Security Scanning Certificate Testing

[GoldenEagleOutdoors]

I also think that an abundance of "security" seals are a waste of effort. I don't think people really care about them all that much, maybe because they don't understand what they are all about. The only seal that I think may have a positive effect is the BBB seal since they are a well known organization. I have noticed that the larger ecommerce stores don't have any, or they only have one or two.

[maksum]

Well, maybe people want to see just SOME security deal. Maybe I am not doing any better because when the seal is off they see the other stuff. A couple of them I just whipped up myself in photoshop

At any rate it's been interesting. I wonder how things would change if that were they ONLY seal showing, and half my visitors saw nothing.

Hmmm, might be worth investigating... but even if it came back with an increase in conversions with the seal I wouldn't pay for it, knowing it doesn't matter what I put on there.

[Mark]

how's the test coming along. I see you still have the seal.....

[maksum]

Originally Posted by Mark

how's the test coming along. I see you still have the seal.....

Still testing... 159 conversions for Seals Off, and 145 for Seals On. I called them up a couple of days ago and they suggested I remove a couple of the seals from the shopping cart and check-out pages. Before I had all 4 of their seals on there. Now I just have the "security scanned" and "privacy verified" seals.

I doubt it will make a difference. I'll let it run for a couple more weeks, just so I can be confident that I gave it a fair shake, and then likely end it and ask for my money back.

As I mentioned, I really think people like to see some sort of security seal action going on, but my hunch is that they don't care specifically what it really is, or if it clicks to a 3rd party scanning service with a report. When the seals are off they can see my other "seals".

If I had NO other "seal" and was running the test, then I might see more of a difference, in favor of the seal... but at the end of the day, that would perhaps just be testing the effectiveness of "seals" in general.

Mike

[maksum]

Quick update,

Not much has changed since I reduced the number of their seals I had on my checkout pages. It seams to have reduced the gap a bit and essentially made it so seals-on and seals-off are closer to equal now. Certainly hasn't made the seals-on scenario better though.

Right now the score is:
Seals Off: 217 Conversions (4.35%)
Seals On: 203 Conversions (4.07%)

See chart here:
http://forums.3dcart.com/attachment....1&d=1268758700

I called them up to start the process of canceling my account and getting my money back, but they said I'd need to talk to the manager who wasn't in at the moment. He's going to give me a call back.

I'll chat with him just to make sure I'm not missing something, but it seems clear that it's not improving my sales. I could possibly be convinced to run the test longer, but I doubt it.

Mike

[maksum]

Ok, well I got a call back from Scott, who turns out to be the CEO of Trust Guard.

I am going to cancel my service.

Having said that I had a really good conversation with him. I'm convinced that this service is a valid and potentially valuable offering that probably helps a lot of web sites improve conversion rates. The fact that they back it up with a money-back guarantee, and that their phone support is readily available and it's easy to talk to a real person, speaks quite a bit to their legitimacy.

So why didn't it help mine? Well, as discussed earlier in the thread I have some "security"-type seal graphics already. Secondly, he said that my site appears to be very professionally designed, which already creates a feeling of legitimacy. He suggested that such elements are already working strongly in my favor.

He pointed me to another service they are offering which I am going to look into, which allows shoppers to leave feedback about your site and potential shoppers to see how you rate with these actual shoppers. It's shopperapproved.com. But I haven't had a chance to look into it yet.

So in conclusion trust-guard did not work for me. However, I believe my case could very well be an exception. I just want to be clear that I'm not concluding that the service does not work generally. Just not for me.

I hope people find this information useful.

Mike