Survey Question Types ~ Add a Little Variety

Superb customer service includes using customer surveys to build a connection with your customers, making their voices feel valued and important.

Survey questions vary according to what type of information they are trying to collect from your consumers and how this information will apply to the goals of the survey. The goal of customer satisfaction surveys should clearly be to satisfy your customers.

 There are two basic types of survey questions: Open-ended and Closed-ended.

Open-ended

This type of question allows participants to respond in any way they choose. Open-ended questions provide primarily qualitative data, and are commonly used in probing research. When you want to know an answer in detail you use an open ended question on your surveys.

Example

What was the best service our company provided on your visit today?

A: [Customers provide answers in their own words]

Closed-ended

In contrast to open-ended questions, closed-ended questions require consumers to choose from a restricted number of responses determined by the researcher or business owner. There are 5 basic types of closed-ended questions: Multiple-choice; Categorical; Likert-scale; Numerical; and Ordinal. Closed-ended questions provide primarily quantitative data. When you have specific answers in mind and you merely want the customers to choose from those, you would use close-ended questions like those shown below:

Multiple Choice

Use a multiple-choice question when you want your respondents to choose the best possible answer among all options presented.

Example

How much did you spend on your visit? (Select one)

__$1.00 - $30.00
__$30.00 - $50.00__ $50.00 +

Categorical

Use a categorical question when the possible answers are categories, and the respondent must belong to one category.

Example

What is your gender?__ Male 

__Female

Likert-Scale

Use a Likert-scale question when you are trying to determine respondents’ attitudes or feelings about something.

Example

How satisfied were you by our customer service? (Select one):

Not Very Satisfied __ 1__   2__   3__   4__   5   Extremely Satisfied

Ordinal

Sometimes you may want your respondents to rank order their responses. A ranking indicates the importance assigned by a participant to an attitudinal object.

Example

Please rank the importance of the following qualities in a team leader. (Please fill in your rank order in the spaces provided using the numbers 1 through 5)

__A team leader that is sincere __ A team leader that gets resources for the team __ A team leader that is an advocate for the team __ A team leader that is a strong disciplinarian __ A team leader that is a good motivator

Numerical

When the answer must be a number, ask a numerical question.

Example

What is your current age? (Select one)
__Less than 18
__18 to 29
__30 to 39
__40 to 49
__50 or older

Remember: How you develop your questions depends on why you are conducting your survey, and how you plan to apply the data from your survey to your survey problem. Educate yourself on the various types of survey questions, and what purpose they serve before developing questions for your own survey project. Know why you are offering the survey, and make sure that it is written to best make your company successful.

Also, pay attention to what questions your customers are answering – it will tell you whether or not they agree with the type of question or the question itself.

Using customer satisfaction surveys to improve your product line and customer service will take you on that enviable road leading to success. 

How to Make a Customer Questionnaire

A questionnaire is a series of questions asked to individuals to obtain statistically effective information about a given topic. When correctly constructed and responsibly administered, questionnaires develop into a vital instrument by which statements can be made about specific groups or people.

Customer Questionnaires are frequently used in quantitative marketing research and social research. They are a valuable method of collecting a wide range of information from a large number of individuals, often referred to as respondents. For example, when your company or business has a group of customers, you want to offer a questionnaire to determine what it is about your company that they like as well as issues that your customers experience while using your product or service.

Inappropriate questions, incorrect ordering of questions, mistaken scaling, or bad questionnaire format can make the survey valueless, as it may not accurately reflect the views and opinions as intended by your customers. 

A useful method for checking a questionnaire and making sure it is capturing the intentional content is to test it often. An example of a successful customer satisfaction questionnaire is posted below.

Customer Satisfaction Survey Questionnaire

1. How did you find out about our products and services?

o   Media (television, newspaper, radio)

o   Internet

o   Word of mouth

o   Other

2. How often do you use our services/products? (Kindly pick one)

____Occasionally

____Frequently

____Never

____Often

____Very often

3. Which products/services do you find most appealing and satisfactory?

_________________________________________________________

4. On a scale of 1-5 when 1 is very bad and 5 is excellent, how would you rate the

above products/services? 1 __ 2__ 3__ 4__ 5__

5. Would you recommend our products and services to another person?

Yes             No

Kindly give a reason for your answer

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

6. How are the prices of our products and services?

Cheap

Affordable

Expensive

Very expensive

Give reasons for your answer

________________________________________________________________________

7. (i) Are our products readily available?

