The influence of trust building user interface elements of web shops on e-trust

Abstract

In this paper we examine how different trust building user interface elements in web shops affect trust in B2C Internet vendors (e-trust). We identified trust seals, consumer reviews and contact options as trust building elements and conducted an online experiment using multiple versions of a fictional web shop. Using a between-subjects design we presented participants with pages of the web shop containing these GUI elements. Afterwards subjects rated the e-trust. We found that only trust seals had a significant influence on e-trust. Since we expected a higher influence of the trust-building elements we additionally conducted an eye tracking study that showed that participants did not direct much attention to these elements, which we conclude is the reason for the weak influence of trust-building elements.