SSL - is it worth it to spend the extra $$$ for extended validation? - Ecommerce forum at WebmasterWorld - WebmasterWorld

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SSL - is it worth it to spend the extra $$$ for extended validation?

bigtoga

9:10 am on Oct 26, 2012 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

It's time to buy a new SSL cert for one of my sites and, in the past year, the site's popularity has grown. As such, I'm starting to look beyond the entry level SSL options and into the marketing behind the "more robust" SSL certs. I'm not naming names but let's just say:

* Have you noticed any difference in conversion rate when you had a standard SSL vs. one with extended validation (which results in the user seeing the green bar in the browser)?

* Have you noticed any difference in trust from search engines if you went with one company over another? I'm specifically interested in the extended validation certs. There is as much as $1000 difference between an EV cert from company A and company B and I'm just trying to understand what the differences are.

Just as a quick test, I went up to a few sites to see if they used the EV certs or standard certs. Apple and Cisco for ex, uses a standard cert. Microsoft and Mozilla use the EV certs. That's not a fair test necessarily since our company is small but it's interesting...

ssgumby

2:03 am on Oct 29, 2012 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

No, its not worth it. I paid extra for 2 years, last year I switched back to a bare bones cert that cost like $49 and ironically my sales are higher than they have ever been. I know the higher sales arent a result of a cheaper cert, but it doest tell me the EV cert didnt help me at all.

bhonda

11:03 am on Oct 29, 2012 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

I would assume it's based on your target audience/business. If you're providing something like online banking, or something else whose users would expect a higher than usual level of security, then maybe going a little bit further could instil more confidence.

However, I doubt it would make a difference to sales/conversions, but it could be good for your corporate image.

Saying that though, I reckon it would be a little overkill for just normal e-commerce, and don't think it would make much difference.

bigtoga

9:54 am on Nov 2, 2012 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

Thanks for the advice/ideas. Good to know - that'll save me a fair bit of $$$ and, for that, I tip my hat to you :)

jrockfl

12:31 am on Nov 3, 2012 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

I got one because I wanted my customers to feel more secure and to let them know we mean business.

I got mine from geotrust and it was $500. I needed one that would allow me to use it for sub domains too since we have a mobile version of our web site.

jigneshgohel

1:12 pm on Jan 22, 2013 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member

I do agree with bigtoga, it is always matter of your business. Lets say, if you sell digital products, chances are more that your products will be re-distributed by someone else. In such cases, EV ssl will help your customers to verify ownership of sellers.

I would suggest go for SSL brand depending upon your needs as people are hardly aware of few names.

One more thing, if you buy SSL from re-sellers; you can save big amount on same certificate. (my 2 cents) !