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Why is It Important to Be PCI Compliant?

Category: Ecommerce

Why is It Important to Be PCI Compliant?
Mohab Ecommerce 0

Why is It Important to Be PCI Compliant?

The e-commerce market continues to grow at an incredible pace across all industries.  More consumers now shop online, and online retail sales keep increasing every year. However, it is not all hunky dory in the online business landscape. One of the biggest concerns online businesses must grapple with is the increase in data breaches.  Now that payments happen online, there is a big risk of data loss without proper data protection mechanisms. The industry has adopted secure online payment systems, but there is still a need for regulation and close monitoring. This is where Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards come in to protect cardholder data. If you are an online business owner, there are various benefits of becoming PCI compliant.

This article examines the risks of insecure payment systems, PCI standards and the importance of PCI compliance. Keep reading.

PCI in Brief 

The advent of internet technology provided an ample opportunity for businesses to expand their reach. As more people went online, trendsetters in all industries moved their operations to this platform to tap into the new opportunities. The early online stores had to accept credit cards to offer a seamless online shopping experience, and this is where security problems started.

With no regulation on data security, data processing, and data storage, it was only a matter of time before credit card fraud started to hamper online shopping. At this point, providers of payment solutions came together to develop the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard or PCI DSS compliance standard.

PCI standards define data security requirements for businesses handling online payments. The bottom-line is to protect the online shopper by minimizing risk to cardholders’ data. Today, this is an industry regulatory requirement accepted worldwide. Businesses must undergo rigorous requirements, to become PCI compliant and it is an ongoing process.

Reasons for PCI Compliance

The process of PCI compliance is tough but when your company is compliant, there are multiple benefits you enjoy. These include:

  1. Reducing the Risk of a Data Breach

The last thing you want as an online business owner is for your customers to lose their data while transacting on your website. This can lead to devastating lawsuits, loss of brand trust and ultimate failure of your business.  Information flow online is fast and swift and within no time, your business will hemorrhage customers leading to a slump in sales. By complying with PCI standards, you can rest easy knowing your customers’ card data is safe and secure.

  1. Increase Brand Trust

The PCI badge on your website makes shoppers more comfortable to undertake transactions. It is a badge of honor for any business to attain and it takes a lot of investment in security standards on your website.  It is easy to build customer loyalty when you offer a secure shopping experience.

  1. Boost Sales Conversion and Revenues

When your customers feel secure shopping from your website, they will always come back. If there is no security breach on your e-commerce website, there is a higher chance of retaining existing customers while attracting new ones. All these factors boost sales conversion which in turn improves returns.

  1. Avoid Costly Fines

The issue of data fraud affects all businesses in the online ecosystem. If your business suffers a data breach, there is an immediate impact on all other businesses as customers will fear the same will happen elsewhere. For this reason, your business will suffer hefty fines from PCI in case of failure to comply with the standards. These hefty fines force businesses to observe best practices in data protection while at the same time implementing all guidelines provided by PCI.

  1. Build Your Company’s Image

Internet shoppers can always switch to another online store if they feel uneasy making payments on your website.  For this reason, you need to invest heavily in your image branding and one way of doing this is by becoming PCI compliant. Consumers now appreciate the importance of security when shopping online. If you have met the highest standards, they will comfortably shop from you and recommend you to their friends too.

When thinking about facilitating online payments on your e-commerce website, you should look for a payment solutions company that will boost your efforts to achieve PCI compliance. By becoming PCI compliant, you will easily sustain your business by averting fraud, increasing customer loyalty and building brand trust.

6 years ago
How mobile technology is shaping the e-commerce industry?
Mohab Ecommerce 0

How mobile technology is shaping the e-commerce industry?

In today’s world, both online retail and offline retail sales are crucial for retailers. Often, these two are closely intertwined, one driving another and vice-versa. But there is one phenomenon that is influencing both these retail methods – mobile technology. Here we will emphasize the influence of mobile technology in the e-commerce industry.

The statistics reveal that almost half of the global internet traffic, 52.4% in the third quarter of 2018, is generated from mobile devices. You can boost e-commerce sales if you implement m-commerce strategies or adopt mobile technology to drive e-commerce sales.

Check out the following mobile technology trends that can be fruitful for your e-commerce business.

