Ecommerce User Experience Vol. 09: Trust and Credibility

Trust is essential to the user's willingness to risk time, money, and personal data on a website. If you lose trust, you lose the sale and you may lose the customer as well. This report identifies factors that enhance and damage the credibility of e-commerce sites.

This 138-page report contains 50 design recommendations based on our usability research. Discussions and 126 screenshot illustrations supplement the findings.

Topics

• Visual design and site experience
  • First impressions
  • Professional site design
  • Site search is reliable and usable
• Information about the company
  • Company details that users want
  • Stating facts
  • Demonstrating expertise
• Product Information
  • Displaying the appropriate level of product detail
  • Answering user questions
• Respecting users’ information
  • Opt in
  • Requesting personal information
  • Registration
• Credibility indicators
  • Endorsements
  • Logos
  • Feedback on third-party sites
  • Reviews: good and bad
• Pricing and cost
  • Showing price
  • Justifying the cost
• Inventory and availability
• Performance and errors
• Fraud, security, and policies
• Customer support process and policies

Research Method

The information in this report is based on two separate rounds of ecommerce studies, including:

• One-on-one usability testing
• Diary-based longitudinal study
• Eyetracking

Representative users tested 255 ecommerce websites. The studies took place in the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and China (Hong Kong).