How to Rebuild Trust in E-Commerce

Online shoppers are losing trust in ecommerce. No, it’s not due to shoddy merchandise or a resurgence in brick and mortars. Instead, it has everything to do with cybersecurity. According to one survey, 49 percent of people say they are increasingly concerned about their online privacy and that is preventing them from shopping online.

This makes sense in light of recent news. Experian found that ecommerce fraud attack rates have spiked more than 30 percent over the last year! But don’t get things twisted. Ecommerce sites haven’t become less secure, but rather in-person purchases have become more secure thanks to the adoption of the EMV chip.

Why does this matter? Well, it has become nearly impossible for fraudsters to spoof credit cards in the real world, which is pushing hackers to do their dirty work online.

Thankfully, there are ways to inspire customer confidence in your store again.

Improving Privacy & Cybersecurity

There are numerous ways to improve cybersecurity for your business and privacy for your buyers. For example, many e-stores save customer data for a quicker shopping experience. Which is great, who doesn’t love a smooth path to check out? But there are also dangers here.

If you are going to save some customer information, save it in encrypted fields and never store a card’s expiration date or CVV.

Similarly, you want to implement a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to your site to encrypt data sent from your customer to your site. Some of the best ecommerce website builders out there, including Shopify, offer SSL encryption by default.

Adding Trust Badges

Trust badges, also known as trust seals, are little icons that assure online users that the site they are visiting is legitimate and backed by third-party companies like Norton, Google or the Better Business Bureau.

According to Forbes, 79 percent of online shoppers expect to see some sort of trust seal on a site’s home page. What are you doing to reassure your customers?

Providing Alternative Payment Methods

It’s important to remember that consumers love choice. Ecommerce businesses do a great job at providing choices when it comes to products, colors and even shipping options; but, all too often, they forget to provide options at checkout. What if a shopper doesn’t want to use their credit card? Will she instead buy a similar product from one of your competitors?

Try adopting alternate payment methods including PayPal or Bitcoin.

Keeping Consumers in the Loop

Another thing you can do is notify buyers when purchases are made from their accounts via text message. This will instantly alert shoppers to fraudulent activity so you can work together to remedy it immediately.

Obviously, some users might feel reluctant to share their phone number with you. So, at the very least, send along an email receipt whenever a purchase is made.

Promptly Addressing Customer Complaints

Are your customers complaining of excessive spam emails, lost products or bizarre profile activity? Don’t ignore these red flags. It could spell trouble for your company and your shoppers. Address these problems immediately and examine signs of hacker activity on your e-store.

Additionally, some ecommerce sites have implemented machine learning algorithms to help detect fraudulent behavior before it gets out of hand. This includes tracking failed login attempts, multiple diverse orders shipping to the same locations and more.

Keep Selling High-Quality Products

In the end, the key to retaining customers is consistently providing the best experience possible. If you ensure a safe shopping, quality merchandise, and speedy customer service, you will enjoy loyal consumers for years to come.