’t feel safe
No About page. No founder photo. No signature on the emails.
From a distance, it could’ve been a random dropshipper – or worse, a scam.
So we added what was missing:
- A founder photo with a short “why I built this” note
- A sign-off in every email from the founder by name
- A short behind-the-scenes video on the homepage
Customers didn’t suddenly fall in love with the brand. They just stopped hesitating.
Because now, there was someone to believe in – not just a logo to judge.
And that’s the entire game.
People don’t trust brands. They trust people.
Here’s what I learned from helping this founder:
You don’t need to sound big.
You don’t need to look perfect.
You don’t need a 10-step funnel or $50k brand identity.
You just need to build something customers can believe.
And belief comes from trust. Not traffic. Not tactics. Trust.
Because when people trust you, they don’t need convincing.
They want to support you.
Anyone can copy your product. No one can fake your trust.
If this resonated, here’s what to do next:
→ If you’re tired of content that fills space instead of driving sales, let’s talk. Schedule a quick demo.
→ If you’re ready to turn product pages, email flows, landing copy, and more into silent salespeople for your brand, subscribe to either our Unlimited Standard Plan or Unlimited Professional Plan to get started.
Your story deserves better than generic copy.
We make it unforgettable.