Safe Shopping Trust Marks - which one

[SillyJokes]

There seem to be a dozen different trust marks which can be put on an eCommerce site.

Personally I think they are fairly pointless as you simply have to meet a few "state the bleedin' obvious" standards and pay over your cash to get one.

The only true trust mark is one which is awarded by a respected organisation, not paid for, however consumers believe in them I'm told.

We used to be 'Which Webtraders' years ago but this folded.

So which one do you look for? Which organisation should I throw my money at?

[Maroculous]

I'll verify you for £20 ;)

[fastfences]

Hi SJ.

I wouldn't, and haven't wasted my money on them. I think the general public will spend as long as they're assured the processing is secure.

I'm more conversant with 'trade' trustmarks rather than retail, but I was approached some months ago and offered a 'special deal' for £280. I don't think it generates any extra work. If the idea was strictly to 'rate' a company, the fees would be more like £50 or so for a one off certification.

As it is, it's a money making machine filling the pockets of a few salesmen who have no interest whatsoever in the success of our businesses or the customer base thereof.

cheers, Nigel

[SillyJokes]

Ah, but Nigel it's a numbers game for us. We are talking about making tiny percentage increases in conversion. If we can convert just .25% more people because they are actively looking for a trust mark which we don't currently subscribe to it is likely to lead to a substantial number of sales which we might not otherwise have got.

So which is the most widely known?

[Kidz Fashion Zone]

when you say trust mark do you mean one like this? http://www.trustlogo.com/

[SillyJokes]

Yeah, thats the sort of thing.

[Kidz Fashion Zone]

I was going to get an SSL Certificate and this logo worth £70 was included but I've been told I don't really need SSL on my website but I think it would have been worth it

[Coding Monkey]

VeriSign is the only one I'd care about.

http://www.verisign.co.uk/ssl/ssl-information-center/why-verisign/index.html

[No-Posh-Bag]

VeriSign seems to be the one that I see the most on sites, so that would be the most known one to me.

[Malcolm Cooper]

On the basis that it may improve conversion by .25% I'd recommend http://www.imrg.org/

My customers have mentioned that it has influenced their buying decision and so has membership of my trade body (in my case The British Jewellers Association).

[gary]

I think a distinction needs to be made here between a security certificate logo and an accreditation scheme. A security certificate like those provided by Verisign simply ensures your customer's details are processed on a secure server - there is usually no additional checking of terms and conditions, adherence to e-commerce laws, specified returns policies and so on.

An accreditation scheme on the other hand requires its members to abide by a code of conduct, which is usually all the current UK and EU regulations regarding distance selling, as well as a few extra requirements (like a longer cooling off period). They also provide a route for unhappy customers to complain if they are not satisfied with the merchant's resolution of their problems. There are only two in the UK that have any sort of credibility - IMRG (http://www.imrg.org/) and Safebuy (http://www.safebuy.org.uk/). Which of the two is more recognisable by customers is debatable, but if you're going for accreditation, then stick with these.

Safebuy is currently being assessed by the Office of Fair Trading for its Consumer Codes Approval Scheme, and has passed the first stage, so I expect this will soon be approved which will give it considerable weight. IMRG gets a lot of press exposure for its statistics about online shopping, but I'm not sure how much this does for the general consumer awareness of its accreditation. They cost about £125 +VAT. Neither though have the impact Which had, but if Safebuy get their final OFT accreditation and can promote it properly, then it might have an effect.

We opted for Safebuy (£90 +VAT) and have used them for a couple of years now. I know we have had sales as a result, and if you're looking for that 0.25% then I think you will get it.

[SillyJokes]

Gary, as always, you are a mine of really good ecommerce information. Thanks.

[DuaneJackson]

We went with Safebiy at PortaCharge (http://www.porta-charge.co.uk/)- hard to say what, if any, effect this had on conversions as we made so many other improvements too.

[Rob Holmes]

Sillyjokes,

Safebuy were offering a deal through the Quick Formations newsletter - we used them and it did increase sales by a marked amount.

Rob

[gary]

Gary, as always, you are a mine of really good ecommerce information. Thanks.

No probs! :)