How many times a day does your company get emails from customers saying their system/PC was hacked; therefore, data loss and they need to get back the purchases made at your store? Perhaps for those who aren’t in touch with e-commerce, this isn’t something to be worried about; however, it does say much from a brand to be in touch with your clients and even assist them in topics that are not necessarily related to your business but rather what’s known as “urban knowledge”.
In any case, you can be certain that an effective marketing campaign can be done with something as simple as developing trust with your clients by telling them how to protect their data. These are the 5 essential email protection tips every customer should be aware.
1. Say NO to Public WiFi
A common practice when travelling is to log at any place we may come across that has a public WiFi network, especially at metro stations, airports, plazas, and so on. Why is this important to acknowledge? Because hackers are known to leave malware software hidden under those conveniently placed public networks, thus putting your data at risk.
When travelling, always try to rely on the services of your mobile connection – even if it implies hefty roaming fees. It’s not hackable, you won’t be using as much internet when travelling unless it’s work related (and under those circumstances, probably the company has already found a way to take care of such expenses), and if everything else fails, use the hotel room’s WiFi service. Better safe than sorry.
2. Avoid Links Sent Through Mail
Something your clients should know is that they cannot trust people that send links through the mail unless it’s a very close friend/co-worker. Companies don’t do the naked link practice but embed those links through buttons or text hyperlinks as to make them more attractive and catch the client’s attention.
You can always include a FAQ guide at your website with a section regarding data security in which you can state the elements that can lead to potential phishing and how does your brand deal with those scenarios. Further information on the most famous hacker attacks to email accounts can be listed down at this infographic courtesy of Avatier.
3. Create a Spare Email Account for Entertainment
Customers should know the importance of having an email account especially for social media, online gaming and other entertainment practices as forum chats. Why is this important? Mostly because it proves to be a precise way of avoiding scams to target your data – especially credit card info, login data for work-related applications and so on.
Photo courtesy of Startup Stock Photos
Just like with the sole password logic, having just one email account makes your internet experience a vulnerable one where only a LED sign is missing from the picture for letting hackers know how to target you.
4. Do Not Open Unrequested Email Attachments
Unless you happen to request particular content from a company, such as a non-delivered product or a backup of a file you already submitted, then avoid – by all means – to download any email attachments that can be included in mailing lists. JPEG images can easily camouflage EXE files (which can include uncountable means of malware), which means once opened, your PC will be infected with viruses.
5. The Importance of Anti-Malware Software
Finally, something that should always be on top of the table for discussion and revision is the usage of anti-malware software. Viruses and other means of cybercrime are reinventing themselves as we speak. Thus software has to meet up with the demands of a constantly evolving crime industry for ensuring a safeguard for our data.
Whenever possible, do set some spare time to do a thorough revision on how did your anti-malware software behaved over the past 10-12 months. Analyse some threats detected, how and if warnings sent were meddling or annoying, and of course cost-effective relationships. If another provider can give you all the features your current anti-malware software provides for a better price or with an improved customer client support, then maybe it’s time for a change.
Photo courtesy of picjumbo.com
As you can see, these tips are mostly practical based knowledge, though many people are still unaware of the internet safety protocol to follow up these days. Be there to give a helping hand to your customers, and you can surely expect customer loyalty as a reward for your efforts.