Yes                 No

Give reasons for your answer

________________________________________________________________________

What recommendations and improvements, if any, would you suggest?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

You see how this questionnaire offers many open-ended questions, leaving room for the customer to vent and explain. This is what you want. The more the customer tells you about the products, the more your company can accommodate and make your customer satisfied.

Customer service is crucial to creating a successful business and with great customer satisfaction surveys and questionnaires you will be able to make your customers happy and make your business successful.

Utilize Your Customer Survey Tool Belt

Do you own your own business? Whether it be a small online business or a quickly expanding company, your customers should be your main priority to maintaining a successful business. Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com relies fully on what his customers think of his company. Because of his outlook he has created a billion dollar company. Jeff states that “If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.”

What your customers think about the business you run or are a part of is essential to whether or not you will be triumphant. This is why it is so crucial to understand the necessities of having excellent customer service.

One of the most efficient ways to create customer satisfaction and build loyalty between you and your customers is by knowing how to utilize your customer survey tool belt. Customer satisfaction surveys are one of the key elements to making your customers happy. They allow your customers to give professional feedback on their experiences, rate your company, review your products, and critique any areas with which they were not satisfied. 

In your customer survey tool belt there are five indispensable tools that you need to use in order to get the most from your customers.

The first one is to keep your surveys short. People don’t want to spend a lot of time answering questions for you, so keep it simple. Ask the vital questions that will help improve your company and show that their input is important to you.

The second is to start with close-ended questions, which ties into keeping it simple. Be direct and straightforward. Get the answers you need and let the customer rank your business.

Next follow up with open-ended questions. This will give your customers the chance to vent and describe specifically what they did or did not like. These answers are the ones that will provide you with the most feedback to allow your company to progress and expand.

Know your audience. Make each question relate to your consumers, products, and your business. Be specific to your own business not generic. This will pull your customers in closer to you. It’s a good opportunity to build product/brand awareness with them.

Finally listen to them. Customer surveys are for your benefit, not the customers. Most of what they say is what you will need to do to be successful in your company.

As you utilize your customer satisfaction survey tool belt, your business will flourish and your profit will increase. Your customers create your company’s value. They can either tear it down or build it up. The choice depends on how you treat them. 

Review Solutions—Creating an Attitude of Legendary Customer Service

Is your business struggling? Even if your company is doing well, it could be doing better. Every day you should be thinking of ways to improve your customer relations until you obtain customer loyalty with every customer.

You see, customer relations and satisfaction is the one most important elements of a successful business. Sam Walton, the creator of Wal-Mart used this philosophy to the core, and look how successful has he become.  Mr. Walton quoted that “The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best but legendary.” He wanted legendary customer service! Why? Because he knew that without the customer your business is absolutely nothing.

Customer rating and review systems are an efficient way to make your customers happy. They let your customers know that you care about what they have to say, and it indirectly builds rapport with them.

If you already know the importance of customer reviews, but still find yourself lacking in the customer service area, you might want to review these crucial review solutions to help make you and your business more money.

1.      

Focus on your customer. When you know your audience, what they like to hear, and how you can relate to them, you will create a bond that will increase your customer loyalty. Reward your customers for participating in your surveys. This shows them that not only do you want to hear what they have to say, but that you are willing to change things based on their relevant imput. Making your customers feel important will make your profits increase. So spend a little to make a lot.

2.       Don’t waste their time. Keep your surveys short, to the point, and vital. Ask questions that you know will help your business grow. If you think you are lacking in an area, ask the customers what they think. Their opinions could take your company to the next level.

3.       When your customers take the time to fill out a review for your business READ IT!!!! Don’t just set it off to the side to do another day. These reviews are a reflection on your business. If your customers aren’t willing to fill out a survey, they probably won’t be willing be buy again from you and they probably won’t refer your company to their friends and family.

The Vice President of British Airways, Donald Porter, said another great statement about customer service that kind of sums everything up. He said, “Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.” By knowing these review solutions you can fix things when they go wrong and build a business that is going to last for generations. Your company deserves to grow and profit, even in this recession. So make your move; acquire an online customer review survey company to help you make more money more often. 

Handling Customer Complaints: From Sour to Satisfied

Sometimes customers and people in general can be a pain; stubborn, uncooperative and insubordinate. However, as a business owner or manager over customer service, you have the responsibility to make customers with complaints into loyal customers.

