Trust at First Sight? A Test of Users’ Ability to Identify Trustworthy E-commerce Sites

Abstract

Consumer trust in e-commerce is a key concern in current HCI research. In this paper, we report a study that investigated (1) if users can correctly identify trustworthy vendors based on cues they perceive in the interface. A further aim was to test (2) if users’ judgement can be influenced by the introduction of an affective element — an employee photo. Since such elements have been reported to have negative effects on usability, we also checked for (3) effects of the photo on users’ visual gaze pattern and task performance when interacting with the sites. At first sight of a page, users’ ability to identify trustworthy vendors was not better than chance. Only after detailed exploration could users reach correct trust decisions. A photo only had an effect on participants’ first impression of a vendor. We did not find effects of the photo on task performance.