Trust signals
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.{{cite journal | url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2000.tb00342.x | doi=10.1111/j.1083-6101.2000.tb00342.x | title=The Role of Intermediaries in the Development of Trust on the WWW: The Use and Prominence of Trusted Third Parties and Privacy Statements | date=2006 | last1=Palmer | first1=Jonathan W. | last2=Bailey | first2=Joseph P. | last3=Faraj | first3=Samer | journal=Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication | volume=5 | issue=3 }} A 2022 book, Trust Signals by Scott Baradell, was published on the subject.{{cite news |last1=Daisyme |first1=Peter |title=5 Books to Help Leaders Transform Their Business |url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/5-books-to-help-leaders-transform-their-business/440796 |access-date=10 June 2023 |work=Entrepreneur |date=10 January 2023 |language=en}}
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;{{cite web |title=The Psychology Behind Trust Signals |url=https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2749863/The%20Psychology%20Behind%20Trust%20Signals%20-%20Sept%202019/The%20psychology%20behind%20trust%20signals_US.pdf |website=Trustpilot}} 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.Luis-Alberto Casado-Aranda, Angelika Dimoka and Juan Sanchez-Fernandez, "[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1094996819300520]"