27/07/2018
Even businesses the size of Argos can get LEFT BEHIND online.
It’s been a long time coming now…
The news has been cropping up around the internet’s tech corners…
And yes, it’s here!
Google has officially rolled out the “Not Secure” badge in the newest version of Chrome.
Alright – now you’re probably thinking “well that’s anticlimactic”, but here’s why it’s so important to be on top of things like this:
In the past, your site could get away without having a SSL security certificate. It would be difficult if you were taking payments, obviously, but not impossible. It would be up to the visitor to keep an eye out and make sure the data they were sending was encrypted.
(And this doesn’t just go for payment details, it also affects logins, passwords, email addresses, you name it.)
But now? Now the Google Chrome browser will STRAIGHT UP say “Not Secure”. Right there at the top.
And for a business the size of Argos, which relies heavily on web sales, to have not bothered installing a site-wide security certificate, this is a disaster.
Because with security breaches, data leaks and hacks popping up in the news every other week (lookin’ at you, TalkTalk), people are rightly concerned about what businesses are doing to protect their data.
And now when you go to shop at Argos, one of the first things in your face is a reminder that this site is…
NOT SECURE.
Not cool. And not good for business.
Though let’s be entirely honest, and not too nit-picky. Once you’ve gone to the login or checkout section, the site does switch to secure mode. There’s a valid cert there – but what do you think is the potential upfront cost to Argos of visitors being immediately told that the site they’ve just landed on is not secure?
How many potential buyers are going to drop immediately due to (justified) fear for their data?
More than enough to cause a nice dent in revenue, we reckon.
To be fair to Argos, though, sometimes in larger companies it can be difficult to keep on top of these things. Communication can break down, and the web team might not even know about this.
But on the other hand, surely they have a nice big web team whose job it is to make sure these things don’t happen, eh?
Yet there you go. Not Secure.
This isn’t a gripe about Argos actually being a security risk (as we said, they’ve got security elsewhere) – instead, look at it from the customer perspective. Your site should be built entirely around making sure your visitors feel welcomed and happy to do business with you.
Hanging a big ol’ sign on the front that tells them you don’t value their security is a disastrous oversight, and will lead to much more people walking away than you’d realise.
Given it isn’t exactly hard to sort your site out with some valid customer protection, it’s something worth doing right.
So… do YOU have an SSL certificate for your website? If not… why is that?
If the problem is that you just don’t understand it too well, or you’re struggling with the setup, just give us a shout. We’d be happy to help – and make sure more people feel good about your business.
