Site security seals

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I'm shopping for a site security seal program, i.e. McAfee Secure or Trust Guard.

I'm convinced that they can increase conversion but are all of them equally effective?

McAfee has a good name but it's the most expensive, plus you have to pay for a year upfront. Trust Guard is much cheaper and you can pay monthly. They claim similar conversion improvements... but do you get what you pay for?

Anybody using Trust Guard? They seem to offer a good product. How about any of the others?
#main internet marketing discussion forum #seals #security #site
  • I was actually researching this last month and for me I don't think it's worth it. For example sites that are dedicated to internet marketers probably won't be affected because they're already use to paying online. I believe the difference might be for an unknown retailer that sells general products and people new to buying online might trust it.

    I searched different forums for an actual answer to this question and it seems the general consensus was that it was a waste of money and the coversion rates didn't really go up.

    The seals aren't too cheap either a lot of them are in the $800 - $2000 range per year.

    The needed expense is SSL certificates, but you can get away with certificates that aren't to expensive. Site seals in my mind probably won't help and a good reputation goes a long way.
  • These are good points. For many sites I agree that it's a waste of money.

    However, my site sells to the general public and I get feedback that a lot of them are nervous about ordering online. So think a seal would be very useful for my site.

    Yes, they're not cheap... anywhere from $60 a month to twice that much and more. But just one sale a month extra would pay that for me.
    • [1] reply
    • Before spending the money on a seal, consider this...

      Make an attractive starburst graphic, with wording like "Secured with SSL" or whatever wording is appropriate and correct for your site. Link that to a page on your site that explains what that means and why their purchase is secure. It may be a good idea to have your lawyer look it over to make sure you're not saying anything that would increase your liability or anything.

      If you're getting feedback that people are nervous about ordering online, that's probably a good sign that they want to buy from you but just need some additional reassurance that it's safe. If you can provide that reassurance, you can get the sale and save yourself having to buy a "seal" of perhaps questionable value from a third party.
  • The change in conversions from having the seals is very minimal at a large scale. You would have to have a lot of traffic as a control on your site, you may see small increases in conversions. Depending on the scale of your site .5% could be $5 or $500,000.

    McAfee secure has one advantage and thats in search for users that use mcaffeee internet security, it shows sites that have the seal. That again is minimal in aspects to the cost of it yearly.

    I would do as suggested above and create your own seal, and test it to see if it increases conversions vs not having anything there. I have seen in the past seals inhibit conversions as well.
    • [1] reply
    • There was a discussion on WF on that a long time ago. The concern was that adding a security seal may get people to stop and think about security whereas they might otherwise have proceeded with their purchase.
      • [1] reply
  • I'm sure it depends on the market.

    There are at least 2 types of seals: one means your site is secure as far as technology (hacker-resistant), and the other is supposed to mean you are honest and ethical and love puppies and so on.

    Like someone said, you can always make your own seal (as long as it doesn't infringe on someone else's) and test it.
  • Banned
    Seals are better, no ifs and or butts. Test for yourself.

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    Trustguard is highly recommended, I use them.
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    Site security seals

    I'm shopping for a site security seal program, i.e. McAfee Secure or Trust Guard. I'm convinced that they can increase conversion but are all of them equally effective?