Safeguard Holiday Shopping Before Deals Turn Into Steals

by Shaun Murphy, CEO and Inventor of SNDR.com

Consumers are expected to do so much of their holiday shopping online this year that delivery companies like UPS and FedEx are projecting increases of holiday deliveries of at least 10 percent and are hiring record numbers of seasonal employees. Some apartment complexes expect to be so overwhelmed by deliveries they have informed residents that they will no longer be accepting packages at the office and boxes will be left at apartment doors. While online shopping can be incredibly convenient instead of running to multiple stores searching for gifts, and it gives consumers the opportunity to cash in on exclusive savings, hackers are also planning for the influx of online orders.

Before swiping a card at a store or hitting enter to place an online order, ensure the safety of a purchase by following these tips:

Go Digital.

Using a digital wallet in stores can protect you from having your credit card information stolen via a skimmer or other device.

Use Pre-Paid Cards.

>Online bargains can be hard to pass up during the holiday season as many sites offer deep discounts and free shipping. Avoiding driving in unfavorable weather and long lines at the registers also equal holiday joy, but only if precautions are taken to help prevent that joy from turning to regret when the bill arrives. Using pre-paid credit cards that are not linked to your bank account or credit history can stop thieves from accessing and using your financial information if the site you shop on ends up being hacked.

Avoid Links.

If a smoking deal for a television, smartphone or other must-have item arrives in your inbox this holiday shopping season, do not click on it. Instead, open your web browser and type in the direct URL for that store. Or, call a nearby location to verify the offer is real and not a spoof a criminal made to look like a real offer.

Create unique usernames.

Just like it is a bad idea to use the same password for all your online accounts, using the same username can also be a big mistake, especially if you use that same log in for email and social media. To keep your online history private from criminals, create a unique username for each website on which you shop. For example, YourName+StoreName is a better username than your name plus a few numbers.

Read the Privacy Statement.

Or, just skip online shopping altogether. Simply scrolling through and accepting the terms and conditions of every website you shop on without reading the details could mean you are signing away your right to privacy. You could be agreeing for retailers to sell your information without realizing it.

Additionally, if you use one email address you are making it easy for cyber criminals to hack into every online account you have ever created. From bank accounts to credit cards, social media and online shopping accounts – if your one email address is attached to every account you use online, hackers can track that address to find all of your accounts and attempt to access them. Rather than leaving a trail of breadcrumbs revealing to thieves all of your online activities, its time to start creating dozens of email addresses.

Some email providers including Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo allow users to alter their email address into infinite number of disposable addresses. For example if your email address is shauntips@gmail.com and you want to sign up for a new deal website you can alter your email address just for that site by adding an identifier to it. Your new email address for that site could be shauntips+FreeRunningStuff@gmail.com. This keeps your actual email address private and can help stop criminals from being able to track your online history simply by searching for one of your email addresses.

In addition to not using your unaltered email address as a username for online accounts, the following common mistakes should also be avoided.

Including All or Part of Your Name – business professionals and students often use a variation of their full name as an email address, on social media and other online forums. While people might be able to easily search for and follow or friend you, you are also making it easier for criminals to do the same.

Revealing Details About Your Location – whether it is the city you reside in now or where you were born including a meaningful location in your username is never a good idea. Not only is it one more tool criminals can use to narrow their search for your personal details, it is also a common password security question.

Using Your Birthday or Other Meaningful Numbers – While a string of four to eight numbers might seem random a criminal will be able to use a birthday or street address to verify if the information they are accumulating is all for the same person.

For more information about protecting your security and privacy online, visit: www.sndr.com.

Shaun Murphy, CEO and Inventor of SNDR.com, is one of the nation’s leading experts in communication security with over 20 years experience in the industry. Shaun worked as a subject matter expert on high-level government communications software and hardware systems for numerous agencies. Now, Shaun has dedicated his life to developing technology solutions for the average consumer. His mission is to create a protected communications platform in a world where privacy has almost ceased to exist. 

