How to Increase Customer Privacy and Trust in E-Commerce

Consumer trust measures how willing or likely a consumer is to buy from a particular company or brand. For instance, if you’re making your first purchase from a new company, it may be hard to trust that they won’t take your money and run—or sell your information without your consent.

Online shoppers frequently cite a lack of trust as one of the main reasons they avoid purchasing from certain retailers. Therefore, building consumer trust is essential to the success of an e-commerce company.

How Privacy Affects Consumer Trust in E-Commerce

Privacy concerns are a huge obstacle to e-commerce. 81% of online customers are anxious about shopping on a website they are unfamiliar with.

Earlier, customers were unaware of how their personal information was handled. The lack of transparency and the fear that their data might be compromised made it difficult for them to trust eCommerce businesses.

Given the increasing awareness among customers about the amount and purpose of the personal data collected by companies, and amid the increasing clamor for data privacy, e-commerce stores need to employ best PII practices to protect such data.

Best Data Privacy Practices for Gaining Customer Trust

Create an E-Commerce Privacy Policy

You can’t expect customers to trust you if you don’t have an effective e-commerce policy that outlines how you handle the data of your customers.

Businesses must have privacy policies in place before they begin collecting personal information from their customers. They must also be transparent about how the data will be used, stored, and accessed to comply with many privacy regulations.

You will also need to detail in your privacy policy how your company intends to protect sensitive information.

Comply With GDPR

Companies that collect personally identifiable information (PII) from EU citizens must comply with GDPR. For eCommerce stores, you must comply with GDPR cookie consent by asking users to explicitly agree to store cookies on their devices.