What is a Consumer Confidence Seal?
A Consumer Confidence Seal is a Trustmark that gives consumers confidence in the Business providing the consumer a product or service.
Long before the Internet there was the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) certification.
Back in 1894, the certification was created in response to faulty electrical
components driving up the incidence of fires.
The National Board of Fire Underwriters conducted the first test on noncombustible insulation material.
Today, the UL Mark is so influential that UL must fight counterfeiters who try to hijack the Mark’s credibility to validate their own products.
In the Real (Not Online world), trustmarks are the little symbols or seals that reassure consumers that something is safe.
In the UK their are all sorts of Trustmarks including the very well known and well used British Standards and the new an innovative CheckRate Consumer Confidence Seal.
Different Types of Online Trustmarks!
As the nature of the online experience is "Virtual", online retailers have to work a lot harder at building trust than their "Real World" counterparts.Consumers cannot count the cars in the car park, or the traffic in the store as well as window shopping from the outside to gauge the quality of the merchandise, to see if the business is popular and legitimate.
To help establish trust, online merchants can turn to online trustmarks that offer credibility, authority and social proof of popularity on different aspects of a businesses operation, products and now Financial Strength & Stability.
Online trustmarks can traditionally be broken down into four types, each offering a different kind of assurance:
• Personal Privacy—These symbols indicate that a site protects user information and rights. For instance, a TRUSTe-accredited site owner commits that they will comply with TRUSTe’s privacy policies of
disclosure, choice, access, and security and support their dispute resolution processes.
• Business Reputation—A service such as BBBOnline requires businesses to have a physical presence, be in business for at least a year, and have a positive track record of handling complaints.
• Secure Transactions—A locked padlock or solid key icon appears in your browser, the URL says https://,
and you know you are on a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)-enabled site.
A standard SSL validation verifies that a site is who it says it is. It also confirms that the site uses encryption for data communication and transactions. Extended validation SSL certificates (EVSSL) can turn the URL display bar green to reinforce the positive message.
• Security and Vulnerability Scanning—Malicious content planted on websites and misconfigured websites present ripe opportunities for hackers, spammers, phishers, and scammers.
Regularly scheduled vulnerability scanning will identify these weaknesses in a website, enabling owners to correct flaws promptly ensuring they keep up with criminals. Yankee Group experts recommend daily testing.
Now on top of the 4 traditional types CheckRate offer a Fifth and highly required Trustmark - The Consumer Confidence Seal or Business / Company Financial Stability Trustmark
About our Financial Trustmarks:
• Financial Trustmark or Consumer Confidence Seals are a Live Feed from Credit Reference agencies dipicting the current financial situation of the business behind the Website through a verified Credit Rating Check.
“Trust seals that provide a ‘set it and forget it’ approach are of little use to both (businesses) and their customers.” - as they find it hard to keep up with changes to circumstances.
Additional info about Trustmarks:
• Authority—Trustmarks provide external validation that helps when a customer is not internally confident.
They provide a third-party “authority figure” that conveys trust and compliance, the way a uniformed police officer can reassure a traveler.
• Social Proof or Consensus—We do not merely care about outside experts, we care about the behavior of our peers.
A trustmark we see repeatedly offers a shortcut that tells us our peers have bought in, so a decision is safe.
These two influences matter because of the fleeting nature of web relationships.
Trust normally builds over time in an extended relationship based on multiple contacts. However web visitors rarely have much of a relationship with you when they hit your website, so you must create an environment of trust quickly.
Trustmarks offer a simple way to leverage influence—from both authority and consensus—that has been established ahead of time.
What Can Trustmarks Do for Your Business?
The authority and social proof discussed above should add up to increased sales through increased consumer confidence.How much sales will increase is dependant on many factors including existing website traffic but as our price is based on web traffic we are sure to be cost effective enough to ensure you get a great Return On Investment (ROI).
If you are looking to Boost your Web Sales or online conversions as well as reducing your shopping basket or shopping cart abandonment rates please get in touch?
For more info please email: mike@checkrate.com or please feel free to read our customer testimonials.
For more info please email: mike@checkrate.com or please feel free to read our customer testimonials.
