Trust Issues Hamper Online Shopping Searches

Wednesday, October 2, 2019 - 12:58 by Simon Crisp

The results of a study from Yext suggest that shoppers in the UK are not as trusting of the results they are served by search engines as might otherwise be assumed, with just under a fifth of respondents reporting that they give credence to their findings from every single search attempt.

It is worth noting that while most people report that they are satisfied with the search results they receive in general, 33 per cent take the added step of verifying the results on a separate platform.

This is especially relevant when it comes to safe shopping online, since things like pricing, product reviews and retailer reputations are all things which consumers will need to validate thoroughly before they are willing to commit to a purchase.

35 per cent of people said that one of the main reasons for their lack of trust in search engine results is that they see the information as being inaccurate on a frequent basis. Close to half of those questioned said that they were therefore frustrated when solely relying on search platforms to carry out research - hence the need for separate verification efforts to supplement this.

This frustration is reflected by brands and marketers themselves, with around 50 per cent of industry professionals revealing that they do not feel in total control of the information that is available about the organisations and products they represent as offered up by search engines.

While the ongoing refinement of search technology by firms like Google has led to dramatic improvements in the accuracy and trustworthiness of results over the past couple of decades, there is still room for error and indeed active exploitation of the systems that are in place, which is why a degree of mistrust still exists amongst shoppers.