Disclaimer: Planet Marketing partners some of the companies that are mentioned in this article. However, this post is unbiased and based on real data from real customers (including us!)
Looking to increase sales with the use of trust seals? There are many different kinds of trust seals that can be confusing. Some companies offer one seal while other companies (like Trust Guard) bundle them together to bring more value. Trust seals, sometimes called trust badges, can be used on both eCommerce and service-based websites. In this post, I am going to;
What are Trust Seals?
Definition – Trust seals are badges that increase consumer confidence. They take the form of security seals, privacy seals, business identity seals, and business practice seals.
There is no specific “Trust Seal”. Most companies are looking for seals that will build “trust” and increase sales or conversions. All trust seals are issued by a company.
Types of Trust Seals
The following are the different types of Trust Seals that can be found out there:
- Security Seals,
- Privacy Seals,
- Buyer Protection Seals,
- Business Identity Seals.
1) Security Seals
Many companies are looking to increase sales by showing their customers that their sites are free of malware. Security seals are most common in eCommerce websites. They are normally in the footer or header, and the checkout. Security seals are completely different than SSL security certificates. SSL security certificates only encrypt communication between a person’s browser and a website. It doesn’t make sure the site or the server is secure. Security seals assure a website has passed a security scan.
Companies offering security seals
Trust Guard (awesome company), offers trust seals à la carte and in bundles. Trust Guard can work with small, medium, and large businesses. Most likely if you have an eCommerce website built in Magneto; WordPress (WooCommerce); Shopify; etc, Trust Guard is for you. Trust Guard will run a security scan through your website and your server seeking vulnerabilities and malware. It’ll also make sure your server is PCI Compliant.
Pricing
Disclaimer: Planet Marketing partners Trust Guard and has much lower pricing vs. going straight to TG’s site.
$29/mo for Quarterly Scanning + Bundle (Security seal, Privacy Safe seal, & Business Verified seal)
$99/mo for Daily Scanning + Bundle (Security, Privacy Safe, & Business Verified seals)
Normal Trust Guard Pricing
$37/mo for Quarterly Scanning (Security seal only)
$57/mo for Monthly Scanning (Security seal only)
$67/mo for Weekly Scanning (Security seal only)
$147/mo for Daily Scanning (Security seal only)
We wrote an in-depth review about Trust Guard.
SiteLock (awesome company too) does a lot of the same things Trust Guard does, but goes a step further. It’s does daily scanning, automatic/manual malware removal, web app firewall, SQL Injection Prevention, and more. These are awesome features if you cannot afford to have your website down, ever.
Pricing – SiteLock has 4 packages. Pricing is based off the size of your website and other factors. Sometimes you’ll see your web hosting company offer SiteLock’s free service or their Basic Package of $19.99/year. The power of SiteLock is in its other packages: Secure Starter, Secure Speed, Secure Site, Secure VIP. https://www.sitelock.com/pricing/
Here is a blog post we wrote specifically on website security seals. In addition to covering Trust Guard and SiteLock, it covers McAfee SECURE, Trustwave, & Qualys. We will add more to this list soon.
2) Privacy Seals
Have you ever purchased a product, only to be automatically put onto a newsletter mailing list? ANNOYING! Privacy seals are there to assure you that this will not happen. They keep website owners up to date with current laws of what a company can and can’t do with customer information. Want to sell a list of your customers? It better be in your privacy policy. Want to tell your customers you’ll never sell their information, that too needs to be in your privacy policy.
According to Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines, pages like Privacy Policies, Terms and Conditions, About Us are used as signals to determine high quality vs. low quality websites. That alone should be a reason to get an original professional privacy policy, not a copy from the internet. Your company should be transparent on what it does with customer information.
Examples of Privacy Seals
Professional Privacy Policy by Trust Guard has been carefully developed to help you comply with state and federal laws as well as initiatives online. All you need to do is answer questions about your website’s practices. An HTML doc will be generated and your customized privacy policy will be ready to be copied and pasted into your site.
Pricing – $47 one time fee.
Privacypolicies.com clearly states that downloading a generic privacy policy can contain misleading or inaccurate information. While most people don’t read privacy policies, why risk it? This company offers a custom privacy policy for a low one-time fee.
