RatePoint, a provider of customer reviews, testimonials and online reputation management services, announced a program that brings the trust mark to RatePoint customers through their e-mail marketing and customer review tools. Through an alliance with VeriSign, a provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, RatePoint customers can develop their relationships with consumers, improve click-through rates and increase revenue by adding the VeriSign Trust Seal to customer communications and their customer reviews, the company said.
The VeriSign Trust Seal leverages the VeriSign brand to show consumers they can buy, browse and share with confidence on RatePoint customers’ sites. RatePoint customers can add the VeriSign Trust Seal to RatePoint communications services by subscribing to a VeriSign SSL Certificate or VeriSign Trust Seal account. For participants, the VeriSign Trust Seal can appear in e-mail materials, Website subscription signup tools, and social networks including Facebook and Twitter.
“Adding the VeriSign Trust Seal to e-mails and review profile pages can improve the trust between business and consumer, ultimately leading to a more profitable relationship,” said Tom Serani, co-founder and vice president of global sales for RatePoint. “This provides yet another trust-building tool to RatePoint’s SMB customers-one that allows them to extract even greater value from the proven solutions we already provide today.”
In a pilot program, five RatePoint customers deployed the VeriSign Trust Seal option within customer e-mail campaigns and on their review profile pages. The trial showed that the presence of the VeriSign Trust Seal contributed to an increase in visits to the customers’ sites. Scott Hughes, CEO of Saltwaterfish.com, said the offering allows RatePoint customers to include a recognized trust symbol in their e-mail campaigns that may significantly improve e-mail list sign-ups, increase open rates and bolster overall trust.
“We saw immediate and clear consumer response to the VeriSign Trust Seal within our e-mails,” said Hughes. “The VeriSign Trust Seal offers instant and welcome reassurance to consumers increasingly worried about the high price of clicking on the wrong link. This new offering from RatePoint and VeriSign gives our customer campaigns-and our business-a measurable competitive edge.”
Craig Spiezle, executive director of the Online Trust Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring a secure and trustworthy online experience, said as consumers grow more concerned of the sophisticated methods used by fraud cartels to steal identity information, the need to build and maintain trust online is more important than ever. “Services which make it easier for consumers to distinguish communications and Websites that are trustworthy are essential to consumer trust and the long-term vitality of commerce,” he said.