What is SSL Certificate and Why It Matters

How to

By Adam Jesse - Technical Consultant and Team Lead - July 16, 2021

In the digital world, brands need to stay on top of their customer experience.

When asked what their biggest fears are with the online experience, customers cited “Personal Information Being Stolen” as their top fears. In FinServ, this fear is heightened when crucial data, such as banking information, are at high risk of being hacked.

So, what can brands do to protect their customers and manage this fear?

One of the answers is to use an SSL certificate for your website. But how can this help?

I’ve written this article to walk you through what SSL certificates are, how they help protect your customers’ sensitive data and the more surprising benefits they bring to elevate your customers' online experience.

What is an SSL certificate?

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificates are a technology that secures your website
An SSL certificate encrypts and therefore protects data exchanges between a website and its visitors.
For example, names, passwords, and banking details
Hackers cannot intercept this personal information
Even sites that require basic info, e.g. username and password, should have an SSL certificate to protect users
It is incredibly important for FinServ to protect customers’ data to be seen as trustworthy

How do you identify a secure website?

If the website HTTP has an ‘S’ (i.e. HTTPS), that means an SSL certificate has secured the website
You will also see a padlock image next to the URL
Certain browsers, such as Google Chrome, now mark unsecured websites as “Not Secure” in the browser bar

Why do you need an SSL certificate?

Reason #1: Protect data from being hacked

Hackers often place “eavesdropping” programs on the server that hosts a website
The program is activated when someone starts typing into the form fields on the website
The information is captured and transferred back to the hacker
This can lead to identity theft, fraud, and other undesirable situations
A website encrypted with SSL will form a binding connection between the browser and server, preventing anyone except the customer and website from seeing the information
It’s great for customer experience — once you have an SSL certificate, customers do not have to put in any extra effort to secure their information

Reason #2: Keep customers from abandoning your website

An SSL certificate retains your customers’ trust by keeping their data safe
Results in a great reputation for your digital business
Customers will likely leave your website if they see “Not Secure” because they do not feel safe sending you their personal/credit card info via an unsecured website
Near 65% of internet users prefer Google Chrome, so that’s a significant percentage of potential customers that will see those 2 words (“Not Secure”) and likely leave
This can lead to cart abandonment, meaning you could lose customers right before they click “Apply”/”Checkout”
Depending on the sector, 70 - 90% of users do not make it through the checkout process; one of the biggest reasons being that customers do not trust the website with their personal info
These customers find alternatives, i.e. your competitors, to get the same job done
It is your responsibility to hold onto these customers by providing them with the online safety they deserve

Reason #3: Be discovered by new customers

An SSL certificate gives you a boost in search engine rankings, i.e. your website shows up higher in the search results than it would without an SSL certificate
This means more people will find your website and browse through your products/services
More people will see that your site is “Secure” and make it through the checkout/application process
In summary, an SSL certificate means more potential business opportunities will come through, leading to more sales revenue for you

Reason #4: Enhance your sender reputation for better email deliverability

Providing end-to-end encryption on your email server can improve credibility
An SSL certificate encrypts the data sent from the client to the server
It makes the process secure and enhances your sender reputation
A good sender reputation will get your emails past the spam filter and into the recipient’s inbox

When do you need SSL?

Here are some use cases to consider when determining if you should use SSL:

1. If you’re using Marketing Cloud - Cloud Pages, you’ll want to secure URLs for landing page domains that start with pub.email.domain.com or cloud.email.domain.com

2. If you’re using Salesforce Legacy Landing Pages, secure URLs that start with pages.email.domain.com

3. If you’re using Marketing Cloud and your email content contains links, you’ll want to secure URLs that start with click.email.domain.com or view.email.domain.com

4. If you’re using Portfolio and Content Builder Content, you’ll want to secure URLs that start with image.email.domain.com in an email used in Portfolio or Content Builder.

Note: A single SSL certificate can be applied to use cases 1 to 3 or use case 4 but can not be applied to both. If required, you’ll need two SSL certificates to ensure all use cases are secured.

Important:

SSL certificates have an expiration date, so remember to stay on top of the requirements to renew yours!

Typically, shorter validity periods ensure higher security, so select a certificate that is valid for 1 year or less

Prerequisites to configuring your own SSL certificates using Marketing Cloud

You must be a Marketing Cloud User
You must have Sender Authentication Package enabled
If you host your own domain, ensure that your IT team updates DNS profiles when the SSL certificates are applied to your account.

SSL Timelines

Once the SSL configuration case administrator confirms that they have everything they need, it takes Marketing Cloud a minimum of four to six weeks to complete the configuration process. Ensure you put in additional buffers as part of your project management timeline.

Gain your subscribers' trust and confidence when they’re clicking through links in your content and submitting any information on Marketing Cloud-hosted pages.

Next steps

Using Marketing Cloud and not too sure where to start?

We’re here to help. Contact Bubblebox today!

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Sources:

Connect Careers Terms of Use Privacy Policy

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