You would think that big online businesses are the best targets for hackers and fraudsters. Well, that’s not the case. For example, of all the credit card data compromises investigated by Visa, only 20% are linked to online entrepreneurs transacting more the 20 thousand transactions annually.
No matter how small you think your business is, processing payments online makes you attractive to fraudsters and hackers. That’s why security should be one of your biggest concerns.
But losing a customer to secure his payment is too high a cost to pay.
That said, how have you been receiving payment from your online customers?
Are you still toying around with the idea of accepting credit cards as a form of payment in your online business? Unfortunately, apart from missing out on one of the most popular and safest forms of online payments, you are also not offering some of your customers the best customer experience. You are, consequently, risking an increase in abandoned carts and eventually negatively impacting your sales.
Today, accepting credit cards is necessary for the survival and eventual success of your online business. But accepting credit cards payments comes parked with its share of risks.
Let’s look at each one of them and the possible solutions.
Accept credit cards with a secure shopping cart: Risks Involved
Fraud
Online transactions have escalated payment fraud from counterfeit notes and forged checks to the more sophisticated credit card frauds.
You have to be proactive to avert incidences of fraud online. If not, you should prepare to deal with the constant loss of time and money due to the extra expenses that come with lawsuits, clean-up exercises, and fines by credit card companies.
Whenever a successful fraud takes place, it’s the identity of your customer that is compromised. As the merchant, you require a proactive way of proving that the person paying for the product is the authorized owner of the credit card.
Technology can help you out here. For example, chip technology reduces these kinds of fraud by 76%.
But since technology is a dynamic concept, you must stay updated on the latest secure payment acceptance technologies to ensure you and your customers are always covered.
Data Breach
The rate at which data breaches are currently happening is unsettling. Unfortunately, payment data is considered the most valuable of them. That’s why dealing with credit cards requires you to follow data management best practices to reduce your exposure to such risks.
When you take your business online and start to accept credit cards for payments, you will be required to be PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliant.
Apart from being PCI compliant, other technologies such as encryption and tokenization will help protect your customers from data breaches.
Business Reputation
How you manage and process credit card payments can put your business reputation at risk. A discrepancy in credit card payment can ruin your good name. Having customer service standards that meet the expectations of your customers will come in very handy here.
If you want to accept credit cards without putting your business reputation at risk, you need to observe the following:
- Be proactive in assessing and mitigating security risks in your business
- Manage potential risks by picking the right security partners
- Retain third-party credit card processors to avoid handling sensitive data yourself
Building Trust with Your Online Customers
Trust is the glue that holds together any relationship. That same concept rings true for any business — trust builds brand loyalty. But how do you build trust with an online audience?
You build your digital trust.
When your online customers are confident that you can offer them safety, privacy, security, reliability, and data ethics online, you have created a digital trust with them.
Whether this reality sinks in for you or not, your customers will respond by voting with their feet. That’s because customers are concerned about safety and security every time they need to transact online.
As an online entrepreneur, security has to be a priority for you. When your customers feel that their credit card information is safe with you, they will settle and become regular customers.
It will benefit you as a merchant to be aware of the security measures that you can use to protect card processing and payment gateways. Unfortunately, some of the available steps to help you avert fraud, such as multiple verifications, are also a turn-off for most customers.
What then is the solution?
A solution that will protect customers from fraud while offering a seamless customer experience.
The Big Picture
There is a fine line between protecting your customers and offering them a seamless customer experience. Unfortunately, 77% of US online merchants have reported that their efforts to protect their businesses and customers have hurt their bottom lines.
To deal with this challenge, merchants are increasingly embracing the contactless form of payment such as EMV. In addition, businesses are also investing more in payment data security.
Once you have found your balance between securing the credit card payment process and customer experience, it’s time to capture that portion of clients you have been ignoring for so long and watch your sales figures skyrocket.