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6 Ways To Improve The Checkout Experience

By Haresh Kumar VP of Marketing, Moovweb

Retailers are losing $18 billion annually due to shopping cart abandonment. Research shows over 2 out of 3 users who add items to their online shopping cart leave without making a purchase. The numbers are even worse on mobile where conversion rates are 70% lower than desktop. So why are consumers leaving right at the point of sale and what can companies do about it?

Even multi-million and multi-billion dollar companies are failing to implement some of the critical best practices for checkout. Here at Moovweb, we’ve incorporated the findings of leading research center on e-commerce usability Baymard Institute to categorize six types of best practices that you can apply to your mobile checkout and increase conversions up to 25%.

1. Messaging.

92% of the largest U.S. e-commerce sites fail to have adequate messaging throughout checkout. Use clear, direct language to help consumers understand what they need to input and why. Enhance form field labels with short descriptions (e.g., “Your security code: a 3 digit code found on the back of your card”). Avoid generic error messages such as “Invalid.” And explain why you require a phone number (for shipping issues) rather than leave customers guessing.

2. Context.

Consumers are often interrupted on mobile devices, as they are doing other things. To meet expectations for fast and easy transactions, brands must provide experiences that match the mobile users’ contexts with smaller touch-based screens and in-the-moment needs. Save mobile users time and taps by auto-detecting card type based on their card number and auto-detecting city and state based on zip code. Disable auto-correct for name fields and provide numeric keyboards for phone and credit card information.

3. Design and Navigation.

Mobile customers expect a checkout experience that is user-friendly and seamless. 25% of shoppers abandon shopping carts because the website navigation is too complicated. Ensure the font is legible – never use one below 11 pts – and provide adequate spacing between clickable elements. Offer a guest a checkout option. 30% of users abandon their cards if they are asked to register up-front. One final tip on this point – make it easy for mobile users to keep track of where they are in the checkout process by labeling each step (for example, “Step 1 of 3.”) Avoid using a coupon field, as it prompts shoppers to coupon hunt. Many will abandon their carts to look for a coupon and fail to return.

4. Trust/Security.

Creating a sense of trust and security is key during checkout. 17% of shoppers ditch their carts over concerns about payment security. Include credit card logos and site seals from anti-virus software brands. Consider encapsulating certain fields to make them feel more secure. Add a padlock icon to reinforce users’ sense of security. And give customers one last chance to review what they ordered and ensure they entered everything correctly before they proceed with their order.

5. Funnel Insights & Analytics.

Insights on where in the checkout process drop-offs are happening are the key to minimizing shopping cart abandonment. Use field-level analytics to track in which fields (name field, address field 1, address field 2, etc.) customers drop off. Analyze user behavior by segment (e.g., traffic source, geography, device, returning vs. new) and tailor the checkout experience to their needs. For example, if they came from an ad promoting a sale, fill in the promo code for them.

6. Testing/Iteration.

When testing your mobile checkout, be sure to set up statistically significant tests. You should not call tests before you’ve reached a 95% confidence interval or higher. Run your tests for at least 1-2 business cycles. Determine the sample size in advance and run the experiment until the predetermined sample size has been reached. One useful tool for calculating sample size is http://ift.tt/VTneXa

At Moovweb, we’ve developed deep expertise in the checkout process, gained by powering over 300 mobile experiences for leading brands such as Macys, Bloomingdales, 1-800-Flowers.com, Charlotte Russe, Petco and Forever 21. Our significant insights into online shopping behavior show businesses big and small are failing to meet the demands of mobile shoppers. These six ways will give companies a clear roadmap to better checkouts.

 

Haresh Kumar has more than 15 years of experience in marketing, product, and strategy for world-class enterprise brands. He is responsible for extending Moovweb’s thought leadership and driving overall marketing and communications strategy.

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The Apprentice UK: The BBC Show’s Greatest Success Stories

Millions of people around the world have tuned into The Apprentice during its decade-long run. As we’ve watched from behind our television screens, we have been inspired, motivated, entertained, and driven to want more for ourselves. We have witnessed these born entrepreneurs apply their skills to a myriad of situations, and many of us have wondered whether we have the capability to do the same.

