Inject Trust Into the Mind of an Online Shopper

Have you ever wondered why shoppers abandon their carts and leave your online store forever? Imagine a typical scenario: a shopper interested in purchasing one of your high-quality low-priced products adds the item to their shopping cart, but never completes the sale. What stopped them from clicking the ‘check out’ button?

They don’t trust you.

What makes a website appear trustworthy? There are at least four important pieces to the trust puzzle – privacy, security, returns, and reliability. Each piece needs to be addressed to allow the shopper to feel comfortable enough to make a purchase. Third party verification is the quickest way to inject trust into the mind of an online shopper. Displaying third party seals verifies the legitimacy of your online store.

Privacy:

Privacy is a major concern for online shoppers. A potential customer needs to know their personal information is safe. Displaying the TRUSTe Web Privacy Seal shows a third party reviewed and validated your online privacy policy. (http://www.truste.org)

Security:

Online shoppers are concerned about identity theft, credit card fraud, and sharing personal information. Consumers often abandon their shopping carts as a result of security concerns. A site with a VeriSign Secured Seal installed is more likely to gain instant trust. The seal is clickable to verify the site in real time. To download the seal your site must be secured with a VeriSign SSL certificate. (http://www.verisign.com)

Return Policy:

Too many online merchants hide their return policies. Shoppers need to know what to expect if a return is necessary. Simply having a return policy isn’t enough. To gain trust you should proudly display a Return Policy Agreement Seal. This shows your potential customer you are not afraid of your return policy. (http://returnpolicies.net)

Reliability:

For many merchants, building their reputation online can take years. Unfortunately, shoppers will not wait around that long. If your potential customer isn’t familiar with your reputation, you need to prove you are reliable before you can expect them to make a purchase. Fortunately, the Better Business Bureau can quickly help your store appear reliable with the BBBOnline Reliability seal. To install the seal, you must become a member and meet their reliability requirements. (http://www.bbbonline.org/reliability)

To an online shopper, trust is often more important than price. Once you have a trusted ecommerce website you can expect an increase in the conversion of visitors to sales, and experience repeat business from loyal customers for years to come.