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Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility
How can you boost your web site's credibility?
We have compiled 10 guidelines for building the credibility of a
web site. These guidelines are based on three years of research that included
over 4,500 people.
| Guideline |
Additional
Comments |
Supporting Research from our lab |
| 1. |
Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information
on your site. |
|
You can build web
site credibility by providing third-party support (citations, references,
source material) for information you present, especially if you link to this
evidence. Even if people don't follow these links, you've shown confidence
in your material. |
chi00, chi01a, ptl02, unp |
| 2. |
Show that there's a real organization behind your
site. |
|
Showing that your
web site is for a legitimate organization will boost the site's credibility.
The easiest way to do this is by listing a physical address. Other features
can also help, such as posting a photo of your offices or listing a membership
with the chamber of commerce. |
chi00, chi01a, chi01b, ptl02 |
| 3. |
Highlight the expertise in your organization and in
the content and services you provide. |
|
Do you have experts
on your team? Are your contributors or service providers authorities? Be
sure to give their credentials. Are you affiliated with a respected organization?
Make that clear. Conversely, don't link to outside sites that are not
credible. Your site becomes less credible by association. |
acm99, chi99, chi00, chi01a, chi01b, ptl02, unp |
| 4. |
Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind
your site. |
|
The first part of
this guideline is to show there are real people behind the site and in the
organization. Next, find a way to convey their trustworthiness through images
or text. For example, some sites post employee bios that tell about family
or hobbies. |
chi99, chi01b, unp |
| 5. |
Make it easy to contact you. |
|
A simple way to boost
your site's credibility is by making your contact information clear: phone
number, physical address, and email address. |
chi00, chi01a, ptl02, unp |
| 6. |
Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate
for your purpose). |
|
We find that people
quickly evaluate a site by visual design alone. When designing your site,
pay attention to layout, typography, images, consistency issues, and more.
Of course, not all sites gain credibility by looking like IBM.com. The visual
design should match the site's purpose. |
chi99, chi00, chi01a, ptl02, unp |
| 7. |
Make your site easy to use -- and useful. |
|
We're squeezing two
guidelines into one here. Our research shows that sites win credibility points
by being both easy to use and useful. Some site operators forget about users
when they cater to their own company's ego or try to show the dazzling things
they can do with web technology. |
acm99, chi99, chi00, chi01a, ptl02, unp |
| 8. |
Update your site's content often (at least show it's
been reviewed recently). |
|
People assign more
credibility to sites that show they have been recently updated or reviewed. |
chi00, chi01a, ptl02, unp |
| 9. |
Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g.,
ads, offers). |
|
If possible, avoid
having ads on your site. If you must have ads, clearly distinguish the sponsored
content from your own. Avoid pop-up ads, unless you don't mind annoying users
and losing credibility. As for writing style, try to be clear, direct, and
sincere. |
chi00, chi01a, chi01b, ptl02, unp |
| 10. |
Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they
seem. |
|
Typographical errors
and broken links hurt a site's credibility more than most people imagine.
It's also important to keep your site up and running. |
acm99, chi99, chi00, chi01a, chi01b, ptl02, unp |
|
For more information, contact bjfogg@stanford.edu
Suggested Citation
|
|
Fogg, B.J. (May 2002). "Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility."
A Research Summary from the Stanford Persuasive Technology
Lab. Stanford University. www.webcredibility.org/guidelines |
|
| Research |
Details |
| acm99 |
|
| chi99 |
| Title |
"The Elements of Computer Credibility" |
| Authors |
B.J. Fogg & Shawn Tseng |
| Source |
Proceedings of ACM CHI 99 Conference
on Human Factors in Computing Systems, v.1, pp. 80-87.
New York: ACM Press. |
| Online |
http://captology.stanford.edu/pdf/p80-fogg.pdf |
|
| chi00 |
| Title |
"Elements that Affect Web Credibility:
Early Results from a Self-Report Study" |
| Authors |
B.J. Fogg, Jonathan Marshall, Othman Laraki,
Alex Osipovich, Chris Varma, Nicholas Fang, Jyoti Paul,
Akshay Rangnekar, John Shon, Preeti Swani, & Marissa
Treinen |
| Source |
Proceedings of ACM CHI 2000 Conference
on Human Factors in Computing Systems, v.2, New York:
ACM Press. |
| Online |
No online source yet |
|
| chi01a |
| Title |
"What Makes A Web Site Credible? A Report
on a Large Quantitative Study" |
| Authors |
B.J. Fogg, Jonathan Marshall, Othman Laraki,
Alex Osipovich, Chris Varma, Nicholas Fang, Jyoti Paul,
Akshay Rangnekar, John Shon, Preeti Swani, & Marissa
Treinen |
| Source |
Proceedings of ACM CHI 2001 Conference
on Human Factors in Computing Systems, v. 1, 61-68.
New York: ACM Press. |
| Online |
http://captology.stanford.edu/pdf/p61-fogg.pdf |
|
| chi01b |
|
| ptl02 |
|
| unp |
Unpublished
research
|
|
Our lab has done research that is not published,
such as student honors theses, class projects, and pilot
studies. If we make this work public in the future, you'll
find it at webcredibility.org. |
|
Updated June, 2002
| Research on Web Credibility: |
- Click here
to visit the Stanford Web Credibility Research
Site by the Stanford Persuasive Tech Lab.
Copyright © Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, 2004
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