I did an interview with Mark to find out more about his experience with Trust Guard, and most importantly, what type of impact the 12% increase in sales meant to his company. To watch this 7 min. interview between Mark and myself, click on the play button below.

Scott: Hi, this is Scott Brandley with Trust Guard. I’m here today, with Mark Griggs. He’s one of the owners of Gray and Holt, Inc. He is actually a Trust Guard member and he recently finished a split test and had some pretty good increase in his conversion. I asked Mark if he would do an interview today, and just kind of get some feedback from him on his experience with Trust Guard, how his split test went, and what that means to his company. Hi Mark.

Mark: Hello Scott. How are you doing, today?

Scott: I’m doing real good. Can you tell us a little bit about your company and what you do?

Mark: My name is Mark Griggs, and I’m one of the owners and managers of Gray and Holt Dry Goods. We’re an old fashioned dry goods stored, located in Athens, Alabama. Many people might not know what a dry goods store actually is, but we sell a little bit of everything from work clothes to coveralls to boots to old fashioned toys. One of my main jobs here is I handle the websites. My other owner here is Bob, who is my brother. He helps with that, too, to manage the website. We also have a local store here, in Athens.

Scott: Okay, so you do Internet and brick and mortar.

Mark: Yes, we have a brick and mortar store. Actually we have been in business since 1934, and this is our 75th year in business.

Scott: Wow, congratulations. That’s really cool. How is the Internet going for you?

Mark: Overall, it’s going pretty good. The last year or two, we’ve really kind of tried to enhance our site. We came up with a new website design about six or seven months ago. About every month or two, we try to add something to enhance it, to better serve our customers.

Scott: That website is www.grayandholtclothing.com, right?

Mark: That’s correct.

Scott: How did you hear about Trust Guard, Mark?

Mark: We are always trying to enhance it and we were trying to look for a way to give more confidence to our customers when they came to our site. We wanted to make sure our customers knew our site was safe and reliable, that they could shop, and it would build confidence in our customers. We wanted to find a company that would help with that, to convey confidence.

At the same time, we were looking for a way to increase our sales. A few months ago, we started a stats program that gave us all the information about how many visitors were coming to our site. We noticed we were increasing visitors, but it seemed we weren’t getting much of an increase in sales. Since we wanted to both increase confidence in our site and to increase sales, we started to look for a solution. As we started looking, we came across Trust Guard. The one thing that we were kind of looking for in this was a company that didn’t really have a big upfront cost.

As we were looking around different places, different companies, that seemed like the major hurdle. A lot of companies had a big upfront cost that for a small business was kind of hard to deal with. We were looking for a flexible monthly plan and one that also had a guarantee to it. As we were searching, we came across Trust Guard. The flexible monthly plan is kind of what caught our attention at first, because of not having to put up that big upfront cost.

Scott: Right, okay, I think a lot of our customers really appreciate that. You ended up putting the Trust Guard seals on your site and you actually started a split test, right?

Mark: Pretty much right when we signed up, we wanted to see how it would go with the conversion testing. One thing we noticed also on there was the double your money back guarantee. The split testing showed that if we didn’t increase then we would get double your money back so that was kind of a nice incentive to try Trust Guard out. That was kind of a nice plan that you have there. If it doesn’t work you get your money back, plus some. It’s a no-lose situation.

Scott: Exactly, that’s why we have that, because we want to challenge people to really try it out and see if it works for them. I’ve always said you should never have to pay for something that doesn’t help you make more money.

Mark: As we were looking around, many of the other companies had some sort of a guarantee, but they didn’t have the guarantee that you have.

Scott: Where did you place the seals on your site?

Mark: We placed it in three different locations. First, we wanted to make sure that every customer that came to any page on our site would see the seals. We placed the security scan seal in the upper left hand corner of every page. Next, we placed all four of the seals that you provide on the middle of the shopping cart page. Also, on the final page of checkout, we placed all four seals right below the checkout button.

Scott: That’s generally where we recommend when somebody does a split test because that’s what we’ve found gets the best results. It sounds like you put them in the right spot. So, you ran the split test and what was your reaction when the split test finished?

Mark: We were pretty excited. It came back with pretty much about a 12% increase. To actually see the results and know that what you are doing actually increased your sales, that’s a pretty good feeling.

The best part is we really didn’t have to put much effort into it. Basically, we put the Trust Guard seals on our website and let the seals work for us. It is very exciting.

Scott: It is exciting and I love to see the results on our side, because we can actually see all of our different clients’ results in real time. It’s fun to watch and see the increases happen. What kind of an increase does 12% mean to your company, Mark?

Mark: With the extra cash flow coming in from the 12% increase in sales, we’re able to improve in other areas of our website, offer more product, and improve other customer experience with our company. It’s a win-win situation for both us as a company, and our customers.

Scott: Are there any final thoughts for anyone considering getting Trust Guard?

Mark: Anyone who is considering Trust Guard, it has the best total package that we’ve found, from a flexible plan, the monthly plans, the great reputation you have, and the customer service. Going through the sign up process with you was easy.

It was a breeze and very easy to understand the split testing. To top it off, the double your money back guarantee; you just can’t go wrong with that. If anybody is considering that, when you put all that together, I don’t believe anyone else out there has the type of package that you provide.

Scott: I would agree with that. Unfortunately, you don’t get double your money back, but you get a 12% increase in your sales for the rest of your life.

Mark: I’ll take that any day.

Scott: Well good; Mark, it’s been really nice talking with you. If anybody needs dry goods, they can go to your website, which is Grayandholtclothing.com.

Mark: I appreciate it.

Scott: All right, take care, Mark.

Mark: You too, have a good day.