Mcafee security seal, do people really see a benefit?

[jastreet1]

Hi all,

Currently, our website features security seals from Trust Guard, a less well known security company based in the USA. Perhaps it doesn't mean a lot to 99% of our visitors.

I am considering changing security badges to Mcafee for around £1,100 per year. I have read case studies saying on average people experienced 4-6% increase in online conversions as a result, being a much better know brand. Also with Dell, HP, Lenovo and other big brands offering Mcafee with their machine under factory settings, I am told I will be given a thumbs up on many computers.

My question is, does anyone have any personal experience of this or perhaps A/B tested this - if so what were you results?

I would appreciate if anyone could find the time to respond.

Cheers!

 

[dx3webs]

It would be great if anyone has any real statistic.. however, I suspect the answer is that customer could not care less about security seal.

I have been googling around and cant find any useful studies.. Now of one of those students who ask for help on this forum need something to research ... this would be a great topic.

 

[Optegris]

One of my hosting clients who has a seven figure annual turnover uses a McAfee seal along with a Verisign certificate. They have estimated it has increased sales by around 10%...

 

[smo]

I would think that for the majority of businesses it wouldnt make a blind bit of difference.

Its certainly not worth thousands a year to have a "security seal" which really isnt understood by most internet shoppers, lets face it if you walked down the highstreet and asked people if they shopped online the figure would be very high, if you then asked them what an SSL certificate was the response would be a lot of blank faces; why would you think the general population would understand a strange symbol on a website any more?

 

[Andy777]

I would think that for the majority of businesses it wouldnt make a blind bit of difference.

Its certainly not worth thousands a year to have a "security seal" which really isnt understood by most internet shoppers, lets face it if you walked down the highstreet and asked people if they shopped online the figure would be very high, if you then asked them what an SSL certificate was the response would be a lot of blank faces; why would you think the general population would understand a strange symbol on a website any more?

Exactly.

I can't believe that a security alone can increase sales by 10%, I just don't believe it.

I have tested various security seals but to be honest, haven't noticed any big difference.

Maybe it works better in US and for specific businesses, high risk items etc., but for average online shop, I highly doubt it's worth 1k+ per year.

 

[Websitehandyman]

It would depend on what you are selling, some customer types need the assurence of such things. But as already said I to do think it makes a bit of difference to most websites.

And one importent thing to concider about the general public is if you slap a sign on saying "we are secure" are they then thinking about buying products or worring about being ripped off while on the internet?

I don't believe for one minuite that placing a badge on a site would increase sales by as much as 10%

 

[Optegris]

I don't believe for one minuite that placing a badge on a site would increase sales by as much as 10%

Well I will say that I've seen the evidence but each to their own...

 

[dx3webs]

One of my hosting clients who has a seven figure annual turnover uses a McAfee seal along with a Verisign certificate. They have estimated it has increased sales by around 10%...

but how can you tell if it was the ssl or the seal?

 

[fisicx]

but how can you tell if it was the ssl or the seal?

That was my thought.

Or could it be a slight change in ranking or marketing or a new source of traffic......

I personally don't take any notice of a security seal. All they mean is you have paid someone for permission to display it on your site.

 

[Optegris]

I'm simply going off the analysis that was run by my client before and after the seals were pout in place. It may not have such an effect for other sites but in this case it did prove positive...

 

[andygambles]

It is all about helping your customers trust your brand. Whatever you can do to achieve that then you should do it.

Across the footer of our site are 3 "site seals". We record clicks on these seals.

TRUSTe - 2.4% of visitors click
Norton Secured - 0.8% of visitors click
Geotrust Malware Scan - 0.2% of visitors click

I would suggest that more clicks on the TRUSTe occur because it loads our privacy policy (which highlights how important having a privacy policy is IMHO). The other two seals are recognised seals so have less need to be clicked on.

To further add 100% of visitors who click on any seal purchased.

 

[Gforster]

I have personal experience of this....

They rang me up and tried to sell me the idea but I refused, they eventually sold me on the idea of doing a 1 month A/B test and if the results were positive I agreed I would buy into it.

The results were sent to me after a month and they showed an increase of sales of around 16%. I was astounded and signed up immediately for a year.

