Security Tips to Providing Your Online Consumers Peace of Mind

Internet security is a huge concern for today’s eCommerce customer. While they love the convenience of being able to shop online and find great deals on products and services, the looming threats of viruses, hackers, and scams is cause for concern. This doesn’t mean you have to shut down your company website, but it does mean that you must work diligently at finding ways to make customers feel safe when shopping on your site.

According to Avira, about 20% of consumers refrain from shopping online because they’re afraid of the risks involved. Even those consumers that do shop online remain leery. 30% worry while shopping and another 22% will only shop from well known websites to be on the safe side. So if you want to keep your customers happy, you’re going to need to evaluate your existing securities and safeguards in place to ensure they are ideal for consumer safety.

Security Certifications

One of the main reasons that consumers feel insecure about online shopping is the fear of identity theft. Investing in security certifications such as Secure Sockets Layer, you can provide them with instant satisfaction. SSLs encrypt personal information the moment it is entered into your system. Most websites are already designed to provide such protections. The indicators include having a web address with https. The s in the web address stands for secure. However, since most consumers are not aware of this information, there are things you can do to heighten their sense of security. Adding a shield or badge icon on your site stating that it is SSL secured can eliminate any confusion and provide consumers with the peace of mind that they need.

Authentication Layers

Again, to help consumers feel safe entering personal information into your website, you need to provide as much protection as possible. You can do this by requiring several different layers of verification for login accounts. For example if a customer creates a new account and can’t remember the password, your site could have authentication layers in place that require them to go through various steps before retrieving the password. Answering security questions and sending an email to their registered account are all methods that can easily provide comfort to online shoppers.

Website Virus Protection

There is nothing worse than finding out later on that your site was infected as this can be really bad for your company’s reputation and for your customer’s computers and devices. Secure Data Recovery says that’s why it is important to ensure that your eCommerce website is protected from potential viruses and malware. By utilizing various malware scans and virus protection software, you can stay up to date on any impending threats to your website. As such, this keeps customers from getting infected when they visit your site.

Offer Various Payment Options

Another way to provide comfort to your online consumers is by offering various payment options. Not every customer feels secure using their credit or debit cards to make a purchase. One of the biggest online security issues is dealing with the risks of identity theft. However, instead of losing the sale, it may be beneficial for you to offer other options and protect all transactions with internet security software. Service providers such as PayPal can make things a lot easier.

PayPal has been around for years and already has the reputation of providing secure online transactions to its customers; therefore having an option for payments through these services gives online customers added peace of mind. Since PayPal already stores the consumer’s personal information, they don’t have to worry about entering it repeatedly on your site. A buyer would shop and simply sign into their PayPal account to provide authorization to pay for the goods or services.

This is just a few ways in which you can give your ecommerce website a boost in the credibility department and provide peace of mind to your online consumers. Remember, with all the various risks there are out there, having the added marketing advantage of security and dependability are sure to work in your favor.