Upscale Audio increases conversions by 15.2% testing TrustedSite against Norton Shopping Guarantee
This post is part of our Testing Trust series where website security trustmarks are put to the test in real-world experiments conducted by top marketing agencies. We hope the results of these tests will help ecommerce websites discover new ways to optimize visitor trust.
Upscale Audio offers premium audio equipment to customers in the Los Angeles region and beyond.
Though they’ve garnered a strong reputation within the audiophile community, the Upscale Audio team understands that security is always at the forefront of their customers’ minds.
To help visitors see that their site is safe, they had been using the Norton Shopping Guarantee seal but weren’t sure if it was effectively getting the message across. After learning about TrustedSite’s suite of certifications that addresses visitor concerns throughout the entire buyer’s journey, they decided to test it on upscaleaudio.com.
Before launching the test, Upscale Audio earned the following TrustedSite certifications:
- Certified Secure
- Verified Business
- Shopper Identity Protection
- Data Protection
- McAfee SECURE certification
Each TrustedSite certification has a set of requirements that must be met in order to display TrustedSite trustmarks. Upscale Audio met all the requirements and added 7 TrustedSite trustmarks across their site.
The Upscale Audio team worked with our conversion optimization experts at TrustedSite to set up an A/B/n test with 5 variants (including the control). The control kept the site as it was with the Norton Shopping Guarantee seal, and the 4 variants included different configurations of the TrustedSite trustmarks throughout the site. At the end of the 33 day testing period, variant 2 emerged as the clear winner, producing a 15.2% conversion lift over the control.
Check out this interview with Joel Myers, Upscale Audio’s ecommerce marketing manager, to get a first-hand look at how testing TrustedSite impacted his business.
Test Results
Winning Variant vs Control, 90% statistical significance
-
Conversion Rate
+15.2%
All Devices -
Conversion Rate
+21.3%
Desktop -
Conversion Rate
+19.5%
Returning Visitors
Continue reading to get all the experiment plan details and see why TrustedSite outperformed the competition on upscaleaudio.com.
TrustedSite vs Norton Shopping Guarantee on upscaleaudio.com
Experiment Overview
Variants & Placements
The experiment was run as an A/B/n test with the following variants. All site traffic was split evenly between the variants.
Control - Norton Shopping Guarantee seal
In the control version, the Norton Shopping Guarantee seal was displayed throughout the site but was not visible to visitors on mobile. However, mobile visitors were able to see a statement that said their purchase is protected by the Norton Shopping Guarantee when viewing product pages.
Variant 1 | 8 TrustedSite placements, banner trustmark focused
In Variant 1, TrustedSite trustmarks were placed in 8 locations throughout the site. The banner trustmark was displayed on product pages and throughout the checkout. All trustmarks were visible to visitors on all devices.
Variant 2 (Winner) | 8 TrustedSite placements, Identity Protection trustmark focused
In Variant 2, TrustedSite trustmarks were placed in 8 locations throughout the site. The Identity Protection trustmark was displayed on product pages, the cart, and throughout the checkout. All trustmarks were visible to visitors on all devices.
Variant 3 | 4 TrustedSite placements, banner trustmark focused
Variant 3 used the same trustmarks in the same locations as Variant 1, but trustmarks were removed from product pages, the cart, and the login and register pages. All trustmarks were visible to visitors on all devices.
Variant 4 | 4 TrustedSite placements, Identity Protection trustmark focused
Variant 4 used the same trustmarks in the same locations as Variant 2, but trustmarks were removed from product pages, the cart, and the login and register pages. All trustmarks were visible to visitors on all devices.
Placement 1 - Lower left corner, all pages
To establish trust with visitors as soon as they arrive at the site, the TrustedSite floating trustmark was placed in the lower-left corner of every page on upscaleaudio.com. Visitors are able to click this trustmark to open the site’s certification modal and see all of the certifications it has earned.
Placement 2 - Footer
At least 32% of consumers look for information about the business in a site’s footer, so Upscale Audio uses this area to display their business phone number, physical address, email address, social media links, and accepted payment methods to show visitors that they are a legitimate business. To help build additional trust, the TrustedSite Certified Secure engagement trustmark was added to the footer below the social media links and a reviews widget.
Placement 3 - Product Page
According to our research, more than a third of consumers have concerns about malware and phishing when they view products on an unfamiliar site. The TrustedSite banner trustmark was added to all the product pages below the add to cart button to show visitors that Upscale Audio has multiple TrustedSite certifications, some of which were earned by having the site regularly monitored for security related issues.
Placement 4 - Shopping Cart
Concerns about personal information security often come to mind when consumers view their cart on an ecommerce site. To ease this concern and reduce cart abandonment, the TrustedSite Identity Protection trustmark was placed on Upscale Audio’s shopping cart page. When visitors see this trustmark, they know that their purchase may qualify them to receive up to $100,000 in identity protection insurance if their personal information is stolen within the next 90 days.
Placement 5 & 6 - Account Login and Register
When asked to create an account on an unfamiliar site, 57% of consumers have concerns about their personal information being stolen. To show shoppers that their information is safe on upscaleaudio.com, the Secure Login and Secure Form trustmarks were added to the account login and register pages, respectively.
Placement 7 & 8 - Checkout
Nearly three-fourths of consumers have concerns about the security of their payment information when checking out on a site. To show visitors that the checkout process on upscaleaudio.com is secure, the Secure Checkout and Identity Protection trustmarks were placed here.
Displaying the Secure Checkout trustmark shows that TrustedSite has verified the site’s checkout safely transmits customer data using SSL. The trustmark was placed above the payment information section so that visitors would be more likely to see it when inputting their credit card details. As one last reminder of security, the Identity Protection trustmark was displayed underneath the order total and was visible through each stage of the checkout.
With the 8 TrustedSite trustmark placements throughout the site, Upscale Audio increased overall conversions by 15.2%, mobile conversions increased 21.3%, and returning visitors converted 19.5% more over the control variant with the Norton Shopping Guarantee seal. Given that many products on the site are high value items, we think the Identity Protection trustmark (variant 2) performed more strongly than the banner trustmark (variant 1) because it is highlights the secure checkout.
The Upscale Audio team decided to replace the Norton Shopping Guarantee seal with TrustedSite trustmarks, and as a result they are projected to bring in $1 million more in additional revenue over the next 12 months.
We were unhappy with our previous trust badge partner–we were paying more and the trustmarks on our website were just not conveying the value proposition to the customer. We ran a test against our previous trust badge and 4 variations of TrustedSite's badges on the website. Our winning combination showed to a 98% degree of certainty that we had a 15.2% increase in conversions across the board.
It's great to have the degree of control that we have–I can log on to our dashboard and select which features I want to display and which badges to show. So I don't feel like I'm passively buying a badge, throwing it on the website, and moving on.
- Joel Myers, Ecommerce Marketing Manager at Upscale Audio
To see how other sites have built visitor trust with TrustedSite, check out more Testing Trust case studies.