When you have an eCommerce site, your customers rely heavily on its security each time they purchase. Unfortunately, with the countless threats lurking around the web, it’s more difficult than ever to keep your customers’ payment data safe.
If you’re not already following these eCommerce best practices for handling your customer payment information, it’s about time you start. Specifically, these precautions can keep your clients’ payment information safer and give them more peace of mind each time they check out.
Don’t Store Payment Data After Transactions
As convenient as it may seem to give your clients the option of saving their credit card data for future use, the reality is that storing this information can lead to security issues. To enhance safety, make sure that your eCommerce platform does not hold onto payment data after each transaction. At the very least, card verification value 2 (CVV2) codes and other card security numbers should never be saved.
Get an SSL Certificate for Your Website
Does your site have a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate in place? If not, now is the time to invest in one. An SSL certificate is a small data file that provides additional security for all communications and interactions on your website. Anything sent through a website with an SSL certificate (including eCommerce payments) is done over an encrypted connection, providing an added layer of protection for your customers.
Adding an SSL certificate is inexpensive, easy, and can typically be done in a matter of minutes through your hosting provider.
Use High-Quality Data Encryption
Speaking of encryption, now is also a good time to ensure that all payment information sent via your site is properly encrypted. This should include credit card numbers, security codes, and all other billing information that you collect at the time of payment. High-quality encryption ensures that, even if hackers gain access to this information, the data will not be readable or usable.
Invest in Dedicated Hosting Services
One of the best things you can do to improve security on your eCommerce site or any other type of website is to invest in the right hosting plan. Specifically, a dedicated server host provides the best possible security for you and your customers. Dedicated servers also deliver the most reliable connection and fastest speeds, so your customers can make online purchases seamlessly and confidently.
Ready to Make the Switch?
Of course, not all dedicated hosting plans are created equal. ReliableSite takes great pride in offering the best security features for your money, ranging from free distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection to high-quality data encryption, backups, and more. These features, combined with the customer payment information best practices outlined above, can help you take better care of your customers’ sensitive data.
Learn more about ReliableSite hosting plans by reaching out to our friendly and knowledgeable team. We even offer rapid-deploy servers so that you can get your eCommerce site up and running in no time!