Digital Security Certificates

Shoppers often look for a trusted third party (TTP) to approve your site and your methods. Companies like VeriSign can provide your site with a digital security certificate that authorizes that you are who you say you are. This helps visitors to your site have the confidence to become buyers and will often make a big difference in your perceived credibility. VeriSign also offers a program called WebTrust that was developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICP) and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA). This program also provides you with a seal to display on your site if you meet the criteria which includes an evaluation of business, accounting, and transaction practices, as well as protection of consumer information. The VeriSign site states that, "more than 75% of online users have had a favorable impression of the WebTrust seal and that almost half of them report that seeing the seal would make them more likely to conduct an online transaction."

Another security watchdog organization is Trust-e. Trust-e sets policies for the use of personal information, as well as the protection of consumers. There are four Trust-e seal programs:

• Privacy Seal Program -- Companies who display the general Trust-e logo have agreed to abide by special rules concerning the use of personal information.
• Trust-e's E-Health Seal Program -- If your site is health-related you should also investigate this program. It certifies that the site displaying the seal complies with specific principles concerning privacy, quality and best practices.
• EU Safe Harbor Program -- This is a program designed for companies who do business in Europe and wish to comply with the Safe Harbor Privacy Framework put together by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
• Children's Privacy Seal Program -- This program is compliant with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and has been approved by the FTC as an authorized COPPA safe harbor.

These TTPs control the use of their logos through various embedded links. For instance, the Trust-e site has a notice for people who landed on the site as a result of clicking on the trust-e logo while on a shopping site. The notice says that if they have arrived there through that method then they may have visited a fraudulent site and to click another link to report it.