Trust signals are evidence points that appear online to help customers feel more secure in their decision to purchase from a business or buy a product or service.

Trust signals were described in an article published in the March 2000 edition of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication as trust badges or seals from organizations such as the Better Business Bureau and TrustArc on e-commerce websites. At that time, consumers were more skeptical of providing their credit card information and other personal details to a website; trust signals helped visitors overcome their fears.[1] A 2022 book, Trust Signals by Scott Baradell, was published on the subject.[2]

In current internet marketing parlance, trust signals fall into three major categories:

  • Trust signals that encourage visitors to complete a purchase or take an action;
  • Trust signals elsewhere online that drive visitors to a website;[3] and
  • Trust signals that visitors might not notice, but that Google uses for ranking.

A 2019 neuroimaging study in the Journal of Interactive Marketing studied 29 subjects who participated in an experiment simulating an online purchase. The analysis revealed that seals of approval from third-party organizations were most trusted, whereas rating systems were less trusted because they elicited feelings of ambiguity and risk.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, Jonathan W.; Bailey, Joseph P.; Faraj, Samer (2006). "The Role of Intermediaries in the Development of Trust on the WWW: The Use and Prominence of Trusted Third Parties and Privacy Statements". Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 5 (3). doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2000.tb00342.x.
  2. ↑ Daisyme, Peter (10 January 2023). "5 Books to Help Leaders Transform Their Business". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  3. ↑ "The Psychology Behind Trust Signals" (PDF). Trustpilot.
  4. ↑ Luis-Alberto Casado-Aranda, Angelika Dimoka and Juan Sanchez-Fernandez, ""
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