One of the most important parts of running an eCommerce site is ensuring that your site is a safe place for customers to browse and make purchases. One way to work towards that security is to use Secure Sockets Layer technology, or SSL.
Per SSL.com, “SSL is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browser remain private.”
Essentially, when a customer enters information on your website, the information that is entered can be intercepted by hackers on an unsecure website. SSL encryption allows your customers’ browsers to form a connection with the webserver, look at the SSL certificate, and then bind the two together. This secure connection means that no one besides your customer and your website can see or access the information submitted.
The obvious answer here is that SSL is crucial for maintaining a secure and reliable eCommerce site. Not only will this ensure that purchases made on your site are safe, according to HubSpot Research, up to 85% of people will not continue browsing if a site is not secure. So, not only does SSL mean that purchases made on your site are secure, it could impact whether customers purchase from you at all.
As HubSpot stated, trust is the foundation of your relationship with your visitors and customers. With SSL enabled, you can build trust with people visiting your site and ensure their information is safe. Running an SSL-enabled website clearly shows your customers that you value their safety and are protecting their information from potential hackers.
While SSL is obviously primarily used for securing information between your site and your visitors, there are SEO benefits to using SSL as well. SSL is now part of Google’s search ranking algorithm, meaning that if two websites have equal ranking in search results but one has enabled SSL and the other hasn’t, the site using SSL may receive a rank boost.
There are a few ways to tell if your eCommerce site (or other sites you visit) has SSL enabled:
HubSpot also has an easy tool to check if a site is protected with SSL encryption.
Do you have security concerns for your eCommerce site? Our team can help.
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