News & Events

Businesses the World Over Report Substantial Bottom-Line Benefits from Deploying VeriSign EV SSL Protection

Online Merchants and Service Firms Discover Gold Lining When Their Customers See the Green Address Bar

Mountain View, Calif. – July 28, 2008 –  Around the world, online businesses are reporting measurable – and substantial – bottom-line benefits resulting from their deployment of Extended Validation (EV) Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates from VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world.  

Metrics reported by some of these organizations include an 87 percent increase in registration rates, a 30 percent climb in sales conversions, a more than 13 percent drop in abandoned carts, and a 48,000 percent ROI.*

VeriSign® EV SSL helps online businesses build trust with their customers by offering an effective safeguard against phishing scams that lure unsuspecting consumers to sites designed to appear almost identical to genuine Web pages. Identity thieves use these fraudulent pages to capture credit card numbers, passwords and other valuable personal information. When visiting sites protected by an EV SSL Certificate, Internet users using compatible high security browsers see a green address bar. The green address bar tells consumers they have reached a Web site whose authenticity has been verified according to certain rules. 

From North America to Europe and beyond, online merchants and service providers are among the more than 5,000 online businesses that protect their Web sites with VeriSign EV SSL Certificates (including VeriSign®, GeoTrust®, and thawte® brand Certificates).  And in the process, they are watching their Web sites perform at unprecedented levels. Among the recent success stories:  

North America

Paper-Check.Com LLC, a San Francisco-based company that offers online document editing and proofreading services, especially to academic users.  
Results: In tests, the company found that visitors who see the trusted green address bar are 87 percent more likely to complete the company’s online registration process—the key step in becoming a customer.  View case study: http://www.verisign.com/papercheck

Central Reservation Service (CRS) provides a free hotel reservation service that offers attractive rates and special deals on both independently owned and familiar brand hotels and resorts, with no prepayment and no booking, change, or cancellation fees.  
Results: Tests showed that customers who saw the green bar converted to purchase 30 percent more often than those who didn’t see the green bar, far exceeding the company’s expectations.  View case study: http://www.verisign.com/crshotels

Europe

Dwell.co.uk markets a wide range of excellently priced contemporary furniture throughout the United Kingdom, with rapid delivery for in-stock items.  
Results: The company reports that the EV SSL green address bar boosted conversion rates by 13.8 percent and monthly sales by £18,000 (more than $35,000). That increase represents an astounding 48,000 percent return on the company’s investment in VeriSign EV SSL.  View case study: http://www.verisign.com/dwell/

Fitness Footwear, Ltd. is the largest independent footwear retailer in the UK and the No. 1 supplier of several name brands, with its Web site accounting for 95 percent of its sales. 
Results:  VeriSign EV SSL protection delivered a 13.3 percent drop in cart abandonment and a 16.9 percent increase in conversions to sales.  View case study: http://www.verisign.com/fitnessfootwear/

Scandinavian Design Online AB, part of the Design Online Group, is one of the leading Web sites selling home and garden, interior design and décor to a worldwide audience across multiple Web sites.  View case study: http://www.verisign.com/sdo/ 
Results: Two months after EV SSL implementation, the company saw an 8 percent increase in online conversion rates.

Pacific Rim

SISTIC, Singapore's No. 1 leading ticketing agency, sells tickets for more than about 90 percent of Singapore's arts, entertainment and sports events. SISTIC has an extensive ticket distribution network in Singapore and beyond in Malaysia and Indonesia.  
Results: After deploying VeriSign EV SSL Certificates, SISTIC recorded a 14 percent increase in sales. 

“The Internet is a fantastic tool, but customers are concerned about security on Web sites,” said Richard Theobald, IT manager at dwell. “Our use of the VeriSign Secured Seal and EV certificates is one of our most important ways of instilling confidence in customers and assuring them that their information is secure when they do business with dwell.”

In addition to seeing bottom line results from EV SSL, VeriSign customers are also seeing uplift from the VeriSign Secured® Seal.  U.S.-based Proof-Reading.com LLC, a provider of high quality business document proofreading and editing services, recently reported a 36 percent increase in registrations after it switched to the VeriSign Secured Seal, citing VeriSign’s globally trusted brand as a major driver of the uplift. View case study: http://www.verisign.com/proof-reading/

“When a company makes the effort to provide a trusted online experience, customers respond – and so does the bottom line,” said Tim Callan, vice president of SSL product marketing at VeriSign. “From soaring revenues and conversion rates to meaningful reductions in abandoned shopping carts, these online merchants are realizing real-world benefits from their reliance on VeriSign EV SSL Certificates. As these results show, EV SSL protection is an investment that keeps paying dividends.”

When a Web site uses an EV SSL Certificate to identify itself, browsers including Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), Firefox 3, and Opera 9.5 display easily understood visual cues to provide tangible assurance of a site’s authenticity. The browser adopts the "green glow," a highly visible green background on or adjacent to the browser's address bar.  This green area contains the authenticated name of the organization that owns this site and can also indicate the name of the security provider that issued the certificate, such as VeriSign.

As the most respected and trusted SSL authority on the Web, VeriSign is the EV SSL Certificate provider of choice for more than 5,000 Internet domains, representing greater than 75 percent of the entire EV SSL Certificate market worldwide. In fact, over 95 percent of the Fortune 500 and the world’s 40 largest banks secure their sites with SSL Certificates sold by VeriSign.**   To learn more about VeriSign EV SSL, visit http://www.verisign.com/EV-SSL/. 

* Your company’s results may vary.  Contact VeriSign today to talk about how VeriSign can best address your company’s security needs.   
** Includes VeriSign's subsidiaries, affiliates and resellers.

About VeriSign   
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) is the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world. Billions of times each day, VeriSign helps companies and consumers all over the world engage in communications and commerce with confidence. Additional news and information about the company is available at www.verisign.com.

Contacts 
Media relations: Christina Rohall, crohall@verisign.com, 650-426-5219 
Investor Relations: Nancy Fazioli, ir@verisign.com, 650-426-5146

Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results due to such factors as the inability of VeriSign to successfully develop and market new products and services and customer acceptance of any new products or services, including VeriSign EV SSL solutions;  the possibility that VeriSign’s announced new services may not result in additional customers, profits or revenues; and increased competition and pricing pressures. More information about potential factors that could affect the company's business and financial results is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.

©2008 VeriSign, Inc. All rights reserved. VeriSign, the VeriSign logo, the Checkmark Circle, and other trademarks, service marks, and designs are registered or unregistered trademarks of VeriSign, Inc., and its subsidiaries in the United States and in foreign countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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