Hard economic times have led to a sharp decline in consumer spending.  To counter this, online retailers have turned to e-mails offering sale prices and discounts with the hopes of getting consumers to loosen their purse strings and make a purchase.

The problem is that this wave of e-mails, while utilizing the retailers’ pre-existing contact database, is for the most part not being properly customized to make sure the recipients are receiving offers that are of interest or even apply to them.  And as a result, customers who might have benefited from a specific offer have now been turned off by the deluge of non-specific ones popping up in their inboxes, driving some to go as far as opting out of receiving e-mails from these merchants altogether.  Rather than sparking consumer interest and conversion, these randomized e-mails have instead led to customer dissatisfaction.

Massive frequency deliveries of homogeneous e-mails are not proving to be the right path for retailer success.  Resources need to be devoted to crafting the right offer for the right recipients rather than drowning consumers in random offers that may not apply to them at all and are less likely to lead to conversions.  Value, not volume, holds the greatest conversion potential for these e-mail offers.  Retailers need to refocus their efforts to avoid turning off their consumer bases permanently.

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The Internet is filled with all sorts of threats to a brand’s network security.  Every day, hackers come up with newer and more sophisticated ways to launch attacks against inadequately protected networks.  Some brands have seen and reacted to this threat but a considerable number of companies have still not properly protected their networks from the threat of Web-based security attacks.

For whatever reason, these companies have not set aside the budget to allow for their security systems to be able to provide the protection their network needs.  This is basically like not installing alarms and locks on your business.  There probably isn’t a brand out there that would leave their offices so unprotected.  So why do some of them leave their virtual offices so vulnerable?

These vulnerable brands need to view the cost of network security as another cost of doing business.  Generally speaking, the cost of security packages that can protect a brand’s network won’t break its budget, even costing less than it does to buy all those locks and alarms.

A proper investment in network security can enable a brand to benefit from the protection provided by these security services.  One of these security measures is a good firewall.  A firewall is by far the most important security investment a brand can make.  Firewalls help protect the brand’s network from any unauthorized access.  For the corporate environment, it’s better to go with a hardware firewall than a software one because a hardware firewall can provide blanket protection for every single machine on a brand’s network.  Software firewalls only protect the PC they’re installed on.

Other security investments a brand needs to make to help keep its network safe include:
•    Anti-virus protection to protect the brand’s network from being infected by any sort of malicious software that can bring it down
•    Anti-spam protection to keep the brand’s system free from the costly clutter and system slowing burden of unsolicited e-mails
•    Regularly scheduled security scans and testing of its network to make sure that network security is still up to date and able to combat the newest threats

It’s too risky for your brand to leave its network improperly protected.  A security breach can result in a financial hit far more budget-breaking than any investment in a solid, reliable, network security package would be.  Hackers shouldn’t be able to just walk in and have their way with your brand’s network.  Invest smart and get your network secure.