Consumers say BBB Accreditation Seal = Ethics and Competence

The Study:

What does the Accreditation Seal Mean Graph Accreditation Seal Graph

BBB performed a study of consumer perceptions of the BBB Accreditation seal in early 2021.  

We saw that consumers felt that the BBB accreditation seal symbolized multiple things, with ethics being at the top of the list, and competence or quality not far behind.  As shown, 70% of respondents indicated that the seal means the business is reputable.  Sixty-six percent felt that the AB seal means the business is honest and ethical.

We also saw that 48% of respondents indicated that the AB seal means excellent quality or performance.  While BBB ratings often reflect licensing and reflect complaints disputing quality of workmanship, BBB has never directly evaluated or compared the quality of products or services of businesses - only their responsiveness/compliance to BBB, length of time in business, willingness to address patterns in complaints, truthfulness in advertising, etc.  In other words, BBB has never been like Consumer Reports.  So it's especially interesting that nearly 50% of consumers feel that the BBB Accreditation seal connotes a better quality product or service.

We also saw 57% of respondents indicated that the seal means the business is legitimate, which we could define as being authentic or non-fraudulent. This touches on the ethical component, since fraudulent operation or a shady operator is both unethical and delivers a product or service that is somehow shoddy or bogus or inferior.  

Respondents believe that when they check the BBB, they are doing so to see if a business is not just "reputable" or "legitimate," that includes not just honesty but better quality.  Because if a consumer orders a product from an online merchant that isn't so reputable or legitimate, he or she may receive a T-shirt that falls to shreds after the first washing, or a flower bouquet that cost $99 that contained not much more than a few dandelions and some plastic leaves.

Honesty and quality go hand-in-hand in the eyes of many consumers.  To be a BBB Accredited Business doesn't just mean to them that the business has made a charitable donation or an ethical pledge.  To some degree, consumers often expect a better-run, better-operated, better-performing business.  This is encouraging news for BBB and its Accredited Businesses, and a sign that our brand is multi-faceted and meaningful in the marketplace.

Learn how to become BBB Accredited. 

The survey:

We then asked North American consumers in January 2021 similar questions.  

We looked at consumer perceptions of the BBB Accreditation seal.  The seal has been proudly displayed on Accredited Businesses' websites, doors, plaques, and advertisements for over decades.  

Are consumers familiar with the BBB Seal?  And, if so, what does it mean to them?

From our survey of over 2,000 members of the North American public in December 2020, here are some results:

  • When asked whether they have ever seen the BBB Accreditation seal, about 50% of American respondents and about 35% of Canadian respondents indicated that they had.

Of the respondents that indicated that they remembered seeing the seal, the following sets of responses were given as to what it meant to them:

  • 27% indicated that the seal meant trustworthiness, honesty, or ethics.
  • 22% indicated that the seal meant approved, verified, certified, or meeting standards.
  • 10% of American respondents and about 15% of Canadian respondents indicated that the seal meant excellence or good quality in terms of workmanship, reliability, or service.

It's encouraging that 85% of consumers familiar with the BBB seal associated it with positive attributes.  And those responses generally reflect what we would hope that consumers would understand: that businesses bearing the seal have been vetted by the BBB, and/or that business bearing it have committed to higher ethical standards, and/or that businesses bearing it are simply of a higher quality or more trustworthy or less likely to defraud consumers.  Perhaps this is no surprise given that approximately 400,000 mostly small businesses across North America proudly invest in this seal.

Learn how to Get BBB Accredited today.