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San Francisco, CA, 02 June 2010 -- TRUSTe, the leader in online trust, and Miva Merchant, a leading provider of ecommerce software solutions for online merchants, today announced a partnership to enable online brand trust in the ecommerce environment for the 50,000 customers that Miva Merchant serves.
Miva Merchant will now offer privacy services to its vast customer base by re-selling TRUSTe Privacy Services for small and mid-sized businesses. Clients using TRUSTe Privacy Services may display the distinctive TRUSTe Privacy Seal on their Web site, obtained only after undergoing privacy scanning and creating a custom privacy policy using TRUSTe's new Privacy Policy Generator (PPG). TRUSTe also provides its clients with free consumer privacy dispute resolution support, resolving thousands of privacy complaints each year for its customers.
"As consumers demand more online trust assurances, we've seen that brand trust and sales have an increasingly close correlation," said Fran Maier, President of TRUSTe. "As the leading privacy trustmark, the TRUSTe partnership with Miva Merchant enables a larger distribution of privacy over the web. We've found that 82 percent of consumers who have seen the TRUSTe Web Privacy Seal trust it, which translates directly into increased site engagement. That's the privacy payoff and it's a much needed advantage for small and mid-sized business."
A recent Consumer Reports survey found that 71 percent of those shopping online look for a trustmark before doing business with that retailer; additionally, TRUSTe research has shown that people spend more time and money on websites with a TRUSTe seal. By introducing trust to this online community, customers of Miva Merchant will increase conversions, revenue and profit.
"As the ecommerce space rapidly becomes more competitive and complex, online trust is a critical element of sales conversion," said Rick Wilson, President/COO of Miva Merchant. "The privacy services brought by our partnership with TRUSTe add an important element to our offerings, giving our customers a one-stop shopping experience that will allow their Web site to stand out from the crowd."
TRUSTe's Privacy Policy Generator enables small business owners of all kinds to quickly construct a TRUSTe-hosted privacy policy for their site using an intuitive widget interface. A customer indicates what kind of personal data they are collecting from consumers, how they use the information, and a number of other key elements, and the PPG provides an accurate and consumer-friendly policy, featuring graphical icons to enhance consumer understanding. "As an online merchant, having TRUSTe Privacy Services in conjunction with a Miva Merchant shopping cart is an attractive and fool-proof way for me to ensure that my customers feel safe and secure when shopping," said the founder of West Florida Components, Patricia Pepe. "The increase in consumer trust in our site coupled with the increase in average order volume has been incredible to watch as our customers respond to our commitment to safeguard their personal information."
"My time, resources and technical knowledge of privacy are limited, but I know that online trust is an important component of any ecommerce business model so that my customers feel confident when shopping on my site," said DirectFix.com President Robert Stanley. "My purchase of TRUSTe's Privacy Services through Miva Merchant offered me an increase to my bottom line for minimal investment and with one click of my mouse. To me, that was one of the easiest business decisions I've ever had to make."
Thousands of companies rely on TRUSTe's leading privacy trustmark to enhance consumer trust, drive increased registrations and transactions, and comply with complex privacy requirements. Consumers know that when they see the TRUSTe seal they can "Click with Confidence" because the certified web site is responsible with their personal information. TRUSTe has certified more than 40 percent of the top fifty web sites including Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, eBay, AOL, Adobe, AT&T, Comcast, Disney, Weather.com, Apple, LinkedIn, Web MD, and Yelp as well as a wide range of online retailers such as Best Buy, Diapers.com, and Etsy. For additional information on TRUSTe and its services, please visit http://www.truste.com.