The number of security threats and data breaches in e-commerce sites increases every year. To establish trust with your customers, you’ll need to take steps to ensure their data is secure. Fortunately, you can employ many techniques for enhanced security when selling products and services online.
In this guide, we’ll discuss four tips to show customers that protecting shopper privacy is your top priority. Let’s get started!
Why Shopper Privacy Is Important
Online customers need to prioritize their privacy when purchasing from e-commerce stores. After all, there are more significant security risks involved in online shopping today.
Phishing, malware, and whaling have changed the way people shop. Currently, 79% of Americans are concerned about how companies use their data. Now more than ever, people want to maintain control over the personal data they share with websites.
For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) restricts how websites can collect and use personal data. Although this regulation applies to the European Union, it also affects how information can be transferred outside this region. Therefore, you’ll need to follow its rules if you want your e-commerce store to be compliant.
Furthermore, showing your customers that you value shopper privacy can set your store apart from your competitors. It can also improve your reputation in your industry. All these benefits can equal better customer loyalty, engagement, and sales.
The Top 4 Ways to Show Shoppers You Respect Their Privacy
Both small and large businesses need to take measures to demonstrate that their collected data is safe. Here are some ways to safeguard your customers’ information and show your shoppers they can trust your brand!
1. Demand Strong Passwords From Shoppers
If your customers need accounts to shop in your store, they’ll need usernames and passwords. These credentials present opportunities for hackers to steal customer data and violate their privacy.
Therefore, you should demand strong passwords from your customers. The credential should contain a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols:
This tip is essential for e-commerce stores with membership programs that require regular payments and extra personal data. You might also like to prompt your customers to change their passwords regularly, such as once a month.
Furthermore, you can set up Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) in your e-commerce store. Customers will need to verify their identities when logging in with a second method, such as an emailed code or app-generated password.
2. Let Your Shoppers Know You Have a Privacy Policy
It can be tempting for businesses to collect and store data just because they can. However, personal data can become a liability if you don’t have safeguards to ensure its security.
To help shoppers feel more secure, you’ll want to share your privacy policy publicly. It is a legal document that details your views and procedures on data collection:
Many laws (such as the GDPR) require all websites, including e-commerce stores, to post their privacy policies. These documents are essential if your shop collects consumer information. Furthermore, many savvy shoppers also expect to read a privacy policy every time they provide any personal details.
Unfortunately, most businesses still collect more data than they realize. This is because many companies use third-party providers or software that automatically store a lot of personal information. Holding onto unnecessary data and asking intrusive questions may confuse shoppers and make them think your business isn’t reputable.
Therefore, we recommend regularly updating the applications and software you use to store customer data. If you don’t do this, it could be easily accessed by hackers who want to exploit the vulnerabilities of older versions.
Furthermore, try to be straightforward about what you will do with the data you collect. Showing customers how much you value their information and the measures you are taking to protect it will likely result in greater trust.
However, it’s not enough to simply cut and paste a privacy policy. You’ll want to customize it and tailor it to the specific needs of your brand and customers. You should also consider displaying it prominently by adding the document’s page to your top or bottom menu.
3. Provide a Forum for Privacy Concerns
Online forums are message boards that facilitate discussions around central topics. Many websites use them to enable conversations between users.
However, you can also create a forum to address concerns surrounding shopper privacy:
Many people tend to associate forums with the early ages of the internet. However, discussions are essential for any e-commerce business because they promote user-friendliness and prove that you care about what your customers say.
You can create an account associated with your store and respond to any security questions and concerns in the forums. By doing so, you can install greater trust in your business’s security protocols.
If creating and administering a forum poses challenges for your business, you can ask customers to contact you directly with specific privacy concerns. Make sure you reply promptly to any messages because having two-way communication is essential for avoiding a privacy crisis.
4. Offer Multiple Secure Checkout Options
Your checkout process can have a significant impact on the consumer shopping experience. You’ll want to provide a seamless checkout with minimal steps for your customers and secure payment processors.
Customers appreciate variety when it comes to checkout options. With multiple options, they can choose the payment processor they trust the most. Having different checkout options also gives shoppers peace of mind that they are using a secure payment solution:
Poorly chosen checkout options could compromise your shoppers’ security and privacy. To avoid this scenario, only use established gateways to ensure that your customer’s credit card and personal information is safe.
There are three types of secure payment gateways you can use. The first type is redirected payments. A gateway such as PayPal takes your shoppers to an external payment page to complete a transaction.
Using a redirected payment gateway can keep transactions secure. However, it presents an additional step for your customers and gives your store less control over payments.
Another payment option is on-site checkout, where the front end of the process will happen in your store. However, its payment processing will occur in the gateway’s back end. This process is straightforward, but as with redirects, you won’t be able to control your shopper’s experience fully.
The last option is an on-site checkout, which is a typical setup for more established e-commerce businesses. If you choose this option, your system will handle both the checkout and payment processing. In this setup, you’ll have a greater responsibility to ensure that any collected data is secure.
Conclusion
Your customers are looking for data security and safe payment processes when shopping in your online store. Therefore, you should consider showing customers that you respect shopper privacy. You can do this by offering multiple checkout options, letting your shoppers know about your privacy policy, and addressing any security concerns.
Do you have any questions about keeping your customers’ private data secure? Let us know in the comments section below!