Internet users are suitably concerned about handing over their private information to just anyone. They are especially sensitive when credit card details are involved. No one wants their bank account emptied by some hacker.

If yours is a small store with little brand recognition, this customer reluctance can be a crippling handicap. In fact, 18% of shoppers have abandoned their carts at checkouts due to concerns about security.

 

How do you deal with this?

You’ll need to use trust badges so as to assure your customer that their money and information is safe. Trust badges allow you to leverage the reputation of a larger business to improve your own standing.

There are three kinds of trust badges:

 

Trust seals

These are issued by organizations that look at your operations and consumer reports to determine whether your business is legitimate. An accreditation by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) or Google Trusted Store shows that your business is a legitimate operation rather than a scam.

 

SSL seals

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. This certification is issued by software companies as a guarantee that data from your site is private, properly encrypted, and transmitted without any interceptions. 

Nearly every site has an SSL certificate and the padlock icon at the very beginning of any address bar or the HTTPS URL extension are proof enough of this. A lot of modern browsers will not actually access a non-HTTPS site without giving the user a security notification but your average shopper doesn’t understand all the nuances of cybersecurity so you will need to produce an SSL certificate in order to calm them down and make them feel safe.

The most trusted SSL certificate providers are: 

 

Payment processor badges

These are issued by payment processors like Paypal and credit card companies once you have been verified as a merchant. In addition to showing the payment methods you accept, they calm down users who tend to associate familiarity with security. Visa, Mastercard, and Paypal are the most trusted in this sphere but the likes of American Express and Discover aren’t too far behind.

 

How do you properly implement trust badges?

Trust badges should be clearly and prominently shown at checkout near the credit card entry field. It’s at this stage that users are the most security conscious and you need to reassure them.

A customer selecting a payment method should be able to see all your trust badges clearly. You should display one trust badge, one SSL seal, and icons of all the payment methods you accept. If you accept many payment methods (say 10+), you can show the most popular four or five.

Examples