Better Business Bureau on a Website

[mukulverma]

My site is http://www.globalunlock.com/phones/home (this is the new site will be released in early June 2008).


My Service: Cell phone unlocking

Would it make a difference to you on my site if I was accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB)?

Thanks a lot!!!!!

[willanfei]

I do not understant it.

[roban]

Yes. Anything you can do to instill confidence is a good thing.

[BasicECommerce]

Absolutely. It helps tremendously when attracting first time customers. They have no current relationship with you or your service and buying things online still has the stigma of being riskier than in-stores.

Also, if you have it and your competitors dont, you now have a leg up on them.

[ECSuite_Russell]

They're useful when you're a smaller or new company. Trying to implement all their required procedures when your an established company and already have your own support systems and trouble ticketing in place can be a pain though. It's their way or the highway.

[marc77]

I know that BBB is quite renowned in the USA, so it may be worth to get the certification.

However personally I don't care much about such certifications and "signs of trust" (they all can be bought and may say something or nothing about the business in question).

Most important to me is the website, the ease of placing an order and your terms of business as well as the available service (e-mail, phone, chat systems).

[willanfei]

So Do I. Good luck.

[DanielR]

We got setup with the BBB a year and a half ago, and as soon as we started displaying the seal they provide our conversions went up almost 1%.

My opinion, the BBB trust builder is the best one out there. Sure there are others like buysafe, and hackersafe ect... but the average consumer has no idea who they are.

Everyone knows the BBB.

[Get Elastic]

BBB membership is expensive, unfortunately, but I do believe it does raise conversions, like Daniel testifies 1%. I've seen case studies where online retailers tested with and without security badges or other trust seals improve conversions significantly. Just have to gauge whether the added sales offsets the added cost of the security badges.

Here's some good information on it:
http://www.marketingexperiments.com/...nhibitors.html
http://www.marketingexperiments.com/...ing-pages.html

This is a good case study by the Conversion Doctor
http://www.conversiondoctor.com/conv...ults-revealed/

Hope that helps.

Linda

[BasicECommerce]

I've seen case studies where online retailers tested with and without security badges or other trust seals improve conversions significantly.

Its also important to note that where you place the security badge(s) has an affect on conversion rates. Current studies indicate that the top left (under the header) of the page is the best location - as long as it still flows with the rest of the site. Placing it near the "Checkout" button is also a good practice as it reinforces the click to proceed.

Sorry, I dont have links to the studies.

BEC

[angie1313]

I think you'll find it helps to build trust in the minds of people who don't normally shop online. The fact you are also offering a service that isn't the norm, it will help you even more.

[jonquimby]

I've worked in technology for buySAFE for 4 years. I encourage you to take a look for yourselves or look again if you haven't evaluated us recently. At 6.8% higher conversion on average we blow the doors off of the others mentioned here AND we drive motivated buyers to you. This works because we only offer the service to sites we evaluate, inspect and monitor.

I can definitely agree with what BasicECommerce mentioned. Placement is key to how effective a given seal will be. Some seals and badges now offer a floating version (we call our version "persistent"), that is always present at the bottom or a bottom corner of the screen. These are a little hokey, but they work.