But how do you change your customers’ attitudes from being sour to being satisfied?
I have worked in customer service for seven years and I have absorbed several strategies for making angry customers happy. Here they are:

1. Initially, don’t say a word. The best thing to do when dealing with an angry, venting customer is to simply listen. Don’t try to talk; don’t try to solve anything right off the bat, just listen. Often times all the customer needs is someone to hear them out. After they get everything off their chest, they will feel relieved, and then it will be much easier for you to relate to them and explain your policies and handle customer complaints more efficiently.
2. Help the customer feel that you care about them and are genuinely interested in solving the issue in their favor. If the customer feels like you are on their side, they will instantly become more understanding and corporative. The best thing you can do immediately after being ‘scolded’ by your customer is to say, “Let me see if I understand you, Joe.” And then repeat back what you heard him say.
3. Make a Friend. If your customers feel close to you, like they can trust you, they are going to be more willing to listen to you and understand what you are explaining to them. Always build rapport with your customers. One of the best ways to do this is to learn a little about them and always call them by name. Make them feel important to you and to your business. If a person trusts your company and you personally, not only will you make more sales and profit, but you will also create a bond of loyalty with your company.
4. Offer extra support. You always want a back up route to make your customers satisfied. Customer surveys are an excellent way to do that! If you offer your customers a chance to talk to you and then fill out a satisfaction survey as well, they will feel like their opinions really do matter, because they do. Give your customers a chance to vent through email systems and customer satisfaction surveys.

Handling customer complaints can be tricky and stressful, unless you know some of the necessary techniques needed to make your customers happy. So remember to listen, let customers with complaints know that you understand the issue, build rapport with them, and offer them customer surveys. As you do this you will create excellent customer service and make satisfied customers out of sour ones.

Interacting With Your Customers

Henry Ford, one of the world’s largest business owners said once that “It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.” As a business owner, how often do we really think about the need for positive customer interaction?

 I’m sure that when your business first began, customers were everything. That’s because you needed them to survive. And now, as a company profits more and more and as it grows larger each day, many business owners tend to forget about the importance of our customers and how much we really need them.

According to Mr. Ford, the customer pays the bills. They control the profits and expenses, they market for you by word of mouth, and they decide whether your business will succeed or fail.

Because of this massive yet sometimes forgotten control that customers have on businesses, it’s important to understand how to properly interact with them. If you want your business to succeed, then you must give them what they want – not what you think they want or what you want for them.

Having an unhappy customer is kind of like being a hostage at a bank robbery. Business owners must be calm, collected, and give the customer what he or she wants. Here are some tips for getting out of the situation unscathed.  

1.      

Find out why they are not happy. Read their body language to tell what mood they are in and how upset they really are. Ask them open-ended questions to get them to explain what is bothering them.

2.      Listen to everything they have to say. When the robber is talking about why he is robbing the bank and what his demands are you do not interrupt him, you simply listen until he feels like he has been heard completely.

3.      When you know what he wants, build rapport with him. Relate to your customers and become a friend that they can trust. Talk to them, listen to them, and ask them what they think would be fair to make it right with them. Sometimes they don’t even want to be reimbursed. Sometimes they just want someone to listen to them.

4.      Try to make accommodations that will satisfy your customers. Often times the customers themselves don’t even know what they want, they only know that they are upset. So reason with them, comfort them, and give them more than what they ask for.

Customer interaction is the foundation upon a successful business. As we learn to interact positively with our customers and make them happy, we will watch our companies make more money, and have more customers to create a growing business. Remember that the customer pays your wages, so make them satisfied. 

Get a Social Media Marketing Coach That Won’t Rip You Off!

It is true that there are many online companies who want to steal your money! They want to take advantage of you, hoping that you don’t fully know what you are doing when it comes to social media marketing. Even if you do know what you are doing and how to use some social media sites to your advantage as an online business owner, there are dozens of social media sites used all over the world and only one company that teaches you how to use several of them for less than the cost of learning how to use one of them.

Mari, for example, will teach you in a very detailed manner how to utilize Facebook. Greg shows you everything you need for Twitter. Alaina will show you how to take advantage of Dropjack and Posterous. But you know what, these people only offer you bits and pieces of the social marketing puzzle, and half of the pieces may not even fit any more!

It is ridiculous, and yet everyday business owners new to the world of online marketing hand over thousands of dollars each trying unsuccessfully to learn about social media. When it comes down to social media marketing and consulting, you need to use every aspect of networking and put it all together. There are a few companies like Building Social Equity that provide detailed knowledge of several social media sites at an 

exceptionally reasonable price.

