14 January 2022

How To Add Trust Badges To Your Shopify Checkout Page

Trust badges can help reduce cart abandonment and improve conversions. Find out about the different types of badges and how you can add trust badges to Shopify checkout page.

Faye Chong

Content Marketing Lead

Reading time: 6 minutes

In this digital age, the business landscape has changed dramatically and a majority of businesses are now operating online. With that, the e-commerce space has been booming and it’s estimated that there are 24 million e-commerce sites worldwide.

Unfortunately, with a ton of benefits e-commerce has brought, there are bound to be some disadvantages as well — mainly increased security risks, credit card fraud, and scams. This has resulted in customers craving assurance of safety and security when they do their online shopping.

After all, one can’t just rely on their faith in humanity to ensure their credit card details aren’t stolen or their parcels arrive at their doorstep…

This is where trust badges come in really handy in proving to your customers that you are legitimate. This gives them the confidence to shop with you, which reduces cart abandonment rates and increases sales.

Let’s find out what exactly they are and how you can add trust badges to your Shopify checkout page.

What are trust badges?

A trust badge is a seal or symbol that you can place on your website to instill trust in your customers. They are usually placed on checkout pages, but some businesses include guarantees or review certifications throughout their website to boost credibility.

An example of trust badges on a checkout page.

Why should you use trust badges on your Shopify checkout page?

Create a sense of credibility and trust

Remember, trust badges are called trust badges for a reason — they’re meant to instill trust in your customers so that they have greater confidence to shop with your business.

After all, you wouldn’t do business with anyone you trust, let alone share your payment details with them, right?

A survey found that 76% of respondents said trust seals affected their sense of trust in a website and 48% said that trust badges reassure them that the site is secure and trustworthy.

Hence, including certifications and seals on your website can assure your customers that you’re legitimate and gain their trust to shop with you.

Reduce cart abandonment rates

A study shows that the average cart abandonment rate is almost 70%. For any business, this can heavily disrupt revenue growth because, for every 10 customers, 7 of them are exiting without making a purchase.

Furthermore, the same study showed that 17% of respondents didn’t make a purchase because they didn’t trust the site with their credit card information.

This shows that the increased risks of online security are what’s stopping a customer from going through with their payment and deciding to not shop entirely.

That said, there’s no doubt that having trust badges on your checkout page can positively impact the way customers shop on your website and reduce cart abandonment.

Types of trust badges for your checkout page

SSL certificate badges

Accepted payment badges

Seeing familiar brands like PayPal, MasterCard, and Visa are great ways to boost the confidence of your customers in shopping with you.

After all, it’s human nature to do business with people or brands you’re familiar with. A study by ConversionXL found that when people are familiar with a brand, they have a perception of security.

An example of payment trust badges on a checkout page. Source: ASOS

Listing your accepted payment options on your checkout page can boost the level of trust and also let the customer know how they can pay.

Secure payment icons

You can’t expect your customers to willingly give their credit card information for an online transaction without giving them some sort of assurance. This is where secure payment icons come in.

An example of a checkout page with a secure payment badge. Source: TrustPulse

These badges give your customers the assurance that they can pay securely with you and their credit card details are safe.

Free shipping and returns

Undoubtedly, free shipping and returns give many customers peace of mind. If you offer them, displaying these badges can instill trust and a sense of safety because you’re taking away the perceived risks of ordering from an online store — expensive shipping costs and poor return policies being some of them.

It also serves as a reminder that they can shop without the weight of wondering what their shipping fees might amount to or worrying about how they would have to return their items.

Third-party endorsements

Third-party endorsement badges provide third-party validation, which shows that your business is credible. Essentially, you’re getting bigger and more well-known companies to prove that you’re a legitimate business.

Think badges from the Better Business Bureau, Google Customer Reviews, or Amazon Best Seller.

An example of a third-party endorsement badge.

Acquiring these badges can be tricky, as you’d have to submit an application, be reviewed, and be approved before you can add the badge to your website. However, going through the extra work is well worth it because these badges are well recognized and show that you have good store ratings.

They also prove that other customers have had great experiences with your store, encouraging new customers to shop here worry-free.

Money-back guarantee badge

Similar to free shipping and returns badges, the money-back guarantee badge takes away the perceived risks of online shopping.

An example of a money-back guarantee trust badge.

By displaying the money-back guarantee badge, you’re telling your customers “Don’t worry if you don’t like the items, we’ll still give you a refund”. This gives them the utmost confidence to shop with you knowing that you have their best interests in mind.

How do you get trust badges?

Most badges are easy to acquire. Some of these trust badges are images you can create yourself and edit to fit your Shopify theme.

However, trust badges like SSL certificates and third-party endorsements require an application and the permission of a third party.

Here are some SSL providers that grant trust badges:

The team over at Convertica has put together a detailed piece on how and where you can get your trust badges.

Fortunately, there are several Shopify trust badge apps you can use. These apps can be easily installed and cost a fraction of the price to obtain a variety of seals instead of just one SSL certificate.

How to add trust badges to your checkout page

Manually adding trust badges

This is the most simple way and foolproof way to add a trust badge to your website. Simply edit the page from your theme editor and add a trust badge as an image.

Shopify has an excellent help article on how to add security badges to your website.

Using apps

As we mentioned earlier, there are several trust badge apps in the Shopify marketplace that can be installed for free.

These apps are easy to use and don’t require any coding knowledge — so even the less tech-savvy people have no excuses. Many of these apps give you the freedom to add trust badges anywhere on your website, while some are smart enough to detect the best possible location.

Many of these trust badge apps do allow customization, so you can design the seals to fit your Shopify theme.

Conclusion

Trust badges are extremely important in today’s digital world — these tiny icons and certifications can instill trust and give confidence to your customers to shop with you.

Because e-commerce businesses don’t have the upper hand in having a physical store, such businesses have to rely on a customer’s trust to drive more sales. Hence, such badges and seals can positively impact your business in the eyes of customers.

We hope that this article has helped you understand more about trust badges and what they can do for you. Start adding trust badges to your Shopify store today!