Over the course of the year I didn't really notice any difference in sales and the end of 12 months I calculated that it had a zero impact. I tried to cancel it but then found out that they had already automatically withdrawn the next years subscription the month before !

I read the small print (which I usually do BEFORE signing) and found that this was indeed part of the agreement, you have to cancel about 1 month before the next payment is due !

It took me about 4 months to get it back.

Just my honest personal experience... take it as you will...

 

[andygambles]

I have personal experience of this....

They rang me up and tried to sell me the idea but I refused, they eventually sold me on the idea of doing a 1 month A/B test and if the results were positive I agreed I would buy into it.

The results were sent to me after a month and they showed an increase of sales of around 16%. I was astounded and signed up immediately for a year.

Over the course of the year I didn't really notice any difference in sales and the end of 12 months I calculated that it had a zero impact. I tried to cancel it but then found out that they had already automatically withdrawn the next years subscription the month before !

I read the small print (which I usually do BEFORE signing) and found that this was indeed part of the agreement, you have to cancel about 1 month before the next payment is due !

It took me about 4 months to get it back.

Just my honest personal experience... take it as you will...

Where did the 16% come from? You or them?

 

[wdog5555]

I have been phoned by a few US companies selling 'Trust certificates', they do normally follow the same sales routines (which normally means drastically over inflating their sales increase %!!).
I think many of them are more for US audiences, not sure if they are really suited and recognizable to the UK market?

But, the one I've seem around more recently is the 'Internet Shopping is Safe' badge? Had a quick look and it seems to be around £39 pm for the very basic package (plus, I think, a £79 set up fee).

I have been thinking, for £39 pm, it might help if you don't have a large, easily recognizable brand image (like me! )

But, the price seems very cheap compared to the other offerings?

Just wondered if anyone has used/is using it and if you've got any feedback?

 

[fisicx]

The results were sent to me after a month and they showed an increase of sales of around 16%. I was astounded and signed up immediately for a year.

Like Andy said - where did these figures come from? There is no way they could know what you sales were unless you gave them access to your accounts.

 

[Andy777]

I have been phoned by a few US companies selling 'Trust certificates', they do normally follow the same sales routines (which normally means drastically over inflating their sales increase %!!).
I think many of them are more for US audiences, not sure if they are really suited and recognizable to the UK market?

But, the one I've seem around more recently is the 'Internet Shopping is Safe' badge? Had a quick look and it seems to be around £39 pm for the very basic package (plus, I think, a £79 set up fee).

I have been thinking, for £39 pm, it might help if you don't have a large, easily recognizable brand image (like me! )

But, the price seems very cheap compared to the other offerings?

Just wondered if anyone has used/is using it and if you've got any feedback?

That's good thinking, I'm doing something similar with this service:

http://www.sitelock.com/

Just to please those shoppers who are ultra sensitive about data safety etc. And then of course have SSL certificate seal in a noticeable place.

 

[Gforster]

Where did the 16% come from? You or them?

Sorry I should of been clearer on this point. We installed some code into our site in order to do the A/B test and their software recorded the results.

The 16% increase was what the test showed at the end of the month.

My point was that in reality it was nothing like the figures shown by their A/B testing.

I wanted to do my OWN A/B test but they would only allow it using their software.

 

[RyanMitchell]

I generally look at other things like the company history and whether the company exisits or not!!

The SSL has no affect on my making the purchase.

 

[andygambles]

Sorry I should of been clearer on this point. We installed some code into our site in order to do the A/B test and their software recorded the results.

The 16% increase was what the test showed at the end of the month.

My point was that in reality it was nothing like the figures shown by their A/B testing.

I wanted to do my OWN A/B test but they would only allow it using their software.

To wade in on this I would have preferred to do my own independent testing.

However the McAfee Seal is highly recognised. The second most recognised seal on the web according to a Baymard study

http://baymard.com/blog/site-seal-trust

 

[wdog5555]

To wade in on this I would have preferred to do my own independent testing.

However the McAfee Seal is highly recognised. The second most recognised seal on the web according to a Baymard study

http://baymard.com/blog/site-seal-trust

From the page above:

"All the respondents were adults from the US"

Not sure if US and UK users recognise the same trust seals (always thought US folk were a bit more into their trust seals then UK shoppers)?