The surge in smartphone and internet penetration

There were 1.57 billion smartphone users in 2014, and the number is expected to reach 2.87 billion by 2020. In addition to this, the internet penetration rate stood at 53% in 2018 as the number of internet users rose to 4.021 billion, a 7% year-on-year rise. These statistics depict the importance of smartphones usage. Therefore, it becomes obligatory for every business entity to establish its presence on mobile. This is applicable to e-commerce businesses as well.

Ask your developer to create a responsive website that adapts comfortably according to the screen size of the device. Moreover, you can also consider investing in a mobile shopping app, if budget allows. The ultimate aim is to streamline e-commerce business for mobile users. This will ensure that buyers can access your online retail store anytime and anywhere.

Mobile payments

With the evolution of mobile technology, secure payment online systems have been developed, exclusively meant for mobile phones. There are numerous payment options for users, such as credit or debit card payments, net banking, mobile wallets, UPI payments, EMI payments, and so on. The mobile wallets and UPI payments specifically target mobile users and enable them to complete a payment in a couple of steps. These are secure payment processors that ensure end-to-end encryption, preventing any chances of fraudulent activities.

Customer engagement

When you emphasize m-commerce, you get an opportunity to target a custom audience, showcasing customized content. Based on the preferences of the buyers, and their browsing history, you can deliver custom content and notifications. Similarly, you can easily determine the peak hours when mobile users are online. Send a push notification during this time period, as there is a high probability that a user will check it out.

Ensuring an interactive user interface is the key to boost mobile sales. For example, uploading high definition visuals like 360-degree photos, videos, etc. enchants onlookers. You can also opt for augmented reality wherein, users can actually analyze products in a real-world scenario.  Another way is to enable live chat feature on the app or mobile website. The users prefer conversing on a mobile phone as this is the most convenient mode of communication.

Social media integration

On an average, a user spends 116 minutes per day on social media, and 61% social media usage is on a smartphone. Since social media allow users to browse and shop products without leaving their social media account, you can harness this opportunity to drive e-commerce sales. For example, Facebook shop, Instagram shop, and Pinterest’s buyable pins are examples of social media commerce. After browsing products and services, users click on “Buy or Shop” icon, the link redirects them to the payment gateway page, resulting in the order confirmation.

Conclusion

This is the right moment for adopting and implementing mobile technology in your e-commerce business. If you delay it further, your competitors might gain an edge over you by driving sales via mobile purchases. Make yourself future ready by targeting the right audience with the right set of strategies.

6 years ago
How Digital Payments Can Ensure Online Business Success
Mohab Ecommerce 0

How Digital Payments Can Ensure Online Business Success

The modern business ecosystem today, is fast changing and as a business owner, you must adapt to survive these changes. One of the most phenomenal change, is the influence of the online market. If your business is not leveraging the growing internet market, you are missing out big time. Now, to survive in the highly competitive online market, you must provide a seamless shopping experience. One way of doing this is implementing a system which allows you to take payments online. A digital payment option helps unlock your business potential in various ways.

This article highlights how an efficient digital payment system, can ensure the success of your online business. Keep reading to know more.

  1. Providing a Fast and Convenient Payment Method

Online shoppers are infamous for their short attention span and their want for instant gratification. What this means, is that you must provide what they need, there and then. After a shopper adds items to their cart, the last thing you want is hitches in the payment process.

While most e-commerce websites promise easy payment, this does not reflect on the choice of payment options they offer. With digital payments, you can now provide a seamless shopping experience which in turn, leads to customer loyalty, fewer abandoned carts, increased sales conversion, and better ROI.

  1. Expanded Customer Base

Most e-commerce websites started out with only credit and debit card, as payment options. But things have now changed and if you do not adapt, you risk of being swept aside in this volatile market landscape. Digital payments allow more customers to complete the purchase journey on your online store.

You have an opportunity to expand your customer base which is the dream of every entrepreneur. By offering multiple payment options, you improve the shopping experience leading to increased sales, high ROI, customer loyalty, and brand recognition.

  1. Serve Various Geographical Markets

The best digital payment systems provide multi-site and multi-currency capabilities. It is now possible to target different geographical markets without the complexities of currency conversion. The idea of a global village has come to pass, and you should implement the best payment system to ensure you leverage this internationalization of commerce.

