According
to a new report by the Get Safe Online Campaign, one in ten online shoppers has
been the victim of online fraud, each losing an average of £875. Read the full report at http://www.getsafeonline.org/
We live in
a shredding culture where we are continuously being warned of online fraud and identity
theft. The media encourage consumers to
be paranoid about security.
As the BBC
News recently reported many net users are not
safety-aware. However, many online
shoppers are security conscious. According to research carried out by Opinion
Research Corp, ‘66% of European consumers who actually ended a transaction
because of security concerns said they are likely to take their business
elsewhere, according to the report.’
For the
retailer this isn’t just about implementing security measures but about boosting
their customer’s confidence by letting the customer know that they take
their customers’ security seriously.
What
surprises me about many of the clients I’ve worked with is that they don’t
hesitate to invest money and effort in to protecting online transactions, but
then overlook the simple matter of advertising their security policies.
Before I
click checkout I subconsciously tick
off a comprehensive list of checkpoints against criteria such as security,
trust and value (to name just a few). By the time I take the huge leap of faith and submit
my credit card details I have evaluated each checkpoint and verified
whether this is a retailer I will be doing business with online.
The art of
reassuring your customer is the easy part.
Work with your users to ensure that any fears they have about security
is addressed as early as possible. Security
reassurances should start as early as the home page. Websites should be proud to advertise their
company’s commitment to security.
Retailers can’t
underestimate the improvement on conversion rates or customer loyalty that would be
achieved by, say, placing a Verisign logo in a prominent location and providing
links to proof of any security certification and/ or details on level of
encryption. This is just one example from a number of enhancements a retailer must make to their website to bolster customer
confidence.