 

[Gforster]

To wade in on this I would have preferred to do my own independent testing.

However the McAfee Seal is highly recognised. The second most recognised seal on the web according to a Baymard study

http://baymard.com/blog/site-seal-trust

The original point here however is do you see a benefit if you purchase one of these seals, at £1,200 a year they are not cheap. Because McAfee won't allow you to do your own A/B testing you have to therefore guess at the effectiveness of these on your own website and whether or not they will pay for themselves.

At the end of the day if you have a website with an annual turnover of £100,000 and you see a 3% increase then I am guessing you are doing a little more than break even if you are lucky.

If you have a £1 Million turnover and see a 3% increase then it seems like a great deal.

 

[andygambles]

From the page above:

"All the respondents were adults from the US"

Not sure if US and UK users recognise the same trust seals (always thought US folk were a bit more into their trust seals then UK shoppers)?

Agreed - However I suspect the top 3/4 would be the same in the UK. Ones like the BBB are really only US.

 

[andygambles]

The original point here however is do you see a benefit if you purchase one of these seals, at £1,200 a year they are not cheap. Because McAfee won't allow you to do your own A/B testing you have to therefore guess at the effectiveness of these on your own website and whether or not they will pay for themselves.

At the end of the day if you have a website with an annual turnover of £100,000 and you see a 3% increase then I am guessing you are doing a little more than break even if you are lucky.

If you have a £1 Million turnover and see a 3% increase then it seems like a great deal.

£1,200 is by far THE most expensive seal I have seen and shows McAfee have confidence in it's abilities. I don't they they stop you doing your own testing it is more a case of the OP just relied on their results.

 

[wdog5555]

Agreed - However I suspect the top 3/4 would be the same in the UK. Ones like the BBB are really only US.

An interesting point was made in the comments on that page as it's difficult to see if the users just recognised the names (Norton, Mcafee) or if they would actually feel more confident in making a purchase if they saw one of the more well known trust badges on a site?

I would like to see if they ran a comparison on ecommerce sites, especially a comparison between a real trust seal and a fake one to see the conversion rates (based on if non techie user would actually verify the seal before making a purchase?).

It would also be interesting to find out the effect differently priced seals have and if using a big name seal (like Norton) really makes that much more difference in conversions over a lesser well known, and cheaper, seal (like ISIS)?

 

[Gforster]

£1,200 is by far THE most expensive seal I have seen and shows McAfee have confidence in it's abilities. I don't they they stop you doing your own testing it is more a case of the OP just relied on their results.

Well I am speaking from experience here. I did not want to sign up to this kind of expense without some kind of proof but I was originally told point blank that McAfee would NOT allow an A/B test until after I had paid my fee upfront. At this point I was happy to walk away. The sales guy then reluctantly agreed, after having supposedly agreed an a "highly unusual" deal with his boss as they really wanted me on board.

I wanted to do the A/B test myself but they obviously wouldn't let me have access to it, instead they insisted on giving me a plugin piece of code for the site and an extra piece to capture transaction information, all of which was sent direct to their servers and a report prepared FOR me.

In my opinion and in my experience conversions are not going to increase anywhere near enough to make this kind of expense viable and if you really want one of these seals then get one that is £10 a year rather than £1,200 a year.

Are you really truly going to see that many more customers pressing that final button because the seal is there compared to it wasn't ?!

 

[Deleted member 61074]

As a shopper I disregard all security seals, as i assume the store is simply paying to show them. My decision to buy is determined by which payment processor is used ie it has to be 3rd party ie sagepay, paypal, HSBC etc and I must be able to use credit card.

 

[JamesRS]

I ran a survey with UK Tradesmen who shop online.

At the time (4 years ago) Mc Afee was much better recognised than anything else. We didn't test against the Internet Shopping is Safe logo.

Most of the studies in terms of effectiveness that I have seen suggest that they do build trust. But if it was a choice between this or setting up a good customer site review tool, I would invest in the customer reviews first. We use Trust Pilot - not only does it improve trust on site, once you go beyond a certain number of reviews you can start using it in your Google PPC Ads - which has a positive impact on visibility and CTR.