By Selling Secured Ordering, We're Killing Business

Why Do We Insist on Scaring Customers By Reminding Them That A Transaction Might Be Tampered With?

November 29, 1996

Miami

If one more person mentions that word "encryption..."

You walk into a store for lunch. You want to pay the waiter by credit card. By something is gnawing at you, wanting to get out. You've been on the Internet so long that you really fear whether this transaction is protected.

So you ask the waiter the impossible question: "Is this a secure transaction?" Can you guarantee me that no one back there will write down my number, or play the carbon game, or that no one will dumpster diver and get my number and use it, or that absolutely nothing will happen?"

That waiter would think you're crazy. Try it some time and see what they say. I've been down this particular path a few times but it never ceases to amaze me. Would they be in business if they kept reminding you what might happen to your credit card?

But this isn't about an argument of how safe or unsafe Internet commerce is; why are we selling it like it isn't safe? I'm talking about secured ordering, that word that from a techie's point of view is supposed to bring all the credibility to the transaction.

But to newcomer's it's a weird phrase that sparks their paranoia, makes them wonder what could go wrong, and most often, gets in the way of the sale. This will change as the "newness" wears off, but right now people selling the Internet are their own worst enemies.

I get this question constantly; how can I assure my customers' that the Internet is safe?

My answer? How paranoid would you like to be? I can say it until I'm blue in the face, but the need to stress security will do much more to awake fear than instill a sale. And it will undermine a business who wants to go online but has to figure out the word "encryption" and whatever other terminology is thrown in there to allay the fear.

Secured ordering creates fear. If we're going to turn this into a thriving marketplace, we have to stop being so afraid of holes in code and remember that this system is created because our current use of physical credit cards is fraught with fraud. Just ask anyone who's had a number stolen; you don't even need the card, they have pros who can create them.

You want security? Ask your credit card company to back up their product by protecting you with a legitimate dispute. That's the only real security. Stop selling secured ordering like you're doing anyone a favor or alleviating fear.

You're the cause of what you fear the most...their fear of purchasing online. Cut out the hype and let's get on with it.