It’s easy to forget that these are not just abstract figures. We have watched them for months at a time, yet when each series has terminated, only a select few have remained in the public consciousness: the winners, the extroverts, and the loudmouths, mainly. Yet many have gone on to enjoy real world success once the show has ended, so here is a rundown of the three greatest successes The Apprentice has ever spawned…

Tim Campbell (Series One)

Many of us barely remember suave series one winner Tim Campbell, but the original apprentice has gone on to do great things. The former transport manager spent two years at Amstrad after his initial victory, before leaving and putting the skills he had acquired to good use. Since his 2007 departure, he has founded the Bright Ideas Trust for young entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds, become a social enterprise ambassador for the government, and London’s ambassador for training in enterprise. To top off these achievements, he was awarded an MBE in 2012, in recognition of his services to enterprise culture. Currently spending his days as a corporate speaker and TV presenter and reporter, this Apprentice victor is proof of just how far entrepreneurial talent can take you.

Katie Hopkins (Series Three)  

Series three contestant Katie Hopkins is an undeniably controversial figure, yet her success is incontestable. She has gone on to make vast amounts of money as one of the most hated public figures in Britain, and is a household name recognised across the country. Known for her vitriolic Twitter spats, provocative stint on Celebrity Big Brother, and multiple daytime television appearances, she is a figure that we all love to hate, and has racked up more column inches than any other Apprentice alumni to date. With estimated earnings of £2.6 million, she has inarguably put her 2007 television appearance to good use.

Lee McQueen (Series Four)

Lee McQueen is another winner who followed in the footsteps of Tim Campbell and took full advantage of his Apprentice experience. After phoning in sick on his first day in his new £100,000 job, he made up for lost time by turning the opportunity into an unqualified triumph. He would go on to become close friends with Lord Sugar’s son Simon, with whom he set up a successful digital media business. Not content to have this as the only string on his bow, he also founded recruitment company Raw Talent Academy, offering help to young people looking to begin careers in sales and recruitment – both profitable and altruistic.

With series eleven set to air this autumn, will any emerge who can match the successes of these three Apprentice greats?

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Why You Should Run Your City Like A Startup

By Scott Fadness, Mayor of Fishers, Indiana

90 percent of startups fail. With such a high failure rate, why would I, the leader of a municipality thousands of miles from Silicon Valley, model my leadership style after that of an entrepreneur?

As the mayor of an entrepreneurial city, I recognize the benefits that come from the startup approach to building a business. Startups and entrepreneurs in general, share a number of characteristics that can lead to rapid growth and economic gain.

City officials aren’t the only leaders that can benefit from an entrepreneurial approach. Below are three reasons we run our city like a startup, and how your business can be successful doing the same:

1. Startups are agile.

Today’s business environment demands that we move faster – make decisions faster, identify trends faster, and get products to market faster. The ability to quickly pivot also benefits cities looking to grow. However, the demand for speed isn’t enough to make a team more agile, it involves enhancing autonomy, by first putting the right people in place.

Earlier this year, I appointed the first deputy mayor of the city of Fishers. We’re in the midst of rolling out a 25-year comprehensive plan for the city and appointing someone who had experience to help facilitate that plan is important to keeping us on track.

As a leader, you can’t move quickly and easily if your employees depend on you for every decision that has to be made. Looking for employees who can not only get the job efficiently, but also share your vision and your values, can help lead to autonomy, ultimately making your business more agile.

2. Startups unlock creativity.

Because startups have limited resources, they have to look for new ways to use what’s provided to them. It’s part of what makes them risky, but it also helps make them creative. Successful entrepreneurs are continually innovating to solve problems swiftly and creatively.

In Fishers, we’re always looking to keep expenditures per capita low. But, that doesn’t mean we don’t need to upgrade our infrastructure. Instead, we’ve looked for entrepreneurial ways we can leverage assets we already have – federal and state grants – as a way to make those upgrades. By using our local money to bring in federal dollars, we expect that federal funding will pay for 80 percent of the roads and trails we’re building over the next five years.

There are countless articles about how leaders can make their businesses more creative, but one of my favorites is defining a powerful vision. By defining a strong vision, you as a leader can direct the process though a vision that team members can get excited about. 

