At the PESA Summit this past week, there was a lot of talk about how to improve e-commerce conversion rates. I believe there are three critical drivers for conversion: product selection, price, and trust. Each of these issues would provide substantial content for an article, but I thought I would dedicate today's post to a number of very important trust-related statistics.
If you have any doubt about the role of trust and buyer confidence in your e-commerce business success, please take a quick look at these stats.
- 55% of online shoppers say trustworthiness of the merchant is most important (vs. price, convenience, pleasure, other)
(Source: Online Shopper Research Report, 959 respondents, August 2006)
- 65% of online shoppers buy only from sites they know and trust
(Source: VeriSign Secured Seal Research Review 08/06)
- 72% of online shoppers are becoming more cautious when buying online
(Source: Gartner Research, 5000 respondents, May 2005 survey)
- 73% of online shoppers are concerned about the item being misrepresented (inaccurately described, counterfeit)
(Source: Online Shopper Research Report, 959 respondents, 08/06)
- 76% of online shoppers are worried about never getting their purchase
(Source: Online Shopper Research Report, 959 respondents, 08/06)
- 81% of online shoppers are concerned about merchant return/refund policies not being honored
(Source: Online Shopper Research Report, 959 respondents, 08/06)
- 84% of online shoppers are concerned about merchants not treating them fairly
(Source: Online Shopper Research Report, 959 respondents, 08/06)
- 85% of online shoppers are concerned about identity theft
(Source: TNS Research, 08/06)
- And, amazingly, over 50% of all U.S. internet users still don’t buy online (even from Amazon.com!).
(Source: Bear Stearns, September 2006)
With respect to this last statistic, "trust" issues are the primary driver of e-commerce non-participation. Amazingly, more than 50% of your potential customers will not buy online because they are nervous! Are you kidding me? That is a huge number, and obviously, the time has come for the e-commerce industry to take this issue seriously.
