Understanding user trust on an online marketplace

What is shaping internet services

Broadband providers, platforms and digital businesses depend on adoption, experience and trust. Usage patterns differ widely by city tier, age and language.

• New users are coming online in smaller towns and local languages
• Experience and reliability drive loyalty
• Trust and safety concerns shape usage

An online classifieds marketplace, working in UAE & Saudi Arabia. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

An online classifieds marketplace

Sector

Internet services

Team engaged

Market Research

Services

Consumer panel, Qualitative research, Quantitative research

Fraud concerns were reducing engagement. Buyers worried about fake listings and payment scams, and sellers worried about fake buyers. Buyers worried about scams, and sellers complained that fake buyers wasted their time, limiting the marketplace’s growth.

• Deliver on the brief: understanding user trust on an online marketplace.
• Understand the views, needs and behaviour of users.
• Measure how widespread each pattern is, and explain the reasons behind it.
• Give the client evidence it can act on within 7 weeks.

The work focused on 1,800 users.

• users1,800

Audiences we typically reach in internet services

Broadband and app usersNew internet usersSmall businesses onlineContent creatorsParents and educators

Coverage: UAE & Saudi Arabia. Markets: United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

• United Arab Emirates
• Saudi Arabia

A mixed-method design: structured research measured how widespread each pattern was, and qualitative conversations explained why.

1. 1Brief
2. 2User interviews
3. 3Survey
4. 4Insight

We surveyed buyers and sellers about trust, fraud experiences and safety features. Interviews were conducted in Arabic and English, and the survey measured how much each potential safety feature would increase willingness to transact. We also reviewed fraud reports with the trust and safety team to understand common patterns.

Consumer panelQualitative researchQuantitative research

users

1,800

• Online respondents were drawn from verified panel members who matched the screening criteria, with quotas on key profile attributes.
• Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.

interviews

20

• The online survey was mobile-friendly and offered in respondents' languages.
• Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.

• Digital fingerprinting and duplicate checks
• Attention, speed and straight-lining checks
• Review of open-ended answers
• Recordings and transcripts for every session
• Re-screening of qualitative recruits
• Logic and range checks on the final data
• Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures

• Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
• Significance testing on the differences that mattered
• Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
• Journey and decision mapping

• Verified seller badges and secure chat were valued.

Visible safety features built trust.

• Build on the core insight: visible safety features built trust.
• Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: verified seller badges and secure chat were valued.
• Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.

• The platform introduced both.
• Reports of fraud declined after verification was introduced, and engagement increased in categories such as cars and electronics.
• The platform continued monitoring trust through a quarterly survey.

What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.

• Insight report and management presentation
• Cleaned data file and data tables
• Interview summaries and key verbatims

• Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
• A natural follow-on question: how do users rate their broadband?