Toolbar as a confidence indicator in buying

Does PR play a role in the buying decission.

[lgn]

Has their been any statistics, on the percentage of consummers that actually use the google toolbar. I suspect that it is becoming even more popular with the pop-up blocker.

Which leads to the second question. Does PR play a role in a buying decission. I suspect that the average consumer has no clue what page rank is and will be just as likely to buy from a PR0 site as a PR8 site.

Any thoughts on this topic?

[bateman_ap]

No stats but I think it might work the other way round, the more experienced of us now realise the toolbar is so flaky at the mo as to offer no indication of a reputable site.

Personally and I know there are ugly sites that sell, you don't need to tell me, I like a professional looking site and more than anything the lovely padlock in the bottom of the browser, without that no CC. And a quick straw poll round the office with the dumb users (including the one who spent most of friday trying to open the blocked pif file) agree with the padlock and with the sole excetpion of one knew anything about pagerank, although a good 70% use the toolbar.

[Mohamed_E]

I am pretty sure that for the average user the toolbar is a navigational aid (easy searches) plus popup blocker, either does not enable PR or does not care much about it.

[skipfactor]

Does PR play a role in a buying decission?

I'm apprehensive on cheezy e-comm sites; I bail on cheezy e-comm sites with a grey bar-when it's working fine elsewhere.

I suspect that the average consumer has no clue what page rank is and will be just as likely to buy from a PR0 site as a PR8 site.

Absolutely

[DavidP]

I wrote an article a while back recommending the use of Google PR (amongst other factors) to get an indication of reliability when considering making a purchase.

So hopefully PR will have an influence on the buying decision of people who read the article.

[jbinbpt]

Do we have any way of knowing how many "consumers" actually have the tool bar installed? Google seems to be able to detect when it's installed, so Google should be able to come up with some numbers. I expect the numbers are lower than anyone here expects. I would be shocked if they are near the 5% level.

[abbeyvet]

I often look at other people's computers for one reason or another, I mean people who would fall into the category of "typical casual surfers", rather than the sort of audience you would expect here.

Almost none have the toolbar installed. I have installed it for a number of them, and none of them even noticed the PR until I pointed it out. When I start explaining what it is their eyes glaze over and they immediatly lose interest.

In short I think if you are selling something aimed specifically at the sort of person who is likely to hang out here, it might matter. Otherwise I doubt it.