Seal of trust the cornerstones of shop optimization
You want to open a onlineshop and want to make a serious impression besides content and design? Then this blog article is especially interesting for you!
Seal to gain the trust of the customer
Here we show you which seals are available and how the seals differ. In order to make a positive purchase decision for the consumer, there are many important success factors such as fast delivery, cheap products or great Create content. This includes gaining the trust of the customer. You can achieve trust by using a seal of confidence or independent customer opinions.
Why use a trustmark?
No matter how cheap you offer a high quality product, if the website visitor does not know your name, he will be particularly sceptical about placing an order with you. This is where trust seals come into play.
There are many well-known providers of these trust seals, which most consumers also know. The inclusion of such a seal suggests or assures that it is safe to shop in your webshop. Some service providers even offer the buyer a refund if the merchant fails to deliver the goods or delivers them incorrectly.
Internet quality seal – advantages and disadvantages
advantages:
Increased consumer confidence, possibly resulting in more sales
Reliability and awareness of the brand of the trustmark
Security for the customer that seal standards are met
Increase in payment methods that are not used with less trust, such as prepayment – savings for external payment providers
disadvantages:
Running fixed costs, which have to be covered by purchases – with many certificates rising costs with increasing sales
With changes such as changing terms and conditions, shop changes such as other shop system or innovations to the usability, you must pay the very high “initial test” again
No certainty that the acquired trust mark will also lead to an increase in sales
Trust seal at a glance
The following providers are known to us. Please note that only trustmarks are listed here which focus on a certificate and do not generate a seal via customer ratings. Trust signals through customer reviews are dealt with in a separate blog post. If you know another one, please leave a comment.
- TÜV
- Trusted Shops
- EHI
- Google Certified Retailer
TÜV seal – s@fer shopping
The sign of the TÜV is probably known to every Internet user in Germany. Even though the TÜV has not been around for so long with its seals for online shops, the brand has burned itself into the memory of the consumer through countless TÜV certifications. With a degree of awareness of 99% in Germany, hardly any other provider comes close.
With the TÜV seal for your online shop you unfortunately have no price transparency at first sight, because here data about your shop is requested via a questionnaire and you receive an individual offer. From our experience by taking care of numerous customers we can tell you that it is one of the most expensive seals – of course it pays off again because of its popularity.
With the s@fer shopping internet seal of approval, the shop is tested for usability, the order process, especially transparency and compliance with data protection. As with most other seals, the consumer can be offered a money-back guarantee.
In addition to the s@fer shopping seal of approval from TÜV, there is another seal of approval “safer website” for websites without a shop.
Price: on request at TÜV, depending on the effort
Test criteria: Usability, security, data protection
Consumer guarantee: Yes
Trusted Shops
According to market research, Trusted Shops is the best known seal of quality on the Internet. It enjoys a particularly high level of acceptance among consumers and can, if you sell good products at a reasonable price, generate a strong increase in sales.
Originally the service of Trusted Shops was the certification of online merchants and the additional buyer protection for the consumer. As ratings have become increasingly important for websites and certification often goes hand in hand with rating, Trusted Shops now offers this service as well. In addition to the seal of approval, they also receive shop and product ratings.
The service for your customers is to be emphasized particularly positively with Trusted Shops. This is very well attainable and also very helpful. Trusted Shops often acts as a kind of mediator between angry consumers and helpless shop operators.
Price: from 79 € per month
Test criteria: extensive quality criteria – including legal conformity and confirmation of the shop’s identity
Consumer guarantee: Yes
EHI seal – certified online shop
The EHI seal has been in existence since 1999, i.e. for a long time. This seal is also familiar to most consumers. Although EHI does not offer a money-back guarantee, it has a sophisticated complaint management system that helps in mediating with the customer.
For online shops that ship Europe-wide, the EHI seal has the advantage that the merchant automatically has the examination of the EMOTA European Trustmark, which is recognised throughout Europe, through the EHI examination, which practically corresponds to a European seal of quality.
Price: from 62,50 € per month
Test criteria: legally relevant texts are checked in the interest of the consumer, checking the technical features of the shop and usability, payment methods
Consumer guarantee: No
Google – certified dealer
The latest seal of trust with a money-back guarantee is the verification by Google. This trustmark came quickly and probably unexpected for one or the other provider. In the meantime, many shops are Google-tested merchants and benefit from the strong offer. Google uses here as so often by measuring data on shipping, returns and purchase rates.
Price: free of charge
Test criteria: probationary period
Consumer guarantee: Yes
Conclusion
A good advice is to compare the costs and services exactly and in the end consider how many orders you will have. A trust mark can lower the inhibition threshold to buy, but you should also consider that almost every online shop has such a trust mark and in the end many other factors decide whether the customer buys or not.
Furthermore, you must include the costs incurred in the product price. If, for example, you sell very cheap small items with a low order value and have to pay a valuation service provider in addition to a seal of trust, this service can quickly become a cost trap.
A trustmark is especially useful for small online shops or newcomers. Here the costs of certificates are still very low and you benefit from the good name of the seal.
Comments