Startups prioritize culture.

According to Silicon Valley venture capitalist, Ron Conway “culture is the greatest legacy a founder can leave.” That’s because for a startup, culture is the ultimate competitive advantage.

The same holds true for a city. When someone chooses your city, either as a place to grow their business or their family, they’re looking for more than just a physical building. They’re looking for infrastructure – roads, water supply, sewers, electrical grids. And looking for an ecosystem – things like schools, parks and co-working spaces – that will support their endeavors.

Oftentimes, when it comes to emulating startup culture, business leaders tend to put a great deal of focus on the physical office space and perks. However, just as city’s culture is made up of more than buildings, your company culture needs more than just foosball tables and beer taps. Possibly the best way to build culture is to set an example for the members of your team to follow. Frequent, honest and transparent communication will help provide an ideal standard to follow.

Regardless whether you’re running a city with a growing population or an established business, an entrepreneurial style can provide new perspective and possibly a better approach to achieving your objectives.

 

As the first Mayor of Fishers, Indiana, Scott Fadness is committed to seeing it become a smart, vibrant, entrepreneurial city. Fadness also taught as an adjunct professor for IUPUI’s Graduate School of Public and Environmental Affairs and co-founded Launch Fishers, a co-working space and launch pad for high potential enterprises that boasts approximately 400 members and more than $3 million in venture capital and investment raised in 2014 alone.

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Phone Privacy Guard – Your Phone’s New Best Friend

In all honesty, it has become difficult to protect the privacy of smartphones both while surfing the internet as well as while offline in recent times. With the vast expansion of social media and networking coupled with all of the laws that have been written down to help manage the internet, and with search engines that use advanced technology, it has become possible to track down people easily.

Here is how you can protect your phone from malicious apps and prying eyes:

How to get one?

Visit your phone store or the iTunes store and purchase the Leomaster software before downloading it.It will cost you only as much as a cup of coffee! When you finish downloading it, you should install it. The installation process will take only a few minutes. You will be able to use the application only when you finish enabling it. The phone privacy guard application will, however, need to be updated once in a while but do not worry since the updates are free.

How does it work?

After you have finished installing it, go to your settings in order to enable your newly installed application. The application will give you total control over the granting of permissions to the other apps. Most of the apps come with the default permission “Allowed.” However, with this application, you could deny the other apps permissions. It is suggested that you enable the privacy lock so that the default app permission will show as “Denied.” Moreover, this phone privacy guard will tell you when you installed it so that you can know the date on which you made it possible for the app to deny permissions to the other apps by default.

Make no mistake.

While providing the setting options, make sure you do not give the app the permission to start automatically while the computer gets booted. Wake up! These are applications that will use up your battery and monitor. Once you have gone through this phase, make sure you go to the advanced settings tab to set your preferences. Finally, go to the settings tab once again to see all the installed applications. If you want, you can set the permissions to “Always ask” instead of “Allowed” or “Denied” so that there won’t be any problems in the future. This will allow you more control over all your applications. Moreover, it will allow you to identify whether the app you denied permission to is the one that crashed.

Always update the app.

Make sure that you always update Leomaster whenever the app allows you to download the updates since it will let you enjoy more features. It is possible that the makers of the application have omitted something in the previous version or want to correct some bugs in the app. You do not always have to work with each application every time with this application when you have the option of giving one permission for all the apps. You can also always reset the app if you want at any point of time in case you are dissatisfied with the current settings.

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Clipix.com – A More Visual Way Of Organizing Your Online Life

Productivity apps are one of the most useful to have and use, especially those that help us organize and manage the myriad of content we have online. But productivity apps do come in all shapes and sizes, from those that help you put together a simple grocery list like Out of Milk, all the way to the likes of Evernote, that helps you keep track of pretty much almost any part of your life you may want to put into its cloud.

But for those who prefer a more visual way of organizing their lives, there is the free online service Clipix.com. Clipix combines the online bookmarking and file sharing functionalities of Evernote with the visual appeal and simplicity of Pinterest, allowing users to clip and save articles and images as they browse websites, and then organize them into ‘clipboards’ inside the application.

