Assurance seals, on-line customer satisfaction, and repurchase intention

This study explores how third-party assurance seals, a privacy service provided by vendors to mitigate customers' fears, has an impact on on-line customer satisfaction and repeat-purchase intention. It asks the following research questions: Do assurance seals influence on-line service experience? If so, how do they affect consumers' satisfaction and repeat-purchase intention? The study shows, first, that seals provide a frame such that a consumer's overall satisfaction and repeat-purchase intention would be higher when vendors provide assurance seals than when they do not. Second, applying the concept of diminishing sensitivity, it shows that consumers would be subjectively less sensitive to service performance of vendors who provide seals than vendors who do not provide seals. The hypotheses are tested on data obtained from Bizrate.com. The empirical analysis supports the hypotheses.