One Step Ahead

The Internet has clearly established its place in mainstream society, but users are still worried about fraud when shopping on-line. In a survey of British Internet users, almost 3 in 4 users said that security was a bigger concern to them when shopping on-line than price, quality and convenience.

That's a staggering figure, and it just goes to show how little Internet companies have done to address their customers' concerns. Imagine if 3 in 4 shoppers in retail stores were more worried about security than price, quality or convenience! We'd have retailers falling over each other to prove that their order-taking system was the most secure on the planet. But when it comes to the Internet, businesses either don't know or don't care!

What does this mean to you if you're operating an on-line business? Simple. Do whatever it takes to make your customers comfortable and reassured about the security of their transaction. Publish a privacy policy, use a secure server, make the order process simple, offer a variety of payment options, give customers a telephone number to speak to a live person, publish a street address prominently, explain what happens to their credit card number, clearly spell out your delivery times, publish your refund policy (and make it strongly weighted in the customer's favour), offer a currency converter for international customers, make it easy to calculate shipping charges, ... Whew! That's all I can think of for now, but I'm sure you get the picture.