Ecommerce Advice
Security for Customers
Newcomers to the internet in 1999, would not make a purchase for at least 12 months on the Internet.
Now its less than 1 month and falling as security builds confidence.
Concerns over security are declining
For those who buy things on the internet, many want to do it again and a vast majority now shop daily on the internet as a way of life. Clearly internet security concerns are declining as technology has improved greatly making shopping online safer than shopping in your local high street.
Some people are still concerned about internet security though, but only out of a lack of understanding in internet security and computer technology but you should take the time to educate nervous customers so you can turn all visitors into customers.
Web sites like ebay work hard to build confidence with their own "Feedback" systems and user review facilities and these can provide a valuable sales tool instilling confidence in buyers in the same way other web site review systems or product reviews from your own customers can.
Easier said than done
The simplest of ways is to provide all your contact details on your web site including telephone numbers, email addresses and postal addresses. You should always allow people to call you on the phone, even if it is a simple sales enquiry because just being able to talk to a real person helps overcome worries.
If you have a real shop, then list the address and even put pictures of your actual store on your web site as this helps to re-assure customers that your shop and your company really exist.
People worried about security may check you out on the internet by looking for reviews about you, or lookup your domain name, then come and buy from you in your real shop. In which case your web site has worked like a high powered low cost advert for you.
You should also give customers a facility to print out their order so they can fax it or mail it to you. While this is not any more secure than paying online, it gives people the feeling of more security. If it gets you the order, it is worth doing and of course you should accept orders in your web site in a secure environment, where all orders are encrypted while being transferred over the web.
The popular web browsers such as internet explorer, firefox and netscape support a secure encryption method enabling your customers to order and pay online with all the sensitive information encrypted to ensure nobody can read an order or any of the data being submitted during an order. This encryption is called SSL.
So how do I setup SSL on my web site to take secure orders?
We can help any of our customers to setup SSL facilities on their web sites as found in our knowledge base article on: How to setup an SSL certificate. Once you have an SSL certificate and have organised your payment gateway (We can also advise and help with this) then your ready to go.
Because of the high security SSL offers, it is widely used on web sites to secure orders. Your security will be above and beyond that of most businesses, and when visitors are purchasing on your web site, a small padlock or a key at the bottom of a browser window will indicate to a customer that your web site is secure - although a connection can be secure even if this symbol does not come up. Seeing it however is a guarantee.
Because SSL is widely known and accepted, you should always use it when accepting orders online, to make customers feel more comfortable. Also tell them right on your home page that your shop is secure. The more you inform them about security, the better they will feel about buying in your shop.
You could also use a real-time payment service provider doing the transactions for you such as pay pal but this does come at a cost but it means you have a 3rd party taking care of security issues. Many of these services also can screen out a number of fraudulent transactions and of course you will not have to manually approve payments yourself via the telephone.
If you want a successful e-commerce business online then why not request an ecommerce consultation today!
