Our web hosting service, Verio , was kind enough to provide the following advice on how to effectively collect customer data.
One of any business's greatest assets is its list of customers. It is a record of past sales and a source of future revenue. The Internet presents a unique opportunity for you to obtain information about visitors on your Web site and to convert those visitors into customers.
As you are probably aware, consumers on the Internet are often very hesitant to provide any information about themselves while online. Most of us have experienced the frustration of entering our e-mail address on one Web site and soon after receiving volumes of spam e-mail. In the worst cases, personal data is stolen from a Web site and those customers become the victims of fraud or full identity theft. The media has covered such cases extensively, so many consumers are now aware of the risk in providing personal information. If you plan to leverage your Web site to increase your customer database, we recommend the following:
- Be clear and forthcoming about how you will and will not use any personal data your company collects. Create a privacy policy and adhere to it.
- Do everything you can to safeguard the personal information you collect from customers. Don't use obvious names for your database files--spammers are very clever about searching your Web site for files like "users.txt" or "customers.txt".
- Review your database records regularly and expire old data.
Author: Verio, StartupNation's Web hosting service
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