My Uncle Joel, wasted over $5,000 trying to increase his social media online. The company offered him thousands of products saying they would help him make more money, and all they did was empty his wallet, leaving him with a thousand piece puzzle and no photograph of how to put the pieces together.

If you really want to increase your profits online and improve your social media networking techniques to become successful, you need to utilize a company that will teach you how to utilize all the different networking sites, giving you a photograph and even helping you piece the internet puzzle together.

Don’t waste $5,000 like my uncle Joel did. Don’t even waste $1,000. Social marketing strategies are valuable and useful but shouldn’t be that expensive! Building social equity with online consumers, vendors, and other competitive and complementary online business owners will give you the tools you need to succeed.

Ogden Dentists Are The Best!

If you live in the Ogden, Utah area, then you are aware of all the rumors that float around demoting the beautiful Ogden canyons. Some people tend to categorize Ogden as being an older city that doesn’t really have much to offer. However, they are seriously mistaken. Ogden really is a gorgeous city with glorious mountains, exceptional shopping and great fishing spots. From the big city, to the quite woods, the Ogden area has it all. They also have some of the best restaurants like ABC Mandarin and Bella’s where you can taste delicious ethnic foods.

Ogden’s Dentists also happen to be the best! Dental practices in Ogden, (since there are some low income areas) deal with some of the most difficult and decayed teeth. They come across hard fixes and intense dental care, but they always find a professional, safe, and healthy way to overcome their obstacles and succeed. They can make any mouth have a bright white smile again, and they are passionate about their job!

You deserve to have a dentist that is going to demonstrate the care and skill you deserve. Online you can find the Ogden Dentist closest to you that will be able to take care of your teeth in the best way possible. My sister fixed her crooked smile. Now it is straight and beautiful, and she just can’t stop smiling! She has the brightest smile now and it is all because of an Ogden-Area Dental Office.

Your teeth are a big part of who you are and how you look. You should have the best dentist that is available to you in your area. By being able to see ratings and reviews on local dentists, before you have your work done, you can choose the right dentist for you. Don’t be discouraged by negative Ogden rumors, search online and read the reviews and you will be amazed by how many caring, professional, personal Ogden Dentists there are.

So what are you waiting for? Make your smile beautiful today! J

Droid Incredible II Phone for Just 1 Penny! Find the Best Online Cell Phone Offers

I am so immensely happy to have gotten rid of my old, rather ghetto cell phone. It lost calls all the time, the buttons would stick and it had so many cracks and dents in it, I’m surprised it even worked. I have been greatly over-due for a new cell phone for quite some time now, but they are just so expensive, as a poor college student I couldn’t afford them.

I can’t live without my phone. And my guess is neither can you. It is so crazy how much we depend on our phones. They are part of our everyday lives.  But keeping up with the new technology is practically impossible, and I desperately needed a new phone.

So, I searched online for the best cell phone offers in hopes that I would be able to find a cheap new cell phone, that was less ghetto than my current one, and that would last me for a long time. And boy was I sure lucky! No waiting in lines for hours and hours during a Black Friday event. I bought my phone online!

I found the best cell phone offer ever! It was a Holiday discounted promotion to purchase the Droid Incredible II phone for simply $.01! How outstanding it that?! And the only catch was I had to sign for a 2 year contract with Verizon, which I already had, so everything worked out perfectly. Most websites like the one I went to offer various plans and phones of differing levels of quality.

Now I have a brand new, durable, beautiful, fast, smart phone. It helps me make calls easy on the road, find places I need to be with GPS, entertain me with fun games, apps, movies, and so much more! It is amazing and I have it all thanks to online cell phone stores like Cellular Phone Offers. These websites can help us find the best brand name phone and plan at the best price! Personally, I am one happy camper! 

Pest Control The Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through our house
Not a creature was stirring, except for one mouse.
Cheese mouse traps were set by the back door with care

In hopes that the mouse would get hungry back there.

The children were snuggled and warm in their beds,
While a choir full of rappers rapped hymns in their heads.
My wife in her ‘jamas with my head on her lap,
Were praying that one of our mouse traps would snap.

Then all of a sudden we heard up above us

The laughter of Santa – He surely does love us!

We quietly tiptoed downstairs to behold

Santa warming his hands for outside it was cold.

