Browses the product catalog. Selects purchases and clicks shopping cart icon. Transfers to secure https page and enters credit card info which is encrypted and sent to processor. Receives email confirmation. Receives email notification that item was shipped.
Product arrives and buyer is satisfied with safe, secure online purchase.
It's important to make your customers feel comfortable about ordering online. Read the Security page on the National Academy Press website for a good example of the type of information that helps customers. Living with Insecurity Trust in Cyberspace is a study by the Committee on Information Systems Trustworthiness of the National Research Council. The study assesses current security practices and the outlines a new research agenda. This suggests that we need to become a bit more comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity.