Safe Shopping Logos

I've noticed that most my competitors are displaying safe shopping logos

[chrisholgate]

I've noticed that most my competitors are displaying safe shopping logos on their homepage such as those by IMRG, Safebuy and TrustUK and previously Which.

My question is whether these are really worth paying for and do customers really base their decision to buy based on seeing one of these logos?

I'm imagining that their is some advantage otherwise none of these retailers would spend £150 a year however as a regular online shopper I have never personally looked for these logos on sites I shop with.

Any help you could give would be most appreciated.

Cheers

Chris

[haggul]

I would imagine that only the most nervous shoppers would look for those logos - we looked into it for the busiest store I work for but decided not to bother for now.

We only looked seriously at it because some competitors were showing the logo on some of the shopping/price compare engines where our products are displayed side by side.

To be honest they are about as useful as the logos you see on the side of builders vans - if you have to pay to get into it then it's not exactly the impartial seal of quality is it?

[lorax]

My thoughts on this: I'd offer that any of the third party verification systems that are supposed to brand your site as "safe", "delivers quality products", or "has excellent customer support" are dependent upon:

1) Your customer's knowledge of the branding. If they don't know who ShopSafe is then they may see it as a stamp of "trust" and thus it may improve your sales. But if you're selling to folks who know that the ShopSafe logo is for sale and means little as a measure of safety, then it could hurt your sales.

2) The verifiable worth of the brand. What I mean here is the quality of their service and products. Think in terms of Verisign. Just because Verisign has a well known brand does that make them better than Thawte or even Bobs SecureShopping? Not necessarily. The only way to tell is to evaluate them on a point by point level on the product/service and any value-added products/services.

The first item has an immediate impact. People either recognize the value or they don't.

The second item is more long term. It takes time to establish credibility and reputation but if you go with a rock-solid company that has little name recognition, it may pay off later. There's no guarantee and I'm not advocating you do this. But if you choose a company that delivers AND they are able to successfully brand themselves then you will have the added marketing value of having used Bobs SecureShopping long before anyone else! You could spin this to your advantage.

And there's nothing wrong with actually telling the consumer the value of the ShopSafe logo. Educate your consumers as to why it matters. Customer's appreciate a bit of education. It gives them confidence that you're looking out for them and gives them a bit of free information they can take with them for future reference. All of it supporting your claim that you're the best in the business.

IMHO of course. ;)

[PCInk]

By mentioning 'secure', 'hacker' or other such terms, you can actually put a customer off ordering. Until they saw the logo, they could well have never even thought about their information being hacked (except they may look for the little padlock logo or https).

[chamiltongt]

Have you done a user testing session?

Through my experiences, the best thing to do with ANY interface (even a microwave), is to put 5-10 people in front of it and ask them to perform basic tasks and gather all of their feedback. Try to find 10 people somewhere and have them look at your site. If they mention that they would like to see more verification stuff, then you have your answer. However, you may also find other things about your site that they don't like.

[Wlauzon]

There will always be a few that put much more credence in all the TV blather hacker stories than is warranted. Those are the people that will not order online, but will call in an order on a cell phone that anyone can listen to and give out their CC number....