How to Increase Conversions by Assuring Customers with Green Address Bars

The dangers of identity and data theft have been hammered into consumers’ minds. Any way you can make them feel more comfortable on your website should improve your conversion rate.

Sherpa has proven this. In a May 2006 Case Study, we detailed how pet supply retailer PETCO increased its conversion rate by 8.83% by adding VeriSign logo to its website. VeriSign is an Internet infrastructure service provider often associated with security.

To ease customers’ anxiety about sharing personal information, many marketers use Secure Socket Layer certificates on their servers to display a yellow padlock icon on their sites. In recent years, a new form of SSL, called Extended Validation SSL, has emerged. EV SSL adds another layer of security, shows the padlock icon, and turns visitors’ address bars green.

We interviewed Tim Callan, VP Product Marketing, VeriSign, to tell us more about the technology and how marketers can make the most of green address bars. Callan is a founding member of the Certification Authority Browser Forum, the group that drafted the EV SSL industry standards.

Padlocks and Green Address Bars

SSL is a secure communications protocol for the Web. Servers using the protocol can get digital certificates to signal to visitors that their connection is secure. Extended Validation SSL is an updated version of an older SSL standard.

o The old SSL

SSL certificates have been around for over a decade. Visitors can see whether a website has a secure, encrypted connection by looking for a yellow padlock icon in their Web browser. Once they see the padlock, they can more comfortably enter their personal information.

o The new SSL

Extended Validation SSL certificates entered the market a couple of years ago. In addition to ensuring that visitors’ information is encrypted, they guarantee that the company’s identity has been verified. The verification is meant to thwart “phishers,” those who create fraudulent websites to obtain visitors’ personal information.

EV SSL certificates turn the address bar in visitors’ Web browsers from white to green. The yellow padlock is also shown in a separate green box that lists the company’s name. (See creative samples below)

EV SSL certificates are “a standard technology,” and are compatible with “every conceivable server operating system you would have,” Callan says. They should not interfere with any search engine optimization, flash or rich media.

Visitors have to be using a compatible Web browser to see the green address bars, and they have to have their phishing filters turned on.

Compatible browsers include the most current versions of:
- Internet Explorer
- Firefox
- Safari
- Opera
- Google Chrome

To turn on Internet Explorer’s phishing filter:
-Click “Tools” on the menu bar
-Click “Phishing filter”
-Click “Turn on automatic website checking”

Getting EV SSL Certificates

Even the most gifted IT teams cannot build EV SSL certificates for your server. The certificates must come from a third-party authentication agency, Callan says.

“You need to pay for them because the whole point of the certificates is that a trusted third party is vouching for your identity. And we have a whole huge, well-documented methodology we have to follow to do that,” Callan says.

Once you’re given the certificates, an IT security specialist or your server’s hosting provider should be able to apply them and get your address bars shining green.

Pricing

The certificates are typically priced per server, per year. You can usually negotiate for discounts by committing multiple servers or signing up for multiple years. Registering one server for one year costs about $1000 at VeriSign, Callan says.

Companies offering EV SSL certificates include:
- VeriSign
- GeoTrust
- Globalsign
- GoDaddy.com
- thawte

Using EV SSL Certificates

o Explain the green bar to visitors

It’s possible that your website’s visitors will not know why their address bars are green, or why your company’s name is in a green box. Tell them that it’s because their connections are secured and that your company’s identity has been verified.

“Paypal is a good example,” Callan says. “They’ve been assertive at messaging their customer base, ‘look for the green glow. That’s how you know you’re at PayPal.’”

o Turn phishing filters on

Some visitors will not be running the most current version of their Web browser, or they might not have a phishing filter on. Both cases would prevent them from seeing the green address bar. Create a page with instructions, or make an addition to your FAQs to clear up confusion.

A Perk of Certificates

Companies often see abandonment rates decrease on the site after adding EV SSL certificates to their servers, Callan says.

“The increase in transactions has been widely measured by many businesses. … This is a security tool that becomes a marketing tool.”

Useful links related to this article:

Creative Samples: EV SSL Examples
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/cs/ev_ssl/study.html

Do Security Icons Really Increase Conversions?
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=27422

Certification Authority Browser Forum
http://www.cabforum.org/

Browser Market Share
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=0&qptimeframe=Q&qpsp=39

GeoTrust
http://www.geotrust.com/

GlobalSign
http://www.globalsign.com/

GoDaddy.com
https://www.godaddy.com/

thawte
http://www.thawte.com/

VeriSign
http://www.verisign.com/