Does personalisation affect trust in online advice?

This report describes an experimental investigation of two factors which are believed to influence users trust and willingness to engage in online commerce. The factors are: (a) reputation (a factor related to brand), and (b) personalisation. One hundred and seven users were logged on to a mock travel insurance website and asked to fill in insurance forms online, to make a decision as to whether or not they wanted to purchase insurance and then to answer a follow-up questionnaire. Behavioural and subjective measures of trust in the site were taken. Personalisation was shown to favourably influence user judgments about the site, although not to direcly influence trust.