It may seem too hard to believe, but there’s still a lot of people who are still afraid of shopping online. Someone, who regularly shops online, doesn’t even think while entering debit or credit card information online.
You might be probably shopping online on a regular basis, buying movie tickets, paying bills online, etc., but it does not necessarily mean that everyone else feels the same about shopping online.
What could possibly go wrong?
Despite 70% Internet penetration in 2015, only 5% of Malaysian businesses had presence online. Rising income and growing smartphone and internet penetration are the factors that will boost Malaysia’s online market from 0.5% of total retail spending in 2014 to 5% by 2020.
Understanding, addressing and overcoming these e-shoppers fears of e-Commerce is often the key to gain customers’ trust, visibility and success of your business. Below, are the top 6 e-Commerce fears and how to overcome them.
1. It this business legit?
You need put yourself in the customer shoes. Imagine landing on an e-Commerce site that looks like it has been created in the early 90s, abandoned and have not been updated ever since.
With the poor design, bad user interface, little content, unrelated information, and tons of advertisement overcrowding the page.
According to a recent study by Stanford University, 46% of site visitors assess your site’s credibility on the look of the homepage.
When the customers visit websites like the one mentioned above, they will automatically suspect something dodgy. There is no way a customer is going to trust the site, especially when it involves online transaction. When a customer doesn’t like what they see and experience, they will immediately move their cursor to close such page.
Ways to overcome this fear
- You need to build trust in your potential customers and stop people from bouncing away from your site before they have even browsed through your products or services, by looking at the design of your e-Commerce sites. You must also ensure that your site layout is clear and easy for customers to navigate around and shop.
- You might also build credibility on your online website by linking your company’s social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube) to allow for alternative channels of communication. To add on, in iPay88 case, we include merchant testimonials to show that our business is not a fraud and trustable by merchants.
- You can provide a physical address to convince the shoppers that you are not just an internet ghost, but are actually located somewhere. If you do have a physical store, certainly map in on the Google Maps to earn additional credibility.
2. Can I shop safely?
We often hear about the password hacks and other security breaches that occur frequently. In our previous blog, we have written about Equifax breach, where 209,000 US consumers’ credit card numbers were leaked.
All these stories will lead customers to fear to shop online. This is why e-Commerce business owners need to address this. No one ever would want their private information be stolen.
Ways to overcome this fear
- Payment gateway logos, which show that customers would be able to pay for their purchases easily. The customers will feel save and less worried to shop at your site since these logos are trusted.
- Include a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) button and a privacy policy so that the online shoppers know that their details will be safe.
- Logo from external accreditors who say it’s safe to shop on your site, for example PCI-DSS compliance. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of security standards designed to ensure that all companies that accept, process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment.
3. Is there anyone I can talk to?
e-Commerce sites run the risk of giving an impersonal service approach rather than the traditional customer service approach.
This is because during the buying process, it only involves the customer and their computer or mobile device, no human interaction involved whatsoever.
The sales person should be involved here as customers need someone to answer their queries, or recommend suitable products.
Ways to overcome this fear
On your e-Commerce site, display a phone number that customers could use to contact you, and train your customer service executives to handle and understand your customer queries and needs.
For example, iPay88 displayed the customer support service hotline and every merchant who has inquiries may contact for assistance.
You could also utilize an online live chat plug-in on your website, the icon sets a big psychological assurance to the customer.
You need to make sure you have a team that are able to keep the promise of 24/7 assistance else you can outsource it to a third party. You could also have a FAQ section on your website to answer common customer queries and questions.
To be continued in part two next week.
