Trustmarks and payment methods increase sales
Trustmarks and the number of payment systems can have a strong impact on the sales of small relatively unkwown enterprises. A study conducted by the German E-commerce Center of Trade and the management consulting firm Mücke, Sturm & Company confirmed that the effects of trademarks and payment systems could lead to a 70 % increase in sales.
Find out more about the study that was based on 15.000 simulated purchases.
E-traders that are new to the market and still have relatively small online shops can profit from the integration of trust building measures. An independent trustmark or further methods of payment can enhance the trust consumers have in a website and generate an increase in sales up to 70 %. That is one of the results of a new study of the E-Commerce Center Trade in Cologne and the management consulting company Mücke, Sturm & Company from Munich.
The effect of a trustmark is far greater for not so well known e-traders than for established traders with a strong brand name. The missing of personal contact and lack of trust are the main reasons why people don’t shop online. The e-traders miss a lot of potential sales because a lot of customers quit their orders right in the payment process because of security concerns and last but not least because of the method of payment. This last step of a purchase is often underestimated.
But not only e-retailers profit from increased confidence in online-shops. According to a study of the Office of Fair Trading internet users who are too worried to buy online could be missing savings of £175m to £350m each year.
More trust means more sales
Sebastian van Baal from the e-commerce center trade:
The results of the study showed that trustmarks can increase the sales between 30 and 65 % and online payment methods had an effect between 17 and 70 %. E-traders should concentrate on trust-building measures to fully utilize the full potential of their businesses.
Up to 90 % Increase in sales
The greatest effects were measured in online shops that offered software and music downloads. Here an average of 50 % in sales could be realized when trust building measures were added to the website. Physical products could only reach 28 %.
Increase in sales trough trust building measures
physical vs. digital 50 € vs. 200 € all products and prizes
The price of the product also has an influence on the effect. When the price of the item bought was more than 200 Euro there was an increase in sales of almost 90 % compared to 15 % when the price of the item was less than 50 Euro.
15.000 purchases qualifiy the study
The study is based on a number of online experiments where 15.000 simulated purchases were made by 500 consumers and it also compared the effects of the Trusted Shops trustmark and the „Geprüfter Online-Shop” trustmark as well as the payment methods of „Giropay” and „Clickandbuy” on the sales of online-shops.
The study (in German) with the titel „Die Effektivität vertrauensbildender Maßnahmen im E-Commerce” can be ordered at ecc-handel.de or in your local bookstore for 25 Euro (Band 21 der Reihe „Ausgewählte Studien des ECC Handel”, 36 pages, ISBN: 978-3-935546-41-6).
