The payment services specialist PCI Pal has published the results of a survey that underscores the importance of trust in the payments industry. The survey specifically looks at the opinions of Canadian residents, and coincides with the opening of the company’s new offices in Toronto.
The findings show that trust has become a bigger priority for Canadians in the wake of COVID-19. Fraud rates increased during the pandemic, and Canadians are therefore less willing to do business with organizations that cannot protect their personal information.
In raw numerical terms, the vast majority (85 percent) said that their trust level dictates how much money they are willing to spend. Businesses that suffer a security breach can expect to lose a considerable amount of business, with most of the respondents (55 percent) indicating that they would stop spending money with that organization for a few months, and another 23 percent indicating that they would swear off that organization forever.
The survey did have some advice for businesses that do suffer an attack. Organizations need to show that they have accepted responsibility and addressed the issues that led to the incident, either by investing in new security technologies or by hiring a third party that can conduct an audit and attest to the efficacy of a given security setup. Achieving compliance with Canada’s PIPEDA data privacy regulation can also engender trust with consumers.
Canadians had very little faith in retail outlets in general, and were equally mistrustful of online and brick-and-mortar vendors. They were far more likely to trust money transfer apps like PayPal and Venmo, at least from a data security perspective. A bad or confusing checkout process is a major red flag for consumers, with 31 percent indicating that they will abandon a transaction if they feel uncomfortable while entering payment information. In that regard, a poor payment experience was a bigger drawback than shipping costs and slow delivery times.
Finally, PCI Pal found evidence to suggest that consumer behaviors are changing. Just over a third (36 percent) of the respondents already look into a company’s security practices before making a purchase, while another 51 percent believe that they should be doing so to minimize their risk of exposure.
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