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On 29 Oct 2000, Belgium
Drecommerce,
I am writing a thesis on how to enhance trust in e-commerce.
Could you give me your opinion on this issue? How would you enhance trust,
consumer confidence in electronic commerce? More regulations, self-regulation,
webseals,...?
Best regards,
Kevin
Dear Kevin:
I think there are three things e-businesses must do in order to promote trust in e-commerce:
- Be transparent - the merchant should not try to hide anything
from the customer. The name of the company, location, contractual terms,
who to contact if there is a problem, use of personal data, etc,. etc,
should all be explained on the web site.
- Explain everything - merchants need to remember that many customers
will have had little experience buying on the web and so may not understand
how things work. It is up to the merchant to explain every step of the
buying and delivering process. For example, since many customers are
reluctant to give credit card information on-line, the merchant should
explain why it is safe to do so and explain alternative methods of payment
for consumers aren't convinced.
- Keep processes dead simple - Complicated procedures, unnecessary visual gimmicks, Java-scripting which only works on the latest browsers, web pages which require plug-ins to work (eg. Shockwave, Real video), all make the buying process more confusing, particularly to the novice. And if someone is confused about what the merchant is doing, they are likely also to be suspicious. Worse, some of these gimmicks can cause the browser to crash. If the consumer is half-way through a transaction and her browser crashes, she is certain to become suspicious of the merchant.
I believe one of the key reasons Amazon.com quickly become a trusted brand on the Internet is because they addressed all of these issues from the beginning.
All the best,
Dr. Ecommerce