Since we’re in the thick of the hectic Holiday season, e-commerce sites have been bustling with activity. In fact, according to IBM, this past “Cyber Week” (Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday) was a record-setting year for online shopping with “overall online sales increased 12.6 percent, with mobile sales up 27.2 percent compared to the same period in 2013.”
While that’s welcoming news for e-commerce site owners, there have also been the numerous reports of stores - both online and offline - getting hacked. This becomes a problem, because as Jeremy Smith perfectly states, “In ecommerce, everything hinges on trust.” He also adds that, “If they don’t trust you, they won’t buy from you.”
So, how can you earn the trust of visitors to your eCommerce site? One way is to include a trust seal.
What is a Trust Seal?
You’ve most likely noticed some sort of seal, badge, logo or icon proudly displayed on an e-commerce site. Here’s a clean definition from Marie on Crazy Egg:
“A trust seal verifies to visitors that a website is legitimate. Data is collected by the third-party trust seal company that confirms that the business is authentic.”
Typically, these seals are associated with secure sockets layer, or SSL for short. This simply means that your site has been verified and that there is a secure transmission for customers to safely enter their credit card information. Andy Hagans notes on MonetizePros that:
“There are two general types of SSLs: standard and extended validation (EV) SSL certificates. The differences are pretty minor; EV certificates require a bit more administrative effort to check out some additional information about the domains, so they will cost a bit more.”
Why Trust Seals Are Important
There have been numerous studies on the impact of trust seals - Moz mentions that two companies, Cheskin Research and Studio Archetype/Sapient, were conducting e-commerce trust studies back in 1999. Overall, the general consensus has been that trust seals are indeed important for e-commerce sites.
According to research conducted by independent research firm TNS in April 2005 (via Comodo Group, Inc.), a majority of online shoppers are aware what a seal is meant to represent - only one in five did not. Furthermore, 88% of American online shoppers stated that trust seals were important for sites.In fact, 79% of shoppers expected to see some sort of seal on a sites’ home page.
Plus, approximately 70% of online shoppers cancelled their online order because they did not “trust” the transaction.
More recently, a survey conducted by Matthew Niederberger on Actual Insights, found trust logos increased the trustworthiness in over 75% of respondents. He also found that “61% of participants said they have at one time NOT completed a purchase because there were no trust logos present.”
We have seen that smaller sites get the biggest bang for the buck by using a trust seal", says Greg Hartnett of Best of the Web. "Well known, larger sites (think eBay or Amazon) aren't going to see as much of a rise in conversions, because people already know and trust those sites. But smaller sites that have used the Best of the Web Trust Seal have seen conversion increase by 20% or more.
Finally, William Levins notes on Nuvonium that according to an internal study of their retailers, McAfee noticed that there was a “12% increase in sales when using the McAfee Site Secure seal."
The research is clear - trust seals matter.
Suggested Trust Seals
While trust seals are an important feature for e-commerce website, which seals are the most reliable?
In a survey conducted by the research group the Baymard Institute, the most trusted badge was Norton, with 36% of the votes. This was followed by McAfee (23%) , TRUSTe (13.2%) and BBB Accredited (13.2%).
Going back to the Actual Insights study, they also that PayPal Verified, Verisign, and McAfee were seen as the most trusted logos. This is important because 75% of customers have claimed that they have not completed a sale because they didn’t recognize the seal.
You Need More Than Just Trust Seals
While trust seals can have a major impact on your e-commerce site, it’s not the only trust signal that you should be utilizing.
Include Reviews
Earlier this year Bright Local discovered that nearly 90% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Here were some other key findings:
- 67% of consumers read up to 6 reviews (vs. 77% in 2013)
- 85% of consumers read up to 10 reviews (vs. 92% in 2013)
- 7% of consumers read 20+ reviews (vs. 2% in 2013)
Reviews are one of the most important factors for consumers to use when determining whether or not to trust your site. To make the most out of reviews, Jeremy Smith on Crazy Egg recommends that you include the identify of your reviewers, features reviews in your feed, seller ratings and, most importantly, use social proof.
Website Design
Would you seriously give your credit card information to website that looks like it belongs in 1995? Common sense would say absolutely not.
If you want to win the trust of consumers, then make sure you have a quality website design that is easy to use. Other features should include a Contact page that informs visitors of your name, location, and how to get in touch with you.
You could also place your phone number, email address, and social signals throughout your website to continue to establish trust.
Conclusion
Trust seals are an important feature of your e-commerce site. It puts the mind of your consumers at ease, which can improve sales. However, you need to include more than just a logo.
On top of seals, display reviews/testimonials and have a top-notch website. Also, don’t forget to make it easy for visitors to get in contact with if they have any questions or concerns. All these traits together result in a solid website consumers are willing to trust.
