Your e-commerce website is an important asset. It can help you multiply your revenue stream over time, but with additional advantages. It has a lower maintenance cost compared to opening new franchise stores, has a much wider and even global customer reach, and you can scale up your website much more efficiently as your business grows.
Like all assets, you must fiercely protect your e-commerce website, because if a security breach occurs on your website, you can lose many things at once: Your business credibility, customer trust, and you may potentially lose money to lawsuits if sensitive data is stolen, such as your customers’ credit card details.
In this article, we’ll talk about actions which you can take in order for your customers to easily trust your e-commerce.
1. Ensure that your website design is user-friendly and professional
Before we talk about cyber security, we should mention the powerful psychological factors of web design. You could have a secure online service, but if your website is not designed for easy access and intuitive use, new visitors will be repelled by the design, thinking that it is an unsafe site.
2. Ensure that your domain has an SSL certificate
Even a beautifully designed website can seem threatening to Internet browsers if it has no SSL certificate. In other words, the web address begins with “http” instead of “https”. The users’ browser will usually warn them that the website may be unsafe. Modern domain registrar and hosting services should already provide you with an SSL certificate for free for every domain purchase. If not, you could consult with your domain or hosting provider.
3. Ensure that customer data is stored correctly in the backend
This is invisible to customers, but a cyber criminal can easily spot an insecure data storage system. Customer data should be encrypted and/or password-protected. For a very secure authentication system, opt for 2-factor-authentication (2FA) provided by many third-party software.
4. Use third-party security services and get certified
You’ll notice that some e-commerce sites have official logos of third-party web security services. If you are planning to include a transaction function to your website, you may need to learn more about payment gateways and PCI DSS standards for payment card data storage and use.
We are now moving to a more technical realm that happens behind the scenes. Unfortunately, there is so much to cover that one article is not enough to explain everything. Of course, you can always contact the experts at Xynexis to find out more about what your website needs.
For now, at the very least, consider how your users will perceive and value your e-commerce by applying actions on the first and second steps above.
