Want more conversions on your site? A simple, single image can increase sales: here’s a quick primer on trust badges.
With COVID-19, even people who were digital laggards are becoming comfortable with doing their shopping, exercising, and socializing online.
I was researching the rise of home workouts and saw this incredible graph for the top YouTube fitness channel, YogawithAdriene. She already had millions of subscribers, and her velocity has only exploded, starting in March 2020:
Another interesting fact: myshopify.com is now the 9th most visited site in the United States:
This means that it’s imperative for your site to be ready for this digital gold rush, and the key factor in increasing conversions and sales is increasing trust.
Customer trust is more important now than ever.
But how do you increase customer trust? Trust badges!
Even if you don’t know the phrase, you know them when you see them. Here’s what they look like, pulled from my client ExpoDrone:
They’re an easy and effective way to give your customers confidence that you’re handling their information responsibly.
Blue Fountain Media, a New York marketing agency, did a simple A/B test on their page using the Symantec (formerly VeriSign) badge.
The page that used the Symantec badge led to a whopping 42% increase in sales. A badge’s positive effect is undeniable.
Here’s what they look like and what they’ll cost:
NortonLifeLock, (formerly Symantec (formerly VeriSign))
Symantec acquired VeriSign in 2010, consolidating two Internet security heavyweights. Almost 9 years later, Broadcom purchased Symantec to create NortonLifeLock.
In addition to numerous other security products, the company offers standard and EV SSLs.
Price: Standard SSL certificates cost $399 per year while an EV SSL will run you $995.
Includes:
- 1 Year certificate validity
- 1 Server License
TrustLock
TrustLock is a relatively new company offering a competitively-priced trust seal that provides third-party verification services for a fraction of the price with over 108 high-quality trust badge designs.
Price: Monthly rate starts at just $9/mo for either Business Verified, Verified Privacy Safe, or Verified SSL Secure or get all 3 seals together for $19.99/mo.
This ends up being only $108/year per seal, or only $239.88/year for all 3 verification seals and all 108+ trust badge designs and seals.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy offers SSL certificates that come with a “Verified & Secured” trust badge.
Price: GoDaddy is one of the cheapest SSL providers out there: $69.99 per year for a standard SSL (domain validated, with a $100,000 warranty), $149.99 annually for their premium offering (domain and company validated, $1,000,000 warranty).
TRUSTe
TRUSTe offers a number of online security products, including a privacy package that includes a certification badge.
Price: Because TRUSTe offers more customized products and services, you’ll need to contact them with specifics of your site to get pricing information.
Make One Up
Don’t tell the big security experts I told you this, but if you have an SSL, you are protecting your customers’ data. People are unconsciously primed to see something that looks like a “lock” in the footer and checkout pages of a site and assume it’s a fancy trust badge.
You can even put the VISA, MasterCard, Square, and/or PayPal logos to show that you take those as payment, and that is enough to check that unconscious box of “can I trust you?”
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Big data breaches have put consumers on edge. Whether its credit card info or just their email address, consumers are warier than ever. Every little change you can do to improve your conversion rates matter – you can watch my 1-hour workshop on improving your website’s copy and conversion rates here.
Building customer trust is vital to having a successful website. Trust badges can give your brand the boost it needs to capture more conversions.
