How to Make Sure Your Customers’ Data is Safe

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How to Make Sure Your Customers’ Data is Safe

You can’t serve your customers in eCommerce without taking a little bit of their data. You need to know how to charge them for their purchases and where to send their packages. Many people shop online, but consumers are becoming a little more discerning about which eCommerce retailers they’re willing to shop through. They need to know before they purchase that they can trust you with their information, and that trust starts with you putting the proper safeguards in place.

Be Careful About What You Collect

The less data you have, the easier that data is to manage. Make sure you’re only collecting what you need, and always be transparent in your efforts to collect that data. Let your customers know what you intend to use it for, and allow them to opt-out of providing data that isn’t essential to becoming a customer. The less you have, the better off you’ll be if something goes awry in the future. Ensure you aren’t storing things that can be used once and deleted.

Develop a Social Media Policy

Your eCommerce business is certainly active on social media, and your customers will leave comments and questions that require a response from your support team. Ensure that the individuals responsible for answering those comments know what they can and can’t talk about on social media. When in doubt, ensure your support staff knows to direct the conversation to a private email. If a customer inadvertently overshares personal information in their comment, the support person knows to delete the comment before contacting the customer privately.

Use a VPN on Your Office Computers

One of the easiest ways to prevent data from being stolen from you is using a VPN. VPNs keep all of your internet traffic in a narrow channel that other people outside your business won’t have access to. VPNs don’t let strangers in, and they make it much more difficult for bots and hackers to grab onto your customers’ data. There are all kinds of VPNs for different operating systems. Make sure you research what VPNs work well for Windows 10, or find the best VPN for the kind of smartphones you use for work.

Avoid Outsourcing Sensitive Jobs

You probably rely heavily on email marketing in your eCommerce business. It’s a great way to keep in touch with your customers and let them know what’s going on. Unfortunately, many eCommerce companies have a lot to handle, which leads to them outsourcing their email marketing to an outside firm. While most outside firms and freelancers understand and respect data privacy, you still can’t control how they handle things. Don’t risk allowing someone else to become a liability to your customers. It’s better to handle your marketing in-house.

Know What To Do if Things Go Wrong

You don’t always see a data disaster coming. Sometimes, it’s completely out of your control – no matter how careful you’ve been. How you respond speaks volumes to your customers. Big businesses often have larger budgets to help them recover from data breaches. If you don’t, you need to know what you can offer your customers. Let them know exactly what happened and how you intend to fix the problem. The faster you act, and the more updates you provide, the more easily the affected customers will be.

There’s no such thing as being too safe. Keep in close contact with your IT team, and make sure you’re acting on their suggestions as quickly as possible. New threats emerge every day, and the best way to keep your customers’ data safe is to stay one step ahead.

Amelia Dermott

How to Make Sure Your Customers’ Data is Safe

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Passionate advocate for digital inclusivity, leading the charge at Understanding eCommerce to provide web accessibility solutions for businesses and organizations. Committed to making the online world accessible to all.