  1. Minimize or Eliminate Fraud

One of the greatest concerns in the online market ecosystem is safety when making payments. Shoppers must provide sensitive data, to complete payment and when such data falls in the wrong hands, many things can go wrong. This is where digital payments come in handy. The best payment gateway process entails performing card related encryption, authentication, and verification. Through such foolproof security measures, identity theft and fraud can be prevented.

If you have not integrated a digital payment system in your e-commerce store, you need to consider the risks for your business and your customers. Now that online shoppers appreciate the risk of online payments, they only use stores which guarantee the safest shopping experience. It is time to explore available payment gateways and purchase the best for your online store, to provide a safe and seamless shopping experience to the customer.

  1. Increase Profitability

One of the main objectives for every business owner, is to make a profit. In the e-commerce landscape, the stiff competition can reduce profitability and you must think outside the box to maintain the flow of the customers. This is where a digital payment solution comes in handy.

If you can accept multiple credit cards, mobile money, and other digital payment options, you will make customers happy which in turn leads to increased sales and profitability.  Potential customers will find it easy to complete orders which will, in turn, improve your brand’s reputation.

  1. Excellent Customer Satisfaction Levels

One of the major points of concern for online shoppers is the lack of a flexible payment option. It is a major reason many businesses rank poorly in terms of customer satisfaction levels. To overcome this challenge, you need to adopt digital payments.

It is an easy way of keeping your customers happy which leads to high customer ratings. Now that most shoppers look for business rating before making a purchase, you need to implement a seamless shopping experience by allowing flexible digital payments.

There is no gainsaying, the importance of an efficient payment gateway solution allows for seamless digital payments. It is an effective technique to keep your customers happy, increase your customer base, enhance safety security, cut the cost of accepting payments, and increase ROI.

6 years ago
Quick Secrets to Successful User Onboarding
Mohab Ecommerce 0

Quick Secrets to Successful User Onboarding

The rapid development of the e-commerce industry necessitates equally fast adjustments from business owners. One of the most important aspects of an online business is user experience and this is where your business will fail or succeed.  By embracing new technologies, online businesses can now provide a seamless user experience, thus gaining a competitive edge. Online payment platforms are among these critical technologies every online business must embrace in its endeavor for improved UX. If you plan to leverage a new payment platform on your website, it is important to consider user onboarding. This entails increasing the chances that new users become successful when adopting your application. It is the most crucial yet frustrating element of a product launch because it determines the first impression. As they say, first impressions are crucial and for this reason, developers and website owners must learn how to improve user onboarding. This article tackles some crucial things a software developer should consider to help users find new value and success when using their product. Read on.

Why User Onboarding Matters

When thinking of customer retention in e-commerce, most business owners adopt a wait-and-see approach. The idea is to wait for a few weeks after a product launches on the website and start making changes that will hopefully retain users.

  • Sells Your Products Value Proposition

Now, internet users have an infamously short attention span and this is enough reason to develop an intuitive onboarding experience. Such an experience enlightens users in the essentials of the payment solutions system. User onboarding sells your product’s value propositions and helps users experience the benefits as fast as possible thus reducing the possibility of dropping out.

  • Greater Conversions

It is important to appreciate that great conversions are about proving to customers your product’s value and full potential in the product launch and trial. User onboarding is crucial not only in improving the growth rate of users on your e-commerce platform and revenue but also in customer retention.

  • Customer Retention

Customer retention has now emerged as a more important business objective surpassing acquisition. In essence, user onboarding is a chance to create a great first impression. In this case, once the software user installs your product, they expect to get value and that’s what user onboarding is about.

  • Setting the Tone Of Interactions

Remember, the first experience a user has on the software sets the tone for your relationship and determines whether this will be a long-term interaction.

