Premium SSL Pays off

Your online success is largely based on perception and SSL Certificate solutions play a huge part in how your web presence comes across to visitors. SSL Certificates serve two important functions. Unfortunately, most people only focus on the first encryption which comes with all levels of SSL Certificates. The real value to your organization is in the second function, which is authentication.

Of course, visitors want their data to be secure. But, what they care about, even more, is who they’re really connecting to and if you’re legitimate. Authentication, or proving identity, is where Premium SSL Certificates that is, Organization Validation (OV) and Extended Validation (EV) win hands down. They clearly demonstrate you’ve gone the extra mile to prove based on what a respected third party has determined that you’re legit, and display that proof using a variety of visual trust indicators.

Here are five ways Premium SSL Certificates empower you to give today’s click-shy consumers what they crave while making a positive impact on your bottom line. They help you:

Famous author and sales guru, Zig Ziglar said, “If people like you, they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.” He was right and, online, trust must be earned. Would you do business with somebody you don’t trust? Neither will your customers. According to Sitejabber, one of the top seven concerns of shoppers afraid to shop online is, “Is this website real?” When it comes to gaining visitors’ confidence, it’s no longer who you think you are, it’s who a globally trusted third-party Certificate Authority (CA) says you are.

Premium SSL Certificates allow you to not just tell, but show, visitors you’re for real. Three levels of authentication are available. The higher the certificate level, the more in-depth the authentication, or validation process and the more meaning and value it delivers. Visitors can click on site seals to instantly see your company and certificate details. EV SSL Certificates enable the impossible-to-fake Green Address Bar the ultimate trust-builder. Give your customers absolute assurance you are who you say you are and they’ll reward you by taking action. Cha-ching!

Phishing attacks are at an all-time high, with 1.4 million new phishing sites created each month, so visitors have good reason to be suspicious of any website including yours. Given it’s easier than ever to slap an encryption-only DV SSL Certificate on a website and be labeled “Secure” by browsers, it’s tough for your customers to tell the good guys (that’s you) from the hackers.

EV’s identity audit is restricted to entities that have been registered with a government agency or to an actual government agency. If the entity hasn’t been registered, it can’t apply for an EV certificate. Most hackers won’t pass the test. This chart created by PhishLabs clearly shows the majority of fishermen swim in the DV pool.

Unencrypted gaps in your site negatively impact search rankings, degrade website performance and diminish user experience. If you’re serious about protecting your customers and reputation, delivering the same high level of protection on every page with Always On SSL is the way to go. Google now favors websites that implement HTTPS across their entire site with up to a 5% boost in search rankings. And, better rankings drive more traffic to your site.

Some Premium SSL Certificates also help your search engine listings really pop and give you instant credibility that leads to clicks. For example, Symantec Seal-in-Search displays the Norton Secured Checkmark the most recognized trust indicator inline beside your search listings on results pages to build trust before visitors even click through to your site.

While, technically speaking, SSL is about encryption and authentication, in business terms, it’s about gaining visitor trust, so they take action and become your customer. Trust us, they’ll notice when you invest in your reputation and business with Premium SSL Certificates. In a Tec-ED survey, 100% of participants noticed the Green Address Bar, with 97% being comfortable enough to enter their credit card information. A whopping 77% said they’d be hesitant to shop on a website without an EV SSL Certificate.

In fact, with Premium SSL, visitors do more than notice what they buy. EV SSL Certificates are statistically proven to increase sales. According to one study, the British shoe store, Fitness Footwear, saw an impressive 16.9% increase in conversions after moving to an EV SSL Certificate. Likewise, the phone accessory company iStyles saw a 28% jump. In that same study, Canadadrug.com reported that, after implementing EV, 33% more purchases were completed with 27% higher sales per transaction. Based on results like these, it’s no surprise that EV is used by the most visited sites in the world, including Twitter, Apple, PayPal, and many others.

With shopping cart abandonment rates soaring as high as 75%, you need to give visitors every reason to click your “Buy Now” versus your competitors. According to an article by monetizepros.com, 61% of shoppers said they decided not to purchase a product because it was missing a trust seal. By investing in Premium SSL and putting visible trust indicators front and center, you’re showing customers you care about their privacy and safety. That creates a level of trust and competitive advantage money can’t buy.

Steven Grossman’s Dec. 20, 2017, Security Week article reminds us that, now that most interactions are no longer face-to-face, we’ve shifted to a transparency-based trust model where it’s up to us to validate our trustworthiness. The article also shares Ronald Reagan’s insightful words, “Trust but Verify”. Premium SSL Certificate solutions validate your legitimacy to earn trust and build confidence that translates into revenue. They should be an essential part of your online security and business strategy.