Nowadays, consumers have more choices than ever before when it comes to where to shop. While things like personalized experiences, frictionless checkouts, and tailored marketing are all major drivers of ecommerce growth and success, another underrated driver is trust.

This “trust advantage” was explored in a report which was published by G2A Group and Juniper Research, and the findings show that trust serves as a measurable growth opportunity for companies, marketplaces, and sellers who can align their offering with customer expectations and preferences.

The Most Trusted Security Features

A big part of a platform or company earning consumer trust is providing the proper security features that give them the confidence to become a customer. The more features you offer that give potential customers peace of mind, the better it often is for your success and growth.

According to the 9,000 respondents involved in the report, when asked which specific security features give them the most confidence when evaluating the level of security of an online retailer, the most popular choice was the availability of trusted payment wallets, at 60%.

This shows a massive connection between payment wallets and trust. While many may think that offering certain payment methods is all about convenience and a smoother checkout experience, these results show that it also provides trust. Customers often want to see specific logos (whether it be Apple Pay, Klarna, PayPal, or others) to feel they can fully trust a site.

The next feature that gave respondents the most confidence was multi-factor authentication (MFA) for logins at 44%, followed by:

• Clear and transparent privacy policies for data sharing (43%)
• Presence of recognized trust badges (34%)
• A professional and well-designed site interface (33%)
• Secure HTTPS padlock in the browser bar (32%)

Consumers Hold Merchants Accountable for Security

But in addition to having to offer numerous security features, consumers often expect merchants to be responsible for security in general when shopping online. When respondents were asked who was most responsible for security when shopping online, 50% identified the ecommerce website or app as the most responsible. 

Following that, 30% identified banks and payment service providers (PSPs) as the most responsible, with only 20% putting the blame on the consumers themselves. So while most online shoppers encounter scams at one time or another, many of them may lack personal responsibility for their actions and push the blame elsewhere.

As a result, companies need to do all they can to try to educate customers about scams and how to protect themselves online. This may be through security FAQs, useful guides or graphics, or even videos, quizzes, or games aimed at helping users learn what to look out for.

While this type of response is certainly a worrisome issue, as many companies or sellers may get blamed for security issues or events that they weren’t responsible for, it also provides a unique opportunity. 

For companies with strong security features and infrastructure in place, this willingness among customers to put security in the hands of companies and platforms may serve as a type of competitive advantage for brands that do security right.

Many People Still Distrust Agentic Commerce

One common source of distrust in the ecommerce space is letting AI fully complete purchases. While some shoppers use and love AI for things like research and comparisons, and most are open to certain agentic features, many aren’t quite ready to give it total control over purchases.

The report found that only 29% of respondents were comfortable using AI to pay for a service, with AI handling the details and payments. Similarly, only 30% of them were comfortable using AI to pay for digital goods or items online, with AI handling the details and payments.

This is similar to previous research, which found that only 39% of Americans trust AI to make everyday purchases, and only 34% are comfortable with having it buy larger items.

Some of the main concerns respondents gave for not trusting AI include the lack of human control (59% of respondents), data privacy and security concerns (51%), lack of transparency (36%), and that it hasn’t been around long enough for them to fully trust it (35%).

Our Take

The Importance of Boosting Consumer Trust

With trust being a major driver of ecommerce growth, companies and sellers in the industry need to do all they can to improve customer confidence. As the results of this study show, improving trust can have a positive impact on a business, and if you fail to do so, you may lose customers to companies that give them more peace of mind.

Specifically, having high consumer trust as a business may lead to benefits like increased conversions, better retention, lower acquisition costs, and others.

Because of this, your company should be finding ways to prove that your site or store is trustworthy, legitimate, reliable, and worth checking out. This includes displaying verified reviews, offering payment methods that people recognize, being upfront about costs and shipping times, and offering a great post-purchase experience.