On the fireplace hung all our stockings with names;
Some were already loaded with Nintendo games.

He ate milk and cookies we had left for his meal

When what should we hear but a womanly squeal.

Then Santa jumped up right onto our chair

And saw us in shock opened mouths standing there.

“I just saw a mouse!” the old chubby man screamed.

(This wasn’t the visit our children had dreamed.)

“Stay up on the chair.” I suggested to Santa.

“Would you like a drink?’ asked my wife. “We’ve got Fanta!”
“No thanks.” said Sir Claus, calming down just a bit.

“Just kill that dang mouse before I throw a fit!”

I said “We’ve got traps out by the back door.

We’ve killed other mouses like this one before.”

“It’s mice – not mouses” the scared Santa Claus cried.

And I thought, “Hmm… does He realize that I lied.”

We’ve tried to kill “mice” but it never has worked.
Then I noticed how Santa’s legs and arms jerked.

“Calm down!” I demanded. I have a scheme.”

So I called a professional pest control team.

And then, in a twinkling, the front door bell rang.

“They’ve come for the mouse!” thankful Santa Claus sang.

It was Fredrick and Fred. They went right to work.

They trapped that big mouse and then turned with a jerk.

“Thank you!” I said as they rode out of sight.

“You guys have saved Santa and us too tonight!”

Then Santa got down from the chair with a sigh.

And told me, “Do you know that I know when you lie?”

“I’m sorry, dear Santa. Please don’t give me coal.

I have tried hard all year to be a good soul.”

Then the twinkle returned to his eyes and his dimples.

His nose and his cheeks were all shining like pimples.

“I’m joking, my boy. I know you’ve behaved.
But I wish you would lie and tell the world I was brave.”

“Tell them you were screaming and losing your head

While I with my gift bag smashed the mouse dead.”

We had a good laugh for a while then he said,

“If you two want presents, then go back to bed!”

We hugged and then went to our room up the stairs

Knowing full well that Santa was real and he cares.

We heard him exclaim as his sleigh left our house,

“Thank you pest control people for killing that mouse!”

Find Your Modular Home

I am a young college student who has to work full time while going to school just to try to earn enough to pay for the necessities in life such as food, clothes, and shelter. Homes and apartments today are so expensive! After the slight recession, we have all felt the pressure of housing prices have increased for buyers, even though they have decreased for sellers. Unless you find a modular home, or rent with a bunch of strangers, housing is expensive, especially for young, poor college students.

Yet having that independence and going out on your own is vital to learning about the real world and growing into a mature, responsible adult, ready to conquer all that life throws my way. Needing a change of pace, I began looking for another apartment or a home to live in with other college kids my age.

I decided to look at modular homes, and surprisingly I was thrilled by the pleasant views I found. One modular home I discovered, instantly stole my heart. The inside was beautiful and looked just like a home. I could picture my furniture set up inside, and knew that it would soon be my new home.

Not only was it beautiful, but I found out that mobile homes are substantially cheaper than a home or apartment. Modular homes are inexpensive, sturdy and dependable.

At this point in my life, having something I can depend on is important to me. Mobile homes withstand all types of weathering and require much less repairs than a house would. They are easy to take care of and maintain, so even without a landlord, I can take care of myself and be able to afford it. Even though it is a little cheaper to rent, buying a modular home seemed like a better idea. Just think, in five years I will own my own home!

As a young college student trying to pave the road for a successful future, I need a place where I can get started, put down some roots and feel like success is not that far out of reach. My modular home does just that. It reminds me that I am independent, dependable, and will go far. Ownership breeds confidence and security. I am glad to have a place to call my own. 

Dentist Reviews: Finding the Top Dental Clinic

Joseph Barbera said that “faced with the choice of enduring a bad toothache or going to the dentist, we generally tried to ride out the bad tooth.” For many of us, that statement rings true unless we find a top dental clinic.

Last year I had to get a root canal and we couldn’t afford to have the crown put on right away so I just waited it out. Every now and then my gums would swell beneath the tooth. Rather than going to the dentist and having it fixed, I would simply take some ibuprofen to help the swelling and endure through the pain as much as possible.

Why do we hate going to the dentist so much? What is it about the dentist that simply makes us cringe?  Is it the smell of bubble gum sleeping gas, or the awkward chair with the one bright light shining right in our eyes? Is it the fact that getting repaired hurts?

