E-commerce stores have made shopping for anything from everyday items to niche products more convenient and enjoyable. However, online stores find building a reputation and maintaining client trust harder than their brick-and-mortar alternatives.
This article presents practical tips on handling two challenges any new online business faces – creating a secure environment for shoppers and gaining their trust.
How to Increase Online Transaction Security
The e-commerce boom is also responsible for increased data breaches and online fraud cases. Ensuring you’re using all available security measures and best practices will greatly reduce the risks. It’s also integral to establishing yourself as a trustworthy and dependable merchant.
Certify your site for SSL
SSL or Secure Sockets Layer denotes a technology that establishes an encrypted connection between your store and customers accessing it.
Any information they enter on a site with an SSL certificate gets encryption protection, which makes it harder for hackers to access. Such a site starts with HTTPS instead of HTTP. Any browser can verify the certificate’s authenticity.
Choose a reputable, secure payment gateway
The transaction process is the most vulnerable part of a customer’s interaction with your store.
A secure payment gateway establishes a connection between the user, your store, and the bank that issues their credit card. The gateway must follow PCI DSS or Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards. Banks and websites abide by these regulations that monitor and protect all transaction information involving digital payments.
Payment gateways reassure customers. They’re also effective for protecting against losses like fraudulent chargeback requests. The CC info that goes through them either receives encryption or becomes a token. That makes it harder to get any usable info, even if someone manages to intercept the transaction.
Implement strong cybersecurity measures
A secure website won’t be effective if the data you store from it is vulnerable to outside attacks or malicious insiders. Your company must keep up with evolving cybersecurity best practices. These involve regular off-site backups and creating a data access hierarchy and accountability policy.
Revising your passwords to eliminate any repeating or weak ones is also important. A password manager will help streamline this by issuing as many complex passcodes as you and your team need while giving everyone a single password to remember. Additionally, supplement the manager with two-factor authentication.
Gather as little data on customers as possible
You should assume that someone will find a way to access sensitive customer data. Gathering less of it now will minimize the damage such an event will cause.
It’s tempting to keep track of customers’ preferences and personal info for better profiling. However, requiring only the bare minimum will leave a much smaller digital footprint. Plus, customers will appreciate the streamlined checkout.
Building Consumer Trust in Your Store
E-commerce is a rapidly-growing form of retail poised to handle a quarter of all retail sales by 2026. With so much opportunity comes competition, and it’s hard to stand out if you’re just starting. Here’s how you can establish your store as a trustworthy consumer-friendly authority in your niche.
Optimize your website
First impressions are paramount, and yours should be one of professionalism and efficiency. Potential customers will leave quickly if your site takes a long to load or doesn’t display properly on their smartphone. Everything from the copy to the user interface should familiarize visitors with your brand and products and then make purchasing them a breeze.
A polished site that looks beautiful in any format is a good start. However, you’ll also want to add a human touch. Share something about your journey and post pictures of your team on the About Us page. You should also associate a physical location with your online store to signal that it’s a business run by actual people.
Prominently display trust signals
Why should customers do business with you? That’s the question trust signals provide reassuring answers to. Trust signals take on many forms, including customer reviews, testimonials, and independent ratings by third-party sites.
Less obvious elements like high-quality photographs of your products and professional copy are also signs that someone didn’t just cobble the site together to make a quick and shady profit.
Be transparent
Customers love engagement, and taking an interest in their needs demonstrates that you care. Maintain a social media presence where you interact with customers and address their concerns. Develop a clear return and refund policy. Let buyers know what data you collect on them and what methods you use to keep it safe.
Conclusion
Doing business online comes with specific security challenges and trust issues. Addressing them as early in your journey as possible will set your company up for long-term success. Following our tips is sure to help.