E-commerce stores must take these five steps to improve cybersecurity so that their customers can shop safely during the cyber season.
Online shopping has become the standard for the holiday season as consumers scramble to make purchases, choose gifts, and ensure everything arrives in time and all wrapped up for gift-giving events. Insider Intelligence and eMarketer projected that e-commerce sales in the U.S. will surpass $1 trillion in 2022. Unsurprisingly, the pandemic caused a boom in e-commerce sales, changing consumer behaviors significantly. Brands have adapted, and many retailers have adopted e-commerce strategies to better serve their customers.
But as e-commerce sales have increased, so has the concern about cyber security and digital safety while shopping online. As consumers scramble to find deals and discounts from Black Friday to Cyber Monday and beyond, the question of security — personal information, financial details, and even apps tracking consumer behavior across channels — is top-of-mind.
Ultimately, retailers’ responsibility is to provide their customers with secure digital environments where they can purchase the items they want without fear of a cybersecurity issue. E-commerce retailers must build security into the foundations of their business strategies to build trust with consumers, increase sales, and sustain lasting relationships with their customer bases.
Here are five ways e-commerce stores can keep customers safe during the holiday cyber season.
Prioritize multi-factor authentication
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a basic cybersecurity principle every e-commerce store should use. If you are collecting payment information from customers, managing shopping accounts or personal information, or even simply requiring a login to view retail items, you should prioritize multi-factor authentication. Whether you process payments through external e-commerce sites, like Amazon Pay, Paypal, or other service providers, or host it on your own site, choose a vendor with multi-factor authentication built into the system. This is the most straightforward and dependable way to protect your customers’ identities and sensitive information.
Remind users to keep their passwords updated
Most digital users understand that they should keep their passwords updated and change them regularly for optimal security. Few digital users actually do this.
Build into your strategy reminders for your customers to update their passwords for their security.You can prompt users to do so through email campaigns or pop-ups on your site. Additionally, another way to ensure that passwords are secure is to add multiple factors to confirm identity. Multi-factor identification (like through an SMS or a third-party authentication app) is one option, but you can also use security questions as an alternative.
Require only essential information and make data inputs optional where possible
Limit your data collection to essential information for purchasing, and don’t worry about collecting more than that. Your company will be better off if you have fewer data points to protect, and your customers will appreciate that they don’t have to sign over all of their personal information to make a purchase. When building payment forms, subscription boxes, or discount codes, eliminate unnecessary data boxes and give your customers more freedom to choose. Make email campaigns optional and ensure that your users understand that they don’t have to subscribe to notifications from your brand or receive marketing messages.
Build cybersecurity into your UX
Your e-commerce site should have cybersecurity built into the user experience (UX). For example, you should require your customers to use more complex passwords when they create an account with your business (to ensure better security). As mentioned above, multi-factor authentication is an essential tool. And, on any webpage where you collect personal information, consider a feature that automatically closes the browser tab after entering billing information. You can also track location and remind users if they are inputting their personal information using an unsecured network, like the coffee shop where they work.
Be prepared to verify your customers’ identities
Your customers will forget their passwords, get locked out of their accounts, and possibly even lose access to their emails for resetting. Have a plan prepared so that you can help your customers confirm their identities and regain access to their accounts. Automated password recovery is essential (and it should include multiple steps of identity verification). Clearly communicate with your customers the reset emails or messages they will receive and where those will be sent, to ensure that they can easily distinguish a real password reset email from a phishing email. Use secure confirmation methods to verify identities, like codes sent to other devices or accounts.
E-commerce retailers can prepare for a secure cyber season by building cybersecurity into their business operations. Consumers want to work with brands that prioritize their safety online. Cybersecurity is an important part of building trust with your customers. Start with these essential steps and provide your customers with a safe space to shop during the holiday season.
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