Small Tweaks to Make User Onboarding Work 

While user onboarding remains a nascent aspect of website development, some trendsetters have already charted the way. Some of the little things you can do make your online payment gateway work during the launch phase include:

  1. Setting realistic expectations: Show users where they are in the process of using the payment system and how far they have to go. Through the Endowed Progress Effect, you will motivate them to complete the steps and own the process.
  2. Map User Journeys/Tailor the experience: You need to understand the users’ persona to map their journey when using the product. What are the user’s needs, goals and motivations when using the payment application on your site? Are they worried about the cost? Do they need some education about the product? Try tailoring the product to suit the diverse needs of target users.
  3. Offer a compelling value proposition early: You must communicate the value proposition early enough through a simple, clear description of what makes your payment system unique. Make sure you help the user understand cost implications and benefits of the software early to spur further interest.
  4. Simplify: Simplicity is underrated in website development, yet it makes the difference between a successful system and a failed one. Keep things simple in the free trial form, a name, an email, or a social login such as Google or Facebook will work great for user onboarding.
  5. Choose a specific end goal for your user to reach: Make sure you understand where you want users to end the process and what is to be achieved there. Remember always to put the user’s goals first and not your product’s goals.
  6. Reduce friction: A poor sign-up process can ruin the onboarding. While friction will occur due to questions and permissions, you can reduce it through good interface design. Try to decrease form completion time through online form validation and build trust through customer reviews, and testimonials throughout the process.
  7. Use guided interactions: This educates and familiarizes users with the core features of the software.

These are just a few of the little things you can do when learning how to integrate payment gateway.  It will make the onboarding process successful leading to increased customer retention.

6 years ago
Payment Gateway Providers 101 – Why and How They Matter in Online Payment Processing
Mohab Ecommerce 0

Payment Gateway Providers 101 – Why and How They Matter in Online Payment Processing

The stiff competition in the online ecosystem calls for innovative strategies to stay ahead of your competition. One of the easiest ways to do this is by offering a seamless customer experience.  A payment gateway comes in handy in helping you offer a smooth user experience by allowing easier processing of payments on your ecommerce store. If you plan to set up an online business or if you have problems with billing, it is crucial to learn how to get these payment gateways working for you. Here are the main points you need to know about payment gateways. Keep reading.
How the Payment Gateway Works

To make things clearer, you need to understand what a payment gateway does. Now, in an online payment transaction, there is the merchant/business, the online customer, and the technology. In the part of the technology, you have the payment gateway (linking your site’s shopping cart to the card processor) and the payment processor.

During a transaction, a payment gateway encrypts credit/debit card data and keeps it private before sending it to the payment processor. The processor then sends this encrypted information to the issuing bank which accepts or declines depending on availability of funds and other factors.

In the simplest understanding, the payment gateway is a software integrated into your ecommerce website to send all of your credit card transactions to your credit card processors. At the same time, it also sends a message back from your credit card processor letting you know if a particular transaction has been authorized.

The Crucial Role of Payment Gateways

To fully understand the reason as to why you need the best payment gateway for your ecommerce store, consider the following:

  1. Serves as the middleman: The payment gateway reduces the temporal distance and makes payment possible in a matter of seconds. This software connects the customer’s bank, your bank, the acquiring bank, and the issuing bank.
  2. Authentication: Online transactions are fraught with risks and many businesses lose billions each year. An efficient payment gateway authenticates the card information and Okays the transaction to continue. There are no fears about losing money on your end.
  3. Security/Minimizing risk: In an ecommerce environment where risks are high, you need a system that mitigates such risks through encryption. You don’t want to lose your customers’ sensitive data when processing payment as this can ruin your business. The east payment gateway ensures compliance with security standards including Payment Card Data Security Standard among others.
  4. Hassle-free payment transactions: When you have an effective payment gateway, your payment transactions will flow smoothly and this boosts customer retention. The software makes the process hassle-free for both the merchant and the buyer.
  5. Reporting tool: All information collected during a transaction is crucial for your business and as such the payment gateway shares this to the parties concerned.

In essence, payment gateways are convenient, user-friendly and they have low commissions. They reduce the risk of theft and loss, which could tarnish your company’s reputation. Whatever the industry you are in, a good payment gateway is a handy tool in providing a seamless customer experience.

When shopping for a payment gateway, consider your business needs first. Look for multiple features such as encryption, recurring billing, virtual terminal, PCI Compliance and ease of integration with other tools such as Quickbooks. Payment gateway charges also vary and include setup fees, monthly fees, registration fees, payment processing fees, transaction fees, refund fees, and chargeback fees, limit fees, batch processing fee, termination fees and fund transfer fee among others.

You must also consider data security among other features. The gateway should be easy to set up and user-friendly. You should also compare the benefits of hosted vs. integrated gateways before picking one of them. Using this information, go ahead and leverage the best payment gateway to stay ahead of the pack in your industry.

6 years ago