I wrote an article that covers some similar ground, but is focused on why Chrome's team chose "Secure" over the alternatives, such as "Private."
It is quite a bit longer, but I do break down the data to show some big issues with the alternatives. For example, 28% of users surveyed said they would leave a site if it said "Private."
I agree with Mike that Chrome's testing was incomplete. It is important for them to test perception... because we wouldn't want indicators having a large negative effect on things like bounce or conversion rate. In some ways this is comprehension to an average user... we probably can't expect most people to ever rationalize past "am I safe or not."
It is quite a bit longer, but I do break down the data to show some big issues with the alternatives. For example, 28% of users surveyed said they would leave a site if it said "Private."
https://www.thesslstore.com/blog/chrome-https-secure-indicat...
I agree with Mike that Chrome's testing was incomplete. It is important for them to test perception... because we wouldn't want indicators having a large negative effect on things like bounce or conversion rate. In some ways this is comprehension to an average user... we probably can't expect most people to ever rationalize past "am I safe or not."