A Matter of Trust: What Users Want From Web Sites

A Report on Consumer Concerns About Credibility of Web Sites (Abstract)

Consumer Reports WebWatch
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Yonkers, N.Y., USA 10703-1057

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Abstract

The Internet is now an integral part of the everyday lives of a majority of Americans, whether at home, at work or in both locales. In less than a decade, it has been transformed from a technological curiosity to the place millions of Americans shop every day, to a place they go for news, information and communication and to a place for both entertainment and serious business.

But the online reality today is that few Internet users say they can trust Web sites that offer products or services for sale or the sites that provide advice about which products or services to buy.

Based on responses from a telephone survey of 1,500 U.S. Internet users, less than one third (29%) say they trust Web sites that sell products or services. And just 33 percent say they trust Web sites that provide advice about such purchases or services.

That's surprisingly low when compared to the 58 percent who say they trust newspapers and television news and the 47 percent who say they trust the federal government in Washington.

Whether Web savvy or relatively inexperienced, Internet surfers want the sites they visit to provide easy-to-find and clearly stated information that will help them judge a site's credibility.

Users want to know who runs the site, how to reach those people if there's a problem, to find its privacy policy and how the site deals with mistakes, whether informational or transactional. For example, 80 percent of respondents say it is very important to be able to trust the information on a web site — the same percentage that say that it is very important that a site be easy to navigate.

Consumers also voiced concerns about the blurring lines between online advertising and content on sites. More than half of users (59%) say it is very important for news and information sites to label their advertising as such and distinguish it from news and information on the site. In addition, most respondents (60%) had no idea some of the most popular search engines accept fees in exchange for listing some sites more prominently than others. A majority of users (80%) demand that search engines disclose such business deals in their search results or in an easy-to-find page on the site.