The snap judgement, the small signals and the cheapest fixes. Launching something new is exciting, but it comes with the snag that customers don't yet know whether to trust you yet.

And while nothing beats having years of reputation, there are a few things you can do to help build that trust early on. 

Sabeeha Banubhai is the founder of Jack Studios, a Joburg studio that’s helped 150+ tech founders launch. With a postgraduate background in how technology shapes trust and decision-making, she reads a product the way a wary first-time buyer does, looking for the cracks.

You can’t see your own trust gaps because you already know the product is real. The fix is to look at it the way a sceptical stranger would, deliberately, someone who has never heard of you and is hunting for a reason not to hand over their card.

“People are quick to judge and slow to trust. The smallest thing (a broken link, an inactive social account) can read as ‘this might be a scam.’”

Open your site in a fresh browser, logged out, as if you’ve just discovered it. Move through it the way a first-time buyer does (homepage, product, pricing, checkout) and watch for the moment your own gut goes “hmm.”

That flicker of hesitation is what your buyers feel too, except they don’t push through it as you do. Note every spot where a stranger would pause and wonder if you’re for real.

A lot of doubt comes from signals that you might not still be around. A social account with its last post in 2022. A blog frozen two years ago. A support email nobody answers. A copyright date that’s gone stale.

These read as abandonment, and abandonment reads as risk. Make sure the visible signs of life (recent activity, a working contact route, current dates) all say there’s a real business here that’ll still exist after they pay.

The antidote to “Is this legit?” is evidence that other people trusted you and were fine. Testimonials, logos, reviews, case studies, numbers. The social proof that says you’re real and you deliver.

But placement matters as much as having them. Proof does its work at the moment of doubt (next to the price, beside the sign-up button, at the checkout), not buried on an “about” page nobody visits. And make it specific: a testimonial with a real name and company beats an anonymous “great product!” every time.

Some doubt comes from what you don’t show. A pricing page with no prices. A demo that needs a sales call before you can see anything. Vague answers to obvious questions. Each one makes a buyer feel something’s being concealed.

Be upfront where instinct tells you to be coy. Clear pricing, straight answers, an easy way to actually try or see the thing. Transparency reads as confidence — and confidence is trustworthy. 

Hiding the basics does the opposite, however good the reason feels.

Fix the small trust gaps, and you stop losing buyers who were otherwise ready to say yes. The same traffic converts better, because the quiet doubts that used to send people away have been answered before they could form.

It takes an afternoon to walk your own funnel and patch the cracks. Almost none of the fixes cost money, and they rescue sales you never even knew you were losing.

This is one piece of Your Product Works. So Why Is No One Buying? Sabeeha’s full masterclass inside the Founder Collab. The full session is a complete diagnostic for why products that work still don’t sell:

You’ll also get access to 40+ other masterclasses from SA founders and operators on sales, fundraising, UX, paid media and more inside The Founder Collab.

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