Paper Info
Title
Why trust seals don't work: a study of user perceptions and behavior
Abstract
Trust seals, such as the VeriSign and TRUSTe logos, are widely used to indicate a website is reputable. But how much protection do they offer to online shoppers? We conducted a study in which 60 experienced online shoppers rated 6 websites --- with and without trust seals - based on how trustworthy they perceived them to be. Eye tracking data reveals that 38% of participants failed to notice any of the trust seals present. When seals were noticed, the ratings assigned to each website were significantly higher than for the same website without a seal, but qualitative analysis of the interview data revealed significant misconceptions of their meaning (e.g. "presence of seals automatically legitimizes any website"). Participants tended to rely on self-developed --- but inaccurate --- heuristics for assessing trustworthiness (e.g. perceived investment in website development, or references to other recognizable entities). We conclude that trust seals currently do not offer effective protection against scam websites; and suggest that other mechanisms --- such as automatic verification of authenticity are required to support consumers' trust decisions.
Year
DOI
Venue
2012
10.1007/978-3-642-30921-2_18
TRUST
Keywords
Field
DocType
user perception,recognizable entity,automatic verification,interview data,trust seal,truste logo,experienced online shopper,trust decision,effective protection,website development,qualitative analysis
Web development,Internet privacy,Computer security,Trustworthiness,Computer science,Logos Bible Software,Eye tracking,Heuristics,Notice,Perception,E-commerce
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
7
0.53
20
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Iacovos Kirlappos1513.64
Martina Angela Sasse22389243.30
Nigel Harvey382.60