Essex, VT -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/09/2012 -- A recent study from the World Economic Forum found that lack of consumer trust could stunt the growth of digital commerce. The studied projected that in the absence of trust, a trillion dollars worth of growth could be lost over the next four years. This not only affects the individual businesses that are losing revenue, but could also have a significant impact on the global economy.

The chief concern among consumers is privacy. With identity theft on the rise, consumers have become more vigilant about what information they give out and to whom they give it. If global businesses aren’t able to show consumers their personal information is safe, they may find themselves on the wrong side of that trillion dollar loss.

The first step toward easing the minds of consumers is a solid privacy policy, but a privacy policy alone is not enough. Consumers can only trust the privacy policy as far as they trust the company behind it. For this reason, businesses need to find additional ways to improve consumer confidence. One way to do this is by investing in a Trust Seal.

A Trust Seal is a badge a company puts on its website to show that it has received third-party verification. Studies show that more than 60% of consumers consider trusted website seals important when making online purchasing decisions.

“A Trust Seal provides a bridge of confidence between the business and the consumer,” says Matthew Joseph from VeraSafe, a leading Internet Trust company, “Our clients find that VeraSafe seals are particularly effective when it comes to easing customers concerns about vendor reliability. And given the low cost of our solution, clients typically experience a very high ROI when implementing our website Trust Seals.”

The worst thing a business can do is dismiss the importance of trust and privacy. A privacy policy backed by rigorous third-party verification is a must. Companies that don’t take these steps are making a trillion dollar mistake.

About Verasafe
VeraSafe was founded by a team of website security professionals led by Matthew Joseph. They provide comprehensive verification for online businesses around the world. After VeraSafe agents confirm the business’s identity, which can take less than 48 hours in some cases, the business receives a Trust Seal to display on their website. This badge shows consumers that the company has met the stringent requirements to earn VeraSafe’s endorsement.