Does an accreditation badge or padlock lift checkout completion?

The final checkout step showed no trust signals. We tested adding a business accreditation badge or a padlock icon there. Over 15 days, conversion was down 3.0% with the badge and 4.1% with the padlock, short of our confidence bar.

Not significant Responsive 15 days Not called

SURFACE

Checkout

DEVICE

Responsive

VERTICAL

Ecommerce (B2C)

PRIMARY METRIC

Conversion rate

VARIATIONS

2

The hypothesis

By adding social proof or a security cue to the final checkout step, we will give visitors more confidence, resulting in more completed checkouts.

Visitors reach the last checkout step after entering their details, and the step showed nothing to confirm the business was reputable or the page was secure. We tested 2 common trust cues to see which one, if either, helped.

What we changed

An accreditation rating badge or a padlock at the final step

Var A added a business accreditation rating badge to the final checkout step. Var B added a padlock icon as a security cue instead. The rest of checkout was the same in all versions, on mobile and desktop.

VAR A: ACCREDITATION BADGE

Accreditation rating badge at the final step

VAR B: SECURE LOCK

Padlock icon at the final step

The result

Conversion was down 3.0% and 4.1%, short of our bar

CONVERSION RATE

-3.0%

VAR B CONVERSION

-4.1%

Over 15 days, the badge (Var A) converted 3.0% lower than the original, and the padlock (Var B) converted 4.1% lower. Results flipped a few times, and neither gap reached our confidence bar. Form submits were slightly higher for both, up 1.9% and 2.5%. The padlock showed a lift on desktop traffic alone.

What we would do next

Move the trust signals earlier, to the homepage form

A trust cue at the last step did not move completion either way. The next round moved the trust message up to the homepage form, where visitors first decide whether to share their details. That version won on mobile.