Security sits at the heart of both the GDPR and PCI-DSS compliance. If your business does not have the right safeguards in place, it cannot hope to protect sensitive information from falling into the hands of unauthorised third parties.
It is important to realise that security is not just a box-ticking exercise, nor is it purely for the benefit of your business. As customers become more tech savvy, they too are placing more importance on security.
Customers do care about security provisions
Historically, consumers have been fairly lax when it comes to their own security provisions. Until manufacturers forced the use of PIN code locks on smartphones, more than half of owners refused to secure their devices for instance.
Despite this, customers have far higher expectations of the businesses they deal with; 65% of consumers worry about the security practices of their service providers. This is not just a theoretical concern either. 59% of those questioned admit that they would choose a provider “solely on the basis of additional security measures offered.”
If it comes to a choice between providers, security could be the deciding factor. The strategic importance of security runs much deeper however. The same Kaspersky report found that 47% of consumers would use online payments more if they had “reliable protection for financial transactions.”
This preference is even more important in terms of mobile transactions too. A Vanson Bourne report found that 71% of consumers would spend more money via their mobile device if security concerns were properly addressed.
No matter how they choose to shop, customers would spend more money overall if security concerns were addressed to their satisfaction. Any business placing security at the heart of their strategy stands a good chance of establishing a competitive advantage in their vertical.
Security by design – a strategic necessity
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) places a heavy emphasis on “security by design”. This places data protections at the heart of your general IT strategy (including payments) moving forwards. Because of the importance of this issue, we will cover it in a standalone blog post in the next few weeks.
However, it is vital that your strategy includes security by design moving forwards.
A relatively straightforward choice
Knowing that customers want increased payment security – and that they will spend more with businesses delivering on those expectations – underscores the strategic importance of security. Your business simply cannot ignore payment security improvements if you have any expectation of reaching sales targets and growth goals.
By far the best way to increase customer retention is to give them what they want. In future, this will mean improved security at every point of your operations, including payments. The good news is that by any investment in data security should repay itself through increased sales and reduced cost of generating new leads.
To learn more about improving payment security provisions – and reaping the rewards of increased customer retention – please contact us.
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