Trust is an important part in online business and it can be achieved by up to the mark product, salient customer service, fast and reliable delivery and of course with strong online security. When customer land on your website or web page there should be some noticeable mark that instantly make them assured about the website/web page.
In this resource, will talk about one of security indicator called “Trust Seal” that tells customers about website authenticity & make them feel safe for entering information.
In fact, it is not enough just to secure website from the escalating number of attacks on the web. You will also need to assure website’s visitors that they are safe on web page/website. The question though is how to do this? One very effective way to do so is by using trust badges. Let us have a look at information about these badges in combination with how can use them to build e-commerce business trust.
What Are Trust Badges?
For starters, badges are those seals embedded in online checkouts and mostly associated with what is known as SSL certificates. SSL certificates are designed to secure communication between a user’s device and the web server. So, if your customers are supposed to use a credit/debit card for a transaction on the website, then the card details would not be intercepted by attackers on the web.
They are basically three types of SSL certificates – Domain Validation SSL certificates, Organization Validation SSL and EV (Extended Validation) SSL certificates. Trust badges do not necessarily infer to better security but rather trust from a third party which is a good thing.
Importance Of Trust Seals
Now that you know what trust badges are all about let’s now examine the essence of trust badges in e-commerce sites. We will do so by looking at some research work that has proved that trust badges actually work in elevating trust levels among e-commerce users. One good example of such a study is done by Cheskin Research and Studio Archetype/Sapient way back in 1999 – the study found that there is a general consensus that trust seals are essential in e-commerce sites.
Fast forward to a study done by independent research firm TNS in April 2005 (via Comodo) which found that 4 out of 5 online shoppers were aware of what online seals meant. Furthermore, 79 percent of the respondents in that study expect a seal in any e-commerce site’s homepage.
More recently, a study by Actual Insights established that trust seals improved the trustworthiness in over 75% of respondents. What’s even interesting is that 61% of the respondents said they had at one time canceled a purchase because of they were no trust seals on the site.
Now, this is just the tip of the iceberg but it serves to show the essence of trust seals in e-commerce business.
Which Badges Will Work For Your Ecommerce Site?
They are lots of trust seals you can try out there but we are going to go through 5 that stand a cut above the rest.
Comodo
We all know Comodo for its array of security products including SSL certificates that come with trust badges for any type of website. In the Comodo website, you will find some great case studies of companies that have leveraged the Comodo trust seal to get more conversions. One of them is zamberg.com which used Comodo EV SSL and HackerProof software to boost user trust and convert more visitors to sales.
RapidSSL
This is yet another top internet company known for delivering quality security products that include a certification badge. Once you have RapidSSL products like RapidSSL certificate and RapidSSL Wildcard then you will easily have static site seal on your website. Static site seal does not display current time and stamp when you hover mouse on it, but it shows that RapidSSL authority authenticates the website. The seal shows warranty amount, key length, encryption level details.
GeoTrust
GeoTrust offers dynamic site seal that displays current time and date when a customer land on page where it is installed. With the rising security threats, users want assurance like trust signs when they deal with any website or web page. The current time stamp reveals the website authenticity. The site owner can place GeoTrust seal on any web page of website like login page, checkout page, home page or any web page of the website etc.
Thawte
Thawte is also providing free site seal with their SSL certificates. It offers dynamic site seal that shows current date but when user clicks on this seal, they can see details such as domain name, verified domain name, the certificate authority & SSL certificate validity period. This type of seal helps to enahnce customer’s confidence to enter their information on the website/ webpage. The best thing about Thawte SSL site seal is that it is available in 18 languages.
Symantec
Symantec needs no introduction whatsoever as far as Internet security is concerned and that is one reason why your customers will surely notice it fast. Many companies have seen an increase in sales by simply using Symantec seals on their website. Some great case studies are Blue Fountain Media, USCutter, carinsurance.com and Central Reservation Service among others. All of them have reported significant revenue since adopting the Symantec seal into their websites.
Consumers have to feel very safe when using e-commerce site and trust seals are a great way to show them that you care about their vital information. This is especially the case when it comes to small and medium e-commerce businesses that are not well known around. In other words, you wouldn’t want a new customer terminating transactions on your website just because he/she doesn’t trust you. Of course, the likes of Amazon are already known thus they won’t need such seals as much as you would if you are little known. Long story short, you need to invest in getting some credible seals and see how it will improve your revenue.
