[Sigia-l] "seals of approval" for Web sites

[Jared Spool]

On Jan 4, 2011, at 1:23 PM, Victor Lombardi wrote:

> On Tue, Jan 4, 2011 at 10:31 AM,Jared wrote:
> ...
>
>> On sites with the seals and badges, it never plays a role in the
>> shopping experience. In many instances, I stop the shopper and ask
>> them what the badges mean. They never know. I have yet to have  
>> someone
>> give me any rational explanation as to who the badges are from, what
>> authority they represent, or how it influences their shopping
>> experience....
>>
>
> Do you happen to remember the sites in question, if they were  
> reputable
> and/or familiar to the shoppers? I ask because there are some  
> markets with
> both reputable and not-so-reputable companies (e.g. online dating) or
> scarier data risks (giving financial information to a company that's  
> not a
> bank, like Mint.com) and wondering if a smarter use of badges could  
> help
> quell fears?

They were all over the board. Some felt really slimy to me and the  
participants often had reservations about the sites. However, in  
conversations about the seals, the sense I got was they felt that the  
seals didn't really mean the site was reputable. The few people who  
indicated they knew anything had the impression the seals were  
purchased, therefore would always say a good thing.

I think the big problem is that the seals are only present when they  
say good things. (Who would put a seal on their site that says STAY  
AWAY?)

And huge brands don't use the seals. Brands people trust. So the seals  
only appear when they are on brands people don't know but only say  
good things.

So, people don't realize they are someone independent ratings. They  
could be easily faked and bought.

There are so many other things I'd do to my site before I'd worry  
about those seals and badges.

Jared