The trust badge reassures visitors to your site about the reliability and security of its online payments. Integrating logos that reassure Internet users at the time of purchase on your online store is a simple and effective way to increase your conversion rate and solve the biggest challenge for any e-merchant: shopping cart abandonment.

Indeed, all studies agree on this fact: between 70% and 75% of website visitors who add products to their cart leave the site without making a purchase.

Shopping cart abandonment is probably the most frustrating and incomprehensible source of frustration for any e-commerce professional. We can also talk about the churn rate, which corresponds to the number of customers who give up on your products or services, to the benefit of a competitor, for example. The churn rate as well as the cart abandonment rate or the bounce rate are indicators of your good or bad e-commerce performance. The objective? To reduce them as much as possible!

Thanks to statistics, we know the most frequent causes of shopping cart abandonment. Among them, there is the doubt that your potential buyer may feel about the security of your site and his purchase.

According to the Statista Institute, in 2015 alone, 15% of shopping cart abandonments were justified by doubts about the security of online payments. In 2017, the Baymard Institute estimates that 19% of shopping cart abandonment was for these same reasons. This increase is significant.

What is a Trust Badge?

As its name suggests, a trust badge is a logo that you place on your web page and that inspires confidence. It is often found on the payment page to reassure the user of the security of the payment process.

It is then a secure payment badge. More and more e-merchants are placing these trust badges on the home page and on different sections of the site. In short, trust badges are simple tools that have the potential to increase sales and customer satisfaction on your e-commerce site.

Integrating trust badges is even more important if you are a brand that is just starting out and is still unknown to the public. All your visitors will be potential new customers that you will have to reassure and convince of your reliability.

Trust Badge: the different types

There are five main types of trust badges that you can implement on your e-commerce site. Each one has a dedicated meaning and use. You can decide which trust badge to use on your site depending on the effect you want to achieve.

Below you will find detailed information about these five different types of trust logo, with examples and tips on how to get them.

Secure Payment Badge

This type of trust badge is perhaps the most important of the five. This is the trust badge you get when you register with a company that provides an SSL certificate. This certificate guarantees the protection of the Internet connection and the information that is transferred.

The secure payment badge indicates that the payment process on your site is safe and secure, that the information shared there is encrypted. Your user has proof that their identity or credit card information will not be stolen.

Using the most reliable and recognized secure payment badges allows your customers to quickly feel safe. The most well-known SSL badge is the one from Symantec. Symantec owns VeriSign, as well as Norton and LifeLock, recognized and trusted security certificate providers. Symantec offers a variety of options and packages to suit your needs.

Payment badges accepted

Nothing inspires confidence like seeing a brand you recognize. That’s exactly what a trust badge is supposed to do. Having the Visa, Mastercard or PayPal payment method logo listed as accepted payment options can increase the level of trust in your website, without you having to do a ton of legwork.

A study by ConversionXL asked over 1,000 people which payment badges they recognized best, and which badges they trusted most. 42% chose Visa-Mastercard as the most recognized brand, while PayPal was voted as the most trusted brand. ConversionXL thus states that “greater familiarity also means a greater sense of security.”

Third Party Site Accreditation Badge

Third-party recommendations can help instill confidence in your customers by showing them that you have credibility. These programs usually involve an application process and a review of your site before you are awarded the trust badge.

The “Google Trusted Store” badge (formerly “Trusted Merchant”) is probably the best known. It is a program dedicated to online merchants, which allows them to display a score, which certifies that Google attests that your site is trustworthy. To get the grail, i.e. the trust badge “Google Customer Reviews”, you have to register on the Google Merchant Center. Google will analyze your site and ask buyers to inform it about their buying experience. The badge will be granted to you if the notes left by your customers are positive.