In this month’s issue:
- ScanAlert – Hacker Safe and PCI compliance
- Back to Basics with ShopSite

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ScanAlert – Hacker Safe and PCI compliance

LexiConn is partnered with ScanAlert, the industry leader for server security and most trusted authentication seal for ecommerce sites, to offer both PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance and the “Hacker Safe” dynamic seal. If you are looking for new ways to put your customers at ease when ordering from your online store and make your site appear more secure to potential buyers, ScanAlert’s Hacker Safe program is a great choice.

The “Hacker Safe” logo and icon are widely recognized on many of today’s most popular ecommerce sites such as Petco, Sports Authority, Restoration Hardware, Linens-n-Things, and on thousands of other small to medium sized online stores. Customers have come to recognize and look for seals such as Hacker Safe when shopping online. ScanAlert has conducted numerous tests (A/B tests with and without the seal) and have shown that sites that prominently display the Hacker Safe rating have increased sales from 5-20%.

LexiConn’s partnership with ScanAlert allows us to offer this service at a substantial discount from the regular price. Pricing is based on sales volume, and can be as low as $19.99 per month (PCI compliance is included). Additionally, LexiConn is able to manage any issues that come up, making this service a “no worry, no hassle” process. For more information on this program, you may go to:

http://www.lexiconn.com/hackersafe/

or call ScanAlert directly at 1-877-302-9965 ext. 118 and let them know you are hosted with LexiConn.

If you choose not to take advantage of this service, ScanAlert and LexiConn can offer your website PCI scanning and compliance that is free for the first year, and only $19 per year going forward. Visa and Mastercard now require all merchants who accept credit cards to be compliant with their new PCI Data Security Standard. ScanAlert’s PCI service will verify your website meets these requirements, and offers you a questionnaire to verify your company meets the requirements as well.

For more information and to sign up for this free service, go to:

http://www.lexiconn.com/pci/

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Back to Basics with ShopSite

As ecommerce merchants do more with their stores, the basics of online shopping are often forgotten. This can be a critical error, as the competitive nature of online shopping has customers clicking away from a site at the first sign of trouble or confusion. We’ll go over a few basic areas of ShopSite that can help make your customers’ experience a pleasant one, resulting in a sale.

Nothing can be more frustrating than not being able to find a product on a site. As your store grows and you add more and more merchandise, make sure it is arranged orderly and navigation is clearly labeled and makes sense. If you have too many products on a page, use the pagination feature of Pro to break it up. If you have too many categories, consider sub-categories for better organization.

Make sure your ShopSite search is easy to find, and that you have the right keywords to make finding products easier. On your more information pages, a common mistake is to not have navigation at the top to make browsing to other parts of the site easy. More info pages are often left “naked” in terms of site navigation, making them an island instead of a part of the site. Also, the use of larger more info graphics allows customers to see a product more clearly.

For the cart itself, if you use shopper selected tax, ensure the options they can select from make sense. The default text is “I live in the merchant’s state, I live outside the merchant’s state…” which would be quite confusing if the shopper does not know your location. Customize this text to make the most sense for your tax scenarios.

The above tips about tax apply to shipping options as well. Having shipping options that are descriptive and explain to the shopper what the times/route will be help them choose the right option. Having an option such as “FedEx Express Saver” may not make much sense to the average consumer.

For the entire cart/checkout process, try to keep extra information that is not essential to purchasing to a minimum. The simpler and more streamlined the process, the easier it is for them to complete their order. However, the cart page is a great place to display how secure and safe your store is, using images/seals such as Hacker Safe, your SSL seal, bbbonline rating, etc… Keep these near the top to demonstrate your commitment to the shopper’s safety in completing a purchase at your site.