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Secure Card Processing -- Instilling Confidence in Your Customers
When you are running a brick and mortar store or otherwise handling card-present transactions, customers usually have a fairly easy time trusting you. They can see the product they are purchasing, understand the service you are providing, and the simple fact that you have an established place of business makes many people feel more secure about working with you. Since web space requires a much smaller financial commitment and is basically available to anyone, anywhere, with no verification or accountability, potential customers can be much more skittish about ordering online. That is why it is critical to make sure that your site is professional and secure.
A Professional Appearance
The first step in establishing a presence on the web is to give your site a good review. Make sure that it looks authentic, professional, and clear.
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A clean look: You don't want the design of your site to be too busy or distracting. Your products and services should be strong enough to stand as the main feature.
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User-friendly: Make sure customers can easily find what they need in your web store. The navigation should be easy from start to finish, with clearly defined merchandise categories, a simple basket or cart, and clear descriptions and links that take a consumer from start to finish with ease.
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Clear contact information: When someone is making a purchase online, they want to know how to get in touch with you if something goes wrong. Whether you choose to use a contact form that can be filled out on the site or to post your email address, it is also a good idea to list a phone number and regular mailing address for any additional correspondence. The more you divulge, the better people will feel about doing business with you.
Card Processing Security
Once the basics of your store are set up to look clean, professional, and transparent, you also need to take care of securing your credit card transactions and payment areas. Using a merchant account designed for online businesses will get you the tools you need to process cards without any risk of information being sent inaccurately, to the wrong source, or otherwise creating a risk of identity theft for your customers. However, you will also want to make this clear on your site.
The features to note include:
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SSL: Secure sockets layer processing means that an encrypted link is used to send the information that the customer has provided.
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CVV: Obtaining the Card Verification Value number is another way to ensure security and prevent fraud.
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AVS: Address verification systems compare the address provided by the customer to the address that appears on his or her credit card statement. If they do not match, the sale will not go through.
You will also want to guarantee your customer that the information he or she sends through your site will not be shared by yourself, your employees, or anyone else who has access to see it.
Taking all of these steps will help potential clients feel better about releasing their private information to your store in order to pay for products and services.
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