Pricing – $19.95 one-time fee
3) Buyer Protection Seals
Whatever company you use for buyer protection seals, it’s WAY better than having nothing; especially if your competitors have it. Here are 4 buyer protection companies that can help boost sales almost overnight.
Everyone knows who the BBB is. BBB is a great company for the customer to leave a nasty complaint (pun intended). Rarely do people leave good reviews. Although as a seller most companies despise BBB, the customers see immediate credibility. Since everyone knows BBB protects the consumer, I’m not going into depth about it here. Instead read this blog post if you’re interested: “Is BBB Worth It“.
BBB Pricing – Starts at $500/year
If you can’t make up your mind between the following 3 companies (4x Buyer Protection, BuySafe, and Norton Shopping Guarantee), read this blog post comparing all three in more detail: 4x Buyer Protection, BuySafe, and Norton Shopping Guarantee Comparison.
Want to increase sales within a week or maybe overnight? Use a service like 4x Buyer Protection. This service can convert many prospects into buyers. It protects the customer in 4 ways: Terms of Service, Lowest Match Guarantee, Shipping Insurance, Identity Theft Protection.
Terms of Service – Products/services your customers have purchased will perform according to the your website’s terms of the sale for the 30 days. What’s this mean? Trust Guard will make sure your customer is not making up stuff and that you are delivering you end of the deal.
Lowest Match Guarantee – This one is awesome. If you have a price conscious shopper, this will help make the sale and keep the shopper from going to buy from somewhere else. The buyer has 48 hours to opt in once the purchased has been made. If the customer makes a claim to 4x Buyer Protection, then everything MUST match a competitor’s price for the exact item. If the competitor’s price is less, then 4x Buyer Protection pays the difference, not you! Let me say that again, you don’t pay the difference; 4x Buyer Protection does.
Shipping Insurance – Most companies do not offer shipping insurance if the item arrives damaged. A customer has to go through the hassle of shipping it back and getting a refund. And that’s if the company wants to cooperate.
Identity Theft Protection – This buyer protection feature assures customers that your site is safe and no personal information will be available to hackers. In other words, the customer will know credit card fraud will not result from purchasing on your store.
4x Buyer Protection is also a Trust Guard company. Yeah, TG is all into trust seals as you can tell! 🙂
Disclaimer: Planet Marketing is a 4x Buyer Protection partner. If you’re interested, click on the provided link.
BuySafe is a well known brand in this industry. They offer these 3 programs: Identity Theft Protection, Purchase Guarantee, Lowest Price Guarantee. BuySafe guarantees that every $1 you spend on BuySafe, you’ll receive a minimum $20 in additional sales. So I guess if you spend $100 on BuySafe, then you can expect a minimum of $2000 in additional sales. It’s a 20X ROI.
Norton Shopping Guarantee is very similar to BuySafe. They also guarantee a 20X ROI. Pricing is based on your sales volume and the additional sales generated from being a Norton Shopping Guarantee endorsed merchant.
Here is a breakdown of the coverage (excludes BBB because it doesn’t cover as much):
[table id=buyer_protection /]
4) Business Identity Seals
Verification normally encompasses address, phone and email verification. BBB is a GREAT company to verify you’re a legit company. Although Google My Business will “verify” your business with a postcard and PIN for free, business verification companies go much further and allow you to put a business identity seal on your site.
You can see Planet Marketing’s seal on our About page. The strength of a business identity seal is to convince people your company is real. Have you ever gone to a site and you can’t find their address on the contact form nor in the footer? That might in fact be a spam site. Your prospective customers will feel more safe working with a verified company. For companies that are just starting up, you need all the help you can get to prove your existence. This seal will definitely help. It’s for both eCommerce and service based websites.
Where to get Business Identity Seals
Merchant SAFE offers business identity management solutions for companies in order to help them build trust among consumers.
Pricing – Starts at $24.99/mo.
VeraSafe is endorsed by the United States Postal Service. It’s a good company, but comes with a higher price tag.
Pricing $799/yr
Quick Note: Trust Guard includes a business verification into their bundle for free. You can also purchase it for $29/mo.
Sometimes the business identity seal can be purchased along with your web hosting package like Network Solutions, like an addon.
If you have any questions regarding anything to do with trust seals, ask below in the comments. If you want us to look into a particular company, let us know.
Disclaimer: Planet Marketing partners some of the companies that are mentioned in this article. However, this post is unbiased and based on real data from real customers (including us!)
