Security | Internet Marketing Blog

Why good checkout design is more important than trustmarks

I wrote an article recently about the use of e-commerce trustmarks and how important it was for sites to display trustmark logos.

Though they may help some sites, trustmarks alone are not the answer, and factors such as brand trust, price, usability and good design all combine to reassure customers about making a purchase.

A recent post on the FutureNow blog makes this point, and argues that the need for 'costly' security indicators, can be avoided with good cart / checkout design.

by Graham Charlton 01 March 2010 12:20pm 6 comments

E-commerce trustmarks: do they matter?

Trustmarks are the images or logos that retailers can place on their websites to show that they have passed various security and privacy tests, and reassure customers that it is safe to shop on the site.

But how relevant are these logos from organisations like Verisign or McAfee? Have customers even heard of them? Would other security reassurances do the same job?

by Graham Charlton 17 February 2010 10:22am 33 comments

Facebook, Gmail and iTunes: your future wallet? Probably not

What do Facebook, Gmail and iTunes have in common? By 2015, they might be dominant online payment providers.

At least that's the thinking of Dave McClure, a Silicon Valley startup investor. In a post the other day (caution: heavy profanity), he argued that "in 2015 the default login & payment method(s) on the web will be Facebook Connect, Google Gmail, or Apple iTunes".

by Patricio Robles 03 February 2010 13:00pm 8 comments

Ten common sense data security tips

If you run a website, there's a good chance that you store data that you wouldn't want falling into the wrong hands. At the same time, there's also a good chance that you're increasing the odds of that happening by not following basic security best practices.

Unfortunately, the cost of data breaches is growing every year. A new study released by the PGP Corporation and the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a data breach incident in 2009 was 6.75 million compared to 6.65 million in 2008. The largest data breach in 2009 cost just under $31m to clean up.

by Patricio Robles 27 January 2010 14:00pm 8 comments

Germany, France to citizens: ditch Internet Explorer

In the wake of the highly-publicized hack attack on Google and other large companies, which some are blaming on Internet Explorer, Germany and France have decided enough is enough. Both countries have warned their citizens that Internet Explorer is not safe and advised them to download alternative browsers.

Somewhat surprisingly, it appears that a good number of citizens are heeding the message. According to the Wall Street Journal, all indications are that the message is getting through. Mozilla, which is behind the Firefox browser, is reporting a "significant surge in downloads" in Germany since the German announcement. Numbers for France are not yet available.

by Patricio Robles 20 January 2010 09:36am 1 comment

10 ways to avoid spam in all its forms

Despite all of the tools that are brought to bear in the War on Spam, spammers continue to ply their trade successfully. The most prolific reach millions upon millions of people and are adept at adjusting to new weapons that aim to shut them down.

The truth is that defeating spam doesn't require more technology but changes in human nature. Here are 10 common sense ways to avoid spam that are forgotten or overlooked far more often than we'd like to believe.

by Patricio Robles 15 September 2009 12:01pm 2 comments

WordPress attack catches bloggers off guard, but it shouldn't have

Over the weekend, reports surfaced of a seemingly widespread attack targeting older versions of the popular blogging software WordPress. The attack leaves WordPress installations severely compromised and appears to be part of a campaign to spread spam and malicious code.

Numerous bloggers found themselves victims. One of those bloggers was popular tech personality Robert Scoble. He claims that two months of his blog's content was lost and that his site was booted from Google's index because of malicious code that had been inserted (ouch).

by Patricio Robles 07 September 2009 09:02am 6 comments

The 5 things Twitter must do to avoid #fail

How popular is Twitter? It's so popular that some would suggest it's worth billions of dollars. But as many of us who lived through the first .com bust know all too well, it's disappointingly easy to take something that looks like it has a future filled with success and turn it into fail.

In the case of Twitter, I think there are 5 things that the company's management needs to do to avoid that fate.

by Patricio Robles 02 September 2009 09:17am 4 comments

New job postings hint at Twitter's future plans

Love it or hate it, Twitter is hot. So much so that it received $48m in free media coverage over the past 30 days by one estimate.

But Twitter faces some major challenges and not everything is rosy in Twitterville. A flurry of job listings the company posted over the weekend hints that Twitter is looking to hire the talent it needs to keep the company from falling off the tracks.

by Patricio Robles 21 July 2009 10:57am 2 comments

Does your checkout process deal with shoppers' concerns?

To minimise abandonment rates, a good checkout process should be able to deal smoothly with any unanswered questions before customers pay for their items.

I've been reading an article by Brendan Regan on the FutureNow blog, in which he looks at five questions that customers may have in their minds when they reach the shopping cart, though he is referring to the checkout process as a whole rather than just the shopping basket page.

by Graham Charlton 23 June 2009 10:52am 2 comments