Does your website use a trust badge to win the trust of your buyers? If not, then you are probably missing the centerpiece of the puzzle. A trust badge is any symbol or icon which can quickly gain audience trust in your e-commerce brand. Such badges increase the brand’s credibility for those visiting the website or coming across your brand on social media.
You can also check about 10 things every website needs. The one aspect mentioned in this blog is trust badge, which is again highlighting its importance on your portal.
Trust badges and their importance in the ecommerce industry
Ecommerce trust badges, or what you can call trust seals, are small icons on the website to showcase the website reliability and to ensure visitors that their personal information is 100% secure.
You may or may not be familiar with the ‘trust badge’ term, but you might have seen below icons on many websites.
These icons on the website are placed for some reasons. Most websites display these badges to build trust among visitors and assure their safety.
It is easy for any new visitor to consider your website spam, but because of these trust badges, you can gain their confidence.
People are very cautious while making payments on e-commerce portals. An easy way to win their trust is to use trust badges of reputed companies like Visa, Paypal etc at the checkout page.
Based on a report by entrepreneur.com 80% of your buyers feel safe, when they see such types of trust badges on any e-commerce portal. Around 42% of shoppers will spend more, if they see various payment options on your portal.
Hence trust factor is the primary reason for no or less sales on e-commerce portals, and you can work on this problem by incorporating trust badges at appropriate places of your website pages.
Let us learn the Different types of trust badges and how they impact conversions on your ecommerce website.
1. Safe Checkout Badge
It is one of the most important badges, as it is related to the money transactions your customers make on the website. That is the primary concern of any buyer including me, as I also worry about the same while placing an order from any unknown ecommerce portal.
You get this badge while signing with a company with an SSL certificate. SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer, protecting your buyers’ information shared during any transaction.
A website with such a badge is considered recognized and trusted, and your buyers will never hesitate to purchase from such portals. Hence the primary benefit of this trust badge is to assure your buyers about the website’s safety and authenticity. Usually, they are placed at the website’s footer.
2. Free shipping and free return Trust Badge
Trust badges like free shipping and free return give a feeling of security to your customers. By letting them know they can return the product and buy it without any delivery charges, your portal will minimize the risk of ordering any product online. Hence, such badges will give confidence to your buyers and allow them to make shopping without any hesitation, and this is the primary benefit of this badge.
This badge is flexible; you can place it anywhere on your website. However, placing such badges on the ‘add to cart’ and ‘Checkout’ pages is recommended, or you can also add them on the home page or header.
In the above image, Amazon has placed free delivery and 10 days replacement policy on the ‘Add to cart’ page. The company follows the same pattern for every product.
3. Accepted payment Trust Badge
Such trust badges serve two purposes. Firstly, they provide information regarding the mode of accepted payments, and secondly, they align your brand with trusted brand names, which act as an endorsement from large companies like Visa and PayPal. Usually, these badges are placed on the website’s footer or check-out page.
Again the main benefit of this badge is to win your buyer’s trust and give them different payment options to ease their payment journey.
4. Money-back guarantee Trust Badge
The biggest fear among your buyers while purchasing is what happens if the product doesn’t meet their expectations. Giving them a money-back guarantee will boost their confidence as they can get a refund if they don’t like the product.
Usually, companies give a 14-30 days money-back guarantee. This primary benefit of the money-back guarantee badge allows your buyers (including me) to buy as much as they want.
Although the above-mentioned is a small symbol, it means a lot when we consider it from your buyer’s perspective. It gives them assurance and confidence that they will get their money back if they don’t like the product.
As this badge is related to money, it’s better to put it on the check-out page.
5. Third-party rating Trust Badge
The third-party rating badge showcases the credibility of your business. Under this program, a reputed third-party company will review your brand before providing any trust badge. Such badges will again prove the authenticity of your website, a reputed body approving your presence. This matters a lot for your customers.
Better Business Bureau (BBB) accredited business or Google customer review badges are the two most trusted badges which can enhance your buyers’ trust in your e-commerce portal.
To get this third-party badge, you need to fill up a form, be reviewed by the third party and after their approval; you can get the badge to add to your ecommerce site.
Usually, these badges are present on the website’s footer and are highlighted separately to make them visible to the your buyers.
Above is a US-based firm which got accreditation from BBB business. The company has mentioned the badge in the footer, which you buyers can easily see.
6. Customer reviews on the check-out page
Well! It is not a trust badge, but it works the same. While buying any product, the one aspect which each one of us checks is the product review. The main benefit of such reviews is they give good vibes to your customers about your product.
Motivate your existing customers to give product reviews. You can also offer them something in return, like any discount, coupon code, etc. Put those reviews on the checkout page.
