This new agreement shows VeriSign's commitment to helping online businesses improve consumer confidence and trust by enabling their consumers to rate their overall satisfaction in doing business with them.

Customer feedback services are not by any means a new concept. Businesses have long been held accountable by organizations like the membership-based Better Business Bureau, which acts as a mutually trusted intermediary between consumers and businesses to resolve disputes, to facilitate communication and to provide information on ethical business practices. Additionally, consumers in the past have posted ratings and reviews on independent consumer-driven review sites such as Yelp or Angie's List.

RatePoint adopts a similar idea by giving businesses its own outlet to collect and respond to customer feedback. The company says it bridges the gap between consumers and businesses by offering a fair, balanced and straightforward way to connect with customers, to resolve potential disputes and share reviews.

"The combination of VeriSign SSL with RatePoint will provide VeriSign customers with another way to establish trust amongst its consumers," says Chris Babel, senior VP of SSL at VeriSign. "The market for RatePoint is relevant to businesses that use VeriSign SSL certificates to secure e-commerce transactions. Gaining the trust of consumers is vital to business success,and adding a mechanism to collect and promote authentic customer feedback and ratings will only further that trust."

Ratepoint was founded by Neal Creighton, Christopher Bailey, Mike Rowan and Kefeng Chen, the same team that previously founded SSL certificate provider GeoTrust. The company was eventually sold to VeriSign for $125 million in September 2006.

Last Wednesday, Ratepoint and LexiConn jointly hosting a Web seminar entitled "Value-Added Services: Finding the Right Mix for SMBs".