With online shopping already a major part of U.S. retail sales culture, it is crucial for merchants to figure out how to differentiate themselves from the competition. While there are many factors that determine the success of an eCommerce business, building trust is one of the most important when it comes to reducing shopping cart abandonment and boosting sales.
To build this trust, businesses need to ensure that site visitors feel sufficiently comfortable sharing personal details like credit card and billing information. In addition to backend security like firewalls and web application protection, confidence elements like trustmarks can help improve customer confidence and ultimately lead to an increase in traffic.
Below, we discuss how a number of online businesses were able to build trust and promote secure shopping through displaying them on their site.
1. Give customers piece of mind
As we’ve said before, perception is a huge factor in the success of online retail stores—especially for those who fall into the small to medium category. For the McKeesport Candy Company and their website, CandyFavorites.com, appearance is a major part of showcasing an 85 year history of excellent customer service. In an effort to continue this legacy in the online realm, they turned to trustmarks.
Identity theft is a growing concern for most online shoppers today, and the company knew that it had to find additional ways to help their customers feel safe from the moment they hit the homepage. With the help of the McAfee SECURE trustmark, CandyFavorites.com saw a 7.5 percent increase in sales conversions during the twenty-day testing period.
2. Increase new traffic sales
As the online retail environment changed, eCommerce business, Batteries4less.com found themselves competing with larger name brands as well as garage startups. Aside from keeping current customers satisfied through security, they used trustmarks to set their site apart and attract new customers.
With four out of every five visitors to the site being new, it was important to add increased confidence elements to help them stay and buy. Batteries4less.com tested six placements of the McAfee SECURE trustmark, and found that the top scenarios increased new sales conversions for new traffic by 16.1 and 16.4 percent respectively.
3. Reduce friction and cart abandonment
Whenever an online entity is asking for financial details, consumers need to be reassured that it will be kept safe and confidential. An average of 67.75 percent of all online shopping carts are abandoned according to a recent study, with security worries playing a big role in why shoppers drop out mid-purchase.
Subscription-based resource for downloading stock footage, Videoblocks.com, sought to help customers feel comfortable downloading files by reducing friction through security. After an A/B/C test against another provider, they eventually settled on the McAfee SECURE trustmark. The site displaying the McAfee SECURE trustmark produced 10 percent more sales conversions than the other vendor’s icon and at least 12 percent more conversions than no security icon at all.
Building trust is one of the core foundations of any business, and when it comes to eCommerce, trust is vital to success. Trustmarks instill confidence, which is what ultimately drives shoppers to follow through on their purchases and keep coming back.
Visit our website for more information on the McAfee SECURE trustmark, and be sure to follow us on Twitter at @McAfeeSECURE for the latest updates on eCommerce news, resources and events.