While making the final purchase, reading positive reviews about your brand and product will increase their trust towards your brand, and they will not be reluctant any more while making payment.
Amazon is one of the most trusted international brands which use this technique to gain your customers’ trust. You can always see their product reviews just below the product you want to purchase. By checking the reviews and ratings of each of your customers who previously bought the same product, your customers start feeling confident about the particular product’s credibility, pushing them towards final check-out.
I have written a piece on how to get product reviews for your new ecommerce website fast and easy.
7. Industry-award Badges
If your company has won any award previously, it’s time to show it to your audience to differentiate your online store from others. The main benefit of such a badge is they increase the credibility of your brand.
Such badges highlight that you are not only trusted among your buyers but also among other official critics. If your buyers know the name of the company that gave you an award, it will further boost their trust.
Even if they don’t know those brands, they will still get positive vibes for your e-commerce portal. Put such badges on the website’s footer.
The above screenshot is of a Vienna-based company which sells bridal gowns, accessories and other wedding-related products. The company has put their awards right below the customers’ testimonials, which can easily grab other buyers’ attention to build their trust.
8. Customer-logo Trust Badges
Like industry-award badges, you can also put well-known brands’ logos on your website with whom you have worked. It will let your visitors know that other brands they know and love have also shown trust in your ecommerce company.
Above is the Home Depot website, a leading e-commerce portal to buy home appliances, building materials, electrical items and many more, with its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
When your buyers check the brands mentioned on the website’s footer, it will increase their trustworthiness. Your buyers surely think that if your brand is good for these clients, it will also be good for them and this is the biggest benefit of this badge.
9. App-store Trust Badge
Not purely a trust badge, these app store icons will reveal to your customers that your ecommerce app is available with reputed companies.
If your company’s app is associated with Amazon or Apple play store, your buyers will never think of fraudulent products on the portal. Also, your buyers will never hesitate to download your brand’s app from such app stores.
The display of app store badges on your website’s footrest will work as a trust badge.
For example, you can check these app-store trust badges available on Myntra (a leading shopping website for all generations). The badges are usually placed on the website footer and can easily enhance the website’s credibility.
10. Social media Trust Badge
It can be the most debatable form of trust badge, but I have included it in the list to tick mark all the available forms of badges. You can increase your website reputation and rely on your customers to spread your brand name on different platforms through such a badge.
The biggest advantage of adding these small logos on your website’s footer is it will let your customers know they can contact your brand through various mediums. It gives them a feeling of safety.
Check the above Myntra website and the social media icons they placed in the footer. Most companies place such icons in the footer, which is the trend!
How does a trust badge enhance the ecommerce conversion rate?
The main impact of trust badges for ecommerce conversion is they gain confidence among visitors. While making an online purchase, your buyers always look for brand authenticity, and a trust badge can do that work.
A security trust badge from a reputed company, a money-back guarantee assurance, a free shipping badge etc., are all factors which increase your brand’s reputation, and this positively impacts the conversion rate.
Here I would like to mention one example of an e-commerce company who experienced an increase in conversion rate through security trust badges.
Jomashop increased its conversion rate by 12.2% through the ‘Norton trust badge. Most buyers are concerned about fake e-commerce portals. Jomahsop is a leading e-commerce portal which sells high-end models of wristwatches. Its headquarters is in Brooklyn, New York.
Some of their products cost thousands of dollars, and hence to give safety assurance to the buyers, the company added a code snippet of Norton on the website.
According to Osher Karnowsky, the general manager of Jomashop, the company was surprised to see an increase in conversion rate by 12.2% by adding this trust badge.
‘Earlier we were using other third-party guarantees, but as Norton being a renowned company for its security, buyers started feeling more secured while making purchases. Consumers trust Norton for security and likewise they started trusting our brand for purchase.’ He added.
The two important factors your buyers focus on the most are product quality and security while making transactions. A well-designed payment page comprising required trust badges will improve your conversion rate. Similarly, third-party endorsement badges can maintain your brand’s overall trust and goodwill.
Keeping the same in mind, you must incorporate trust badges across your website.
Conclusion
Understandably, your buyers are reluctant to provide their card details on unknown e-commerce portals because of increased fraudulent activities. Data breaching and theft have become a huge conversation topic for everyone. Hence, gaining your customers’ trust at the portal is mandatory to let them feel secure.
So, let’s incorporate trust badges on your website. I hope the above article has given you enough information about the importance of these badges and their role in your e-commerce portal.
If you need help with ecommerce website development or optimization of your ecommerce store to get higher order value, hesitate no further and book a meeting now.
