Since you want a store that converts, you want to do everything you can to assist in conversion.
There are a lot of things that can turn people away from purchasing in your store. It may be pricing that you cannot or will not change. It may be shipping restrictions that you cannot or will not change, and it could be a variety of other things.
But there are some simple steps you can take that can work towards improving your conversion rates. A lot of people abandon carts simply because they’re not sure whether or not they can trust their transaction is secure. Or perhaps they have another concern.
This is where trust badges come in. They give a customer proof that your website or store is verified and secure. They provide assurance that whatever transactions they do are safe.
Note that whatever a trust seal provider states, there is no guarantee that adding one or several to your site will automatically mean you have a sudden jump in sales.
There are a variety of factors that could have an impact on how well your site converts. This could include but isn’t limited to, things like the design of your store, your location, and the type of your business.
Even where a trust seal is placed on your site could have an impact on success.
Here are some of the concerns people who visit your store may have, and badges that speak to them.
Tip One – Types of Trust Badges
Privacy Badges
Rightfully so, many people today are concerned about their privacy. This is perhaps best illustrated by the introduction of GDPR in Europe.
There are organizations that will audit your website and based on the results provide you with a trust seal so that you can address this concern. However, this process is not free. One of the best-known companies to provide this service is TrustArc, who was previously known as eTrust.
They will test
Payment Service Trust Badges
This, clearly, is a huge issue for an e-commerce website. Customers need to know that you are using trusted payment service providers. Regardless of the service provider you use on your website, there are key requirements that must be met, and the most common of these is an SSL certificate.
Since PayPal is the most widely accepted payment service provider on the planet, it’s definitely a good idea to show a PayPal trust seal, if you offer payment through them.
Of course, they may be the biggest, but they’re not the only payment provider, so provide trust seals from any that you use, and then prioritize the seal depending upon your country. For example, if the majority of your store visitors are in India, you would not show the PayPal trust seal, you would likely use a Payoneer seal.
Antivirus
You’ve likely seen the Norton or McAfee trust seal yourself. And if you have, there’s a good chance you felt more secure on one of those sites.
Adding the Norton secured seal to your site is easy. Simply go to Symantec’s website and follow their walk-through.
Website security
By now, I’m sure you already have an SSL certificate for your store. And since consumers are becoming more savvy, they know what to look for. That would include looking for HTTPS instead of HTTP in the address bar or checking to make sure there is a padlock icon to the left of the address.
However, you can go a step further and add your own badges, such as the Comodo trust badge or the Verisign badge.
Comodo is one of the industry leaders of SSL certificate providers. If you are to get your certificate from them, you’re also buying into a trusted brand, who say that with their seal of approval, you can win potential customers.
VeriSign is a web infrastructure company that supplies .net and .com domain names, and they are one of the leading trust seal suppliers in the domain space.
Better Business Bureau
If your store is located in the United States or Canada, your customers are very familiar with the accreditation service offered by the Better Business Bureau.
For a fee, they will investigate a company to determine whether or not they meet their standards, and if so, they are provided with accreditation. This seal is highly recognized in North America and adds incredible value to your website. Visitors seeing that seal know that they are on the website of a reliable business, and that the site itself is fraud proof.
This seal is so important that some who have it feel that it is unnecessary to have any other seal.
Tip Two – How to Add Trust Notifications
So far, we’ve been talking about trust badges, which are image icons. Is it absolutely necessary for you to use an image?
How about just adding some text points to your website?
It’s not difficult to add the trust badges, so use those. Think about it for a moment, if you see the actual PayPal Verified seal and somewhere else on the page you see the text PayPal Verified, which one has a greater impact on you? Which one will you remember? Which one will you trust?
You probably answered that the image has a more powerful impact, and you wouldn’t be alone. According to research, we process visual data better.
“Visualization works from a human perspective because we respond to and process visual data better than any other type of data. In fact, the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text, and 90 percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual. Since we are visual by nature, we can use this skill to enhance data processing and organizational effectiveness.”
In short, go with an image badge.
Tip Three – Where to Get Your Badges or Images
I’ve provided several image badges on this page, but is that your only option?
No.
If you feel that the images shown above don’t blend well with your store, and the design of your site, you do have the option of hiring a designer to help you come up with trust seals that flow with your design.
If you do go this route, you have a variety of options to choose from in terms of price and quality. At the cheapest end of the scale you can find designers on Fiverr who will do trust badges, but with a little more research I would suggest finding a reputable designer to work with.
