Trust signals are evidence points that appear online to help customers feel more secure in their decision to purchase from a business or buy a product or service.
Trust signals were described in an article published in the March 2000 edition of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication as trust badges or seals from organizations such as the Better Business Bureau and TrustArc on e-commerce websites.
At that time, consumers were more skeptical of providing their credit card information and other personal details to a website; trust signals helped visitors overcome their fears.
[1] A 2022 book, Trust Signals by Scott Baradell, was published on the subject.
[2] In current internet marketing parlance, trust signals fall into three major categories: A 2019 neuroimaging study in the Journal of Interactive Marketing studied 29 subjects who participated in an experiment simulating an online purchase.