A number of people have asked me this question recently, and it’s an excellent, question so I’ve decided to dedicate an entire blog entry to this topic.
Had I been asked this question a year or two ago my answer would have been “Of course it matters! Hacker Safe is the best solution available and is an essential part of any website.” However, things have changed fairly dramatically in the past year.
Hacker Safe was the first company to successfully educate the consumer (shopper) about the importance of buying from a trusted website (merchant). They helped educate consumers on the dangers of credit card fraud and identity theft, and created a consistent way to identify “safe” websites. Just look for the Hacker Safe seal!
However, with the rebranding of Hacker Safe to McAfee secure, that brand recognition has changed. In fact, it has been greatly undermined. Between the rebranding of the seal and the introduction of a Shopping portal that siphons traffic from merchant websites (see my prior blog entry), the Hacker Safe of new is not the same company I promoted to merchants over the past four years.
My good friend Ed Shapiro from http://www.sensoryedge.com/recently echoed my thoughts that “many of those businesses [merchants] will change their business play as Hacker Safe has obviously decided to do with their shopping portal.”
In addition, Bryan Eisenberg whom I love and trust, has a truly great post on just this subject as well:
McAfee Pulls a “New Coke”: Will it Hurt Retailer’s Conversions
So the landscape has changed quite a bit and today any security company can go out and market their security to consumers. All they need is decent technology and an attractive logo and voila, they are competing with McAfee.
Of course, this has always been the case; it’s just that consumers aren’t familiar with the McAfee Secure logo so the brand recognition of Hacker Safe is gone.
Incidentally a surprising number of the consumers I have polled who are familiar with McAfee, think that the seal has to do with virus protection. In fact, I’ve had several people say that seal reminds them of the “annoying popups they get on their computer about their antivirus software subscription!” This last comment I don’t’ make lightly.
I remember a few months ago when the announcement came out that McAfee was buying Hacker Safe and I was still working at Hacker Safe. At the first tradeshow after the news, we promoted the change. Pretty much everyone we talked to that came by the booth said “I get a bad taste in my mouth when I think of McAfee, they aren’t going to change the Hacker Safe logo are they???” I told them we were assured that would never happen, but low and behold it has…
So, who do I recommend?
I am currently recommending Control Scan, for a few reasons.
1. They have a proven technology. I won’t compromise on service or features when I endorse a product and I can say with confidence that Control Scan does offer the protection a merchant needs. In fact, they’ve added some features, like Breach Protection, (included in the special package I have had customized for our merchants) that not even McAfee Secure offers!
2. They are a recognized brand. The nice thing about being number two in a space is that when number one goes away, voila you’re on top! Hacker Safe was THE brand in the space and McAfee Secure has a long road ahead of them which leaves the door wide open for Control Scan. As consumers become even more familiar with Control Scan (and any other vendor for that matter) the strength of the Control Scan brand will grow.
3. Control Scan is professional. Admittedly they’ve been my competitor in the past but I’ve never had anything but respect for the way they conduct their business. Their willingness to customize the “essential ecommerce security package” for me (details below or in my previous blog post) underscored their commitment to their customers.
By the way, we will have the special Control Scan pricing available at the end of this week for our members. I was recently approached by a company called gamasec, I have a call later this week to talk further with them.
I am looking for volunteers to try both of these services on a free trial basis, I believe it is 2 weeks, and give me their results for me to publish here. I want to know about the scanning services as well as how did it work to increase your online orders? I want to then take these results and compare them to McAfee. I also would be interested in any other scanning/trust badges companies that would like to participate in this case study. Based on the results I will then determine who eCommerce Merchants will refer to their members. I want them to have the best, most cost efficient and truly secure service to use on their site.
For those of my partners as well as the customers I signed up for Hacker Safe, I just want to say how sorry I am that this has happened to you and I only hope I can make this up to you. Either by partnering with your company in my new capacity to offer your services to our merchants or by finding you a truly valuable service to replace Hacker Safe that you won’t get any blow back from.
Please keep your questions and comments coming. I enjoy reading them and will do whatever I can to ensure that you as a company succeed and are able to find the best value in a service no matter what it is you seek.
For kicks and giggles, my good friend Leslie Rohde will definitely bring a smile to your face or even a definite Laugh out Loud with what he posted on his blog…happy reading
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