Like its ilk, Clipix offers a browser extension – Safari, Chrome and Firefox – where a user simply downloads a bookmark. Every time the user needs to save something –  web content of any kind; pictures; PDF, Excel or Word documents – all they need to do is click the bookmark and add it to a specific clipboard. The clipboard can be set to private or open to the public, the latter of which can be shared with friends and family. In fact, Clipix allows a collaborative function – much like Trello – where you can send content to a “syncboard” where content is updated in real time for everyone who has access to it. Mobile apps, on both iOS and Android, allow you to continue using Clipix when on the move.

Use cases are near endless – you can use Clipix to plan your next trip by managing travel information, put together a weight loss plan by clipping recipes or ‘fitspiration’ articles, or you can set a syncboard for team members working on a project. An interesting use case will be the inbuilt product barcode scanning ability, which allows you to track product information and also set to notify you if there’s an online price drop.

As with most productivity apps, which one a user ends up usually comes down to personal preference – specific functionality, user interface, or even the app’s background color. Clipix offers enough flexibility to appeal to most users looking for something simple to use, yet offers enough functions to organize different areas of their online lives.

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5 Ways Role Models Can Help Small Business Owners

By Hunter Hoffmann, Head of US Communications at Hiscox Small Business Insurance

Entrepreneurs are some of the most courageous people out there since you need to be comfortable with a lot of risk to start a business from scratch. But, a lot of small business owners need some guidance to find their courage. That’s why most small business owners have someone in their life who served as a role model guiding them on their journey to start their own business. In fact, 64 percent of U.S. small business owners polled in the 2015 Hiscox DNA of an Entrepreneur study were inspired to run a business by their parents or other people they knew who had a successful business.

Established entrepreneurs can even inspire up-and-coming small business owners without even trying. Tim Berry, Palo Alto Software founder, wrote about how he raised a family of entrepreneurs, but not with the intention of doing so. He believes that the two most important factors that led his children to also become entrepreneurs were that he did not push them into following in his footsteps, and their educations were focused on learning, not on preparing to run a business.

Having close family and friends as role models and mentors, not just famous people you don’t actually know, can help aspiring business owners see the reality of running their own business, both the good and the bad. Before they were famous, celebrity entrepreneurs went through the same struggles many small business owners are now facing.

What should you look for in a role model or mentor?

Diversity of role models helps.

Everyone has their own particular talents that can guide burgeoning entrepreneurs. Maybe one entrepreneur you look up to has mastered the skill of public speaking, while another is an expert at sales pitches. Combine the best characteristics of all of your role models to create your own entrepreneurship style.

Role models can give you a preview of the future as you build your business.

Does a small business owner that you look up to work long hours and get involved with all aspects of their business? You need to be prepared to put in the same hard work they did if you want to follow their success.

Let history be your guide.

Failure can be a lesson, but you don’t have to repeat others’ mistakes to learn from them. No role model is perfect and you can learn as much by what they tried that didn’t work as you can from their successes. Ask them who they look to for advice and you can also expand your network of mentors.

Capture their courage.

Small business owners are 17 percent more courageous than the general population according to the Hiscox American Courage Index (ACI). You might need to take a chance to start your business, but you can get inspiration from others who successfully did the same. Role models can help get you ready to take risks to get your business started, and growing.

Pay it forward.

Once you get your business up and running don’t forget to pay it back to others who are just starting out. These new entrepreneurs can also help expand your network and keep you in touch with the latest developments in the start-up scene.

Role models and mentors are an important professional resource and system of support that can dramatically influence a new entrepreneur’s success and confidence. You don’t have to do it all alone, and getting advice from others who’ve already been there is a great advantage for new and aspiring small business owners.

 

Hunter Hoffmann is Head of US Communications at Hiscox Small Business Insurance and is responsible for media relations, social media, internal communications and executive messaging. Hunter lives in New York City with his wife and two sons – Walker and Otis. In his spare time, he moonlights as Chief Marketing Officer and deliveryman for Junior’s Fresh, a fresh baby and toddler food delivery service and cafe in New York City founded by his wife, Michelle.

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