“For e-commerce, the most important thing is trust,” – Jack Ma
Clients and customers entrust businesses with significant amounts of personal information when they transact with online business operators. This is the normal course of such business operations; therefore, e-commerce business operators must ensure adequate website security to ensure that customer confidence is preserved at every stage and never breached. In the age of near universal Internet access, every online business hosts many visitors on a regular basis, but online business operators should adhere to failsafe security standards in order to convert such traffic into paying customers. We note that this is even more crucial because the e-commerce website is the only store front available to online shoppers, and so business operators should take every step to ensure the security of customer information.
A number of methods are available to achieve such ends; one of the foremost methods for a business to win trust is to deploy the Secure Sockets Layer (‘https’) technology in the online business address. This online protocol signals complete online security and tells customers that safety in guaranteed when they transact on the said website. The use of such technology also helps to boost search engine rankings and consolidate the customer’s trust. In addition, most e-commerce operators use this technology because they are aware that the modern online customer is an informed individual that will refuse to transact in the absence of adequate website security. We note that one of the foremost aims of every business is to expand the customer base and therefore, e-commerce operators should proactively exploit every opportunity to win the customer’s trust.
Business operators can choose to display the logos of various online security agencies in an attempt to showcase adequate website security. The logos and badges of various certifying agencies and private providers of online security can be displayed prominently on the website in an effort to spur customer conversions. These displays clearly indicate that the online merchant’s website has been certified to meet exacting online security certifications and specifications. We note that the visual level of guarantee is enough to convince the average visitor to transact at the said website, thereby creating an emphatic win for the online business enterprise. In addition, online merchants must attempt to prominently display customer testimonials, reviews from independent security experts, and positive feedback from web security firms to bolster their claims around adequate website security. That said, it must be noted that online merchants must undertake to renew their security protocols at specified intervals; otherwise, lapsed security standards may trigger customer migrations to competing businesses.
The scrupulous online business organization can choose to create a separate web page that details the technical levels of online security that operate on its merchant website. The thought that motivates the creation of this special page springs from an intent to satisfy the curiosity of first-time visitors that may wish to delve deeper into the website’s security standards. We could say that this is the equivalent of digital fine print that attests to the merchant’s deployment of adequate website security. The special page that lists the security specifications could also be attached to the social media handle of the business in an effort to broadcast its superior security credentials. These actions could help the business to boost conversions, win greater numbers of customers, and expand its business operations.
Conversions can also escalate when a business employs the device of prominently displaying customer credentials. We must note that the Internet is home to trusted online business operators as well as to unscrupulous trading entities that violate the norms that underpin traditional business operations. In addition to guaranteeing adequate website security, genuine online business operators must showcase customer testimonials that indicate customer satisfaction at its best. These testimonials can span a wide range of customer voices and can be used to bolster the corporate reputation of the online business. We note that customers tend to trust each other; therefore, such testimonials are likely to attract fresh online traffic and the promise of future customer conversions.
The transactions page in an online merchant’s website should be paid special attention. This page is the recipient of the customer’s financial information and must be resolutely defended against any malware attacks. This is a special feature of providing customers adequate website security. The online connections that issue from the transactions web page must be made secure and failsafe at all times, thereby guaranteeing peace of mind to every customer. Ideally, every online merchant should embed special security features on the said page so that connections between the customer and the website server remain impervious to any attempts at online malice. Further, the online merchant would be well advised to store the customer’s financial information at multiple locations in an encrypted format so that any interception of such data would appear as gibberish to the eyes of miscreants.
Online merchants should bear in mind that every customer transaction is sacrosanct and must be protected from prying eyes. This means that the data centre that powers the online merchant’s website should also be made impervious to interception. The merchant must make it a point to invest in the relevant technology that helps to attain these levels of security. The operation and maintenance of such data centres should be entrusted to professionals that have the relevant experience and expertise to operate these high technology installations. The business could make it mandatory that every server in the data centre is hooked to a mirror server in an effort to pre-empt the consequences of a server crash. Further, the data centres could be dispersed geographically so that any untoward incident at one location need not disrupt business operations. We note that a secured data centre environment automatically translates into a secure merchant website. We could view these security protocols as an extension of adequate website security.
In the preceding paragraphs, we have outlined the various approaches that may be adopted by an online merchant to spur customer conversions through the provision of adequate website security. Every customer conversion is precious and can significantly boost business outcomes for e-commerce merchants. Customer conversions are a valuable metric because these indicate the extent to which an online business has succeeded in winning the trust of the customers. That said, we note that customer conversions must be an ongoing project because no business can afford to have static numbers as far as conversions are concerned. Conversions remain a valuable metric because these can help a business to scale up and expand its operations; the metric can also be used to woo fresh investors to invest their money in the online business. In addition, the proportion of online visitors to paying customers remains a key metric in most businesses because this indicates the overall health of the online enterprise. Adequate website security is one of the planks on which conversions can proceed; other planks include the look-and-feel of the merchant website, the veracity f the products offered for sale, intuitive website navigation, product return policies, and the general market reputation of an online business. That said, we note that website security remains central to the customer experience because customer dollars typically gravitate to businesses that can grant failsafe transactional mechanisms.