Maybe the reason we fear the dentist, is because we don’t know them very well. We don’t know if our dentist has our best interests at heart and will really take care of our teeth like he should. We don’t know if he will make our gums hurt, or if they will stop the pain. One way to get to know our dentists is by looking them up in online dental directories. Once there, we can read dentist reviews from their previous clients and determine which is the top dental clinic.

Reading dental reviews is easier than ever, and you can find out what real customers sincerely thought about the dentist you are about to see. Dental reviews can be found online at websites such as Top Dentists Online, and you can see ratings of dentists, the best ones in your area, and real customers’ feelings and results.

Finding the truth about my dentist is crucial to knowing that he is going to take the best care of my mouth and give me a bright smile! So give the dentist a chance when you read their reviews online, and make your smile beautiful and pain free. Don’t endure that toothache, go online and find a dentist who will get rid of your pain.

Dentist Ratings—Find the Best Dentist

I have the worst teeth in the world, well second worst because my dad’s are terrible! And teeth are genetic, so of course my father had to pass his down to me. I brush and floss every day, morning, noon, and night, and still my teeth rot and require root canals, crowns, and fillings galore. No matter how hard I try to keep my pearly whites pearly and white, genetics simply get the best of me and show that I have horrible teeth. I dread going to the dentist but I know is a necessary evil.

However, I don’t want to simply go to any dentist. With my teeth, I need an expert dentist. I need the best dentist; someone who is going to take extra good care of my teeth and make me feel like I can smile big and not be ashamed of all my cavities.

Finding a great dentist is hard to do though. First I asked my friends and family about how they rated their dentists that they used. Most of their dentist’s ratings were positive. But when I went to meet them to see if they were the right dentists for me, I didn’t feel safe with any of them. 

Most dentists are generic dentists that have thousands of patients, and don’t know anyone by name, and don’t know your teeth personally until you walk in that day. For quick patch ups, dentistry like that is just fine, however, when you need a lot of work done on your mouth, a personal dentist is necessary to receive the best dental care.

After tiring from spending so much gas and time trying to find a good dentist, I went online. I found quite a few online dental directories including Top Dentists Online. I was able to find the best local dentists, see how members of my community had rated their dentist and view their customer testimonials. It was so great to see real customers’ reviews and be able to rate a dentist after I had used him to help others find the best dentist in my area too. It was convenient to find the right person without having to leave my home. 

Are Your Standards High? Follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard

Wiki describes the PCI DSS as “the standard created to increase controls around cardholder data to reduce credit card fraud via its exposure. Validation of compliance is done annually — by an external Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) for organizations handling large volumes of transactions, or by Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) for companies handling smaller volumes.” In more simple terms it means that the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a widely accepted set of policies and procedures intended to optimize the security of credit, debit and cash card transactions and protect cardholders against misuse of their personal information. It protects your personal information from falling into the hands of hackers.

The PCI DSS was created jointly in 2004 by four major credit-card companies: Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express, to help protect consumer’s security. There are 6 major objectives that PCI DSS determines to accomplish.

First, a secure network must be maintained in which transactions can be conducted. This requirement involves the use of firewalls and trust seals that are strong enough to be effective without causing undue inconvenience to cardholders or vendors. Specialized firewalls are available for wireless LANs, which are highly vulnerable to eavesdropping and attacks by malicious hackers.

Second, cardholder information must be protected wherever it is stored. Security trust seals and penetration testing are crucial to having your personal information remain secure.  Digital encryption is important in all forms of credit-card transactions, but particularly in e-commerce conducted on the Internet.

Third, systems should be protected against the activities of malicious hackers by using frequently updated anti-virus software, anti-spyware programs, and other anti-malware solutions like those offered by Trust Guard. All applications should be free of bugs and vulnerabilities that might open the door to exploits in which cardholder data could be stolen or altered.

Fourth, access to system information and operations should be restricted and controlled. Cardholders should not have to provide information to businesses unless those businesses must know that information to protect theselves and effectively carry out a transaction. Every person who uses a computer in the system must be assigned a unique and confidential identification name or number.

Fifth, networks must be constantly monitored and regularly tested to ensure that all security measures and processes are in place, are functioning properly, and are kept up-do-date. Network security is essential to be successful and hacker free.

Sixth, a formal information security policy must be defined, maintained, and followed at all times and by all participating entities. Enforcement measures such as audits and penalties for non-compliance may be necessary.

PCI DSS was created to keep our online information safe and secure, away from hackers and viruses.