Why are Major Retailers Insisting on Replacing the Norton Secured Seal with VeriSign now?

They say that money makes the world go round. This is definitely true when it comes to the online marketplace. And it seems that the lack of money can also cause a few major retailers to make personal changes to fix a major mistake by one of their providers – Symantec. 

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that several online companies are making the personal decision to display the VeriSign Checkmark back on their websites? In case you have been hiding under a bus for the past few months, back in April of 2012 Symantec (the people who own Norton and VeriSign Online Security programs) made the bone head decision to replace their best product’s trusted brand (VERISIGN’s Checkmark) with their own brand (Norton’s Secured Seal) in an attempt to increase brand awareness for the Norton brand. 

This was like putting a Kia logo on a Ferrari. And it showcased why computer tech dudes have no business being in marketing or branding.

The funny thing is that Symantec was completely nose-deaf to the concerns of the computer users across the globe; people they literally dumped on overnight with this decision. Here is how this occurred. 

When Symantec decided to replace the highly trustworthy VeriSign Checkmark with the cheap Norton Secured Seal it sent a message of mistrust to the internet shopping community. People make decisions to shop online on websites based on the reliability and trust displayed by the quality security certificate they see. In this case, most internet shoppers choose VeriSign as the most reliable certificate in the market. 

So why would Symantec replace a highly trustworthy brand with a polished turd like Norton?

Honestly – I have no logical answer to give you. However, the retailers have spoken and they state emphatically that they don’t believe in Symantec’s branding decision and have partnered with another company to provide that VeriSign secured seal on their websites. Who made this decision you ask. Oh just a few online giants like - Best Buy, eBay, PayPal, Staples, Overstock, and Wal-Mart. Companies who rely on the online marketplace to make more profit have insisted on having the VeriSign Brand displayed for their customers. 

But here is the best part of this change. Do you know which Secured Seal they ALL had on their websites from April of 2012 till August of this year? Yup – Norton’s Secured Seal. How did it impact their business? Online sales dropped 15% from April to July across the board. It wasn’t the struggling economy since in-store sales YTD compared to last year actually increased a little bit. It was due to Symantec’s decision to replace the VeriSign in the first place. This chased away loyal customers who thought the retailers made a poor decision to switch to Norton. 

Remember folks – most computer users couldn’t tell you who owns Norton or VeriSign. But they can tell the difference between a good product like VeriSign and a piece of junk like Norton. Apparently the retailers can tell the difference too huh?

Read more ►

Top 5 Reasons You Should Not Buy Symantec Products Based on Trust

I’m not going to sugar coat this one – Symantec has lost my complete trust. And guess what folks, I’m not alone in feeling this way thanks in part to their new PR spin trying to make up for their mistake in April 2012.

Let me give you a little background here first. In April 2012, Symantec (who owns Norton and VeriSign) made the decision to brand these two PRODUCTS with the Norton Secured Seal. The problem here is that the VeriSign product is much better and their seal is much more trustworthy with computer users across the world. So after Symantec made this decision, the result was anytime a consumer logged on, they couldn’t tell the difference between a Norton secured site or a VeriSign secured site. 

And when people make the decision to buy stuff – this is kind of important. 

Ever since then, Symantec has realized that their choice to conduct business in this manner failed. Several top retailers have insisted that they needed to have the VeriSign Checkmark on their page and that Symantec make that change. However, Symantec accomplished this by partnering with another company to replace that checkmark – making the process extremely complex and simply non-trustworthy. 

So, here are five reasons why you should simply avoid using Symantec products.

1. No reliability in the software; when you order a VeriSign product, how will you know that the software is actually VeriSign and not Norton? Because of the packaging or because the certificate says so? When a company purchases a better company, traditionally they use the cheap product and use the quality brand. 
   
   
2. No reliability in the certificate; if you purchase a VeriSign Certificate and when you upload the program it shows as Norton, are you really getting what you paid for? Quick answer – NO you’re not. 
   
   
3. No trust in their business ethics; if Symantec made the decision to put an inferior and less trustworthy brand logo like Norton’s Secured Seal on a high-quality brand like VeriSign’s software – how can this company be trusted to deliver quality in any capacity? 
   
   
4. No Trust in their public statements; after they made the decision to change the VeriSign check mark to Norton, several top retailers demanded that they make the change back to VeriSign thanks to loss of sales and consumer confidence in the retailer’s business decision making. How did Symantec reply publicly – they are stating that these retailers SWITCHED TO VERISIGN; when in fact they had VeriSign all along. In short – they are lying to the public with PR spin. 
   
   
5. No trust in their management – simply put, the decision to replace the VeriSign checkmark with the inferior Norton brand was made at the top level. This means they calculated this strategy, spent the money and time on the change and implemented it without asking their customers. How is this good business?

Simply put, Symantec made a poor decision back in April of 2012. And if they would simply come out and say, “ya know what – we screwed the pooch,” I’m certain most computer users would forgive them. But, they haven’t – they won’t and as a result, more people will continue to NOT TRUST them and switch to other and more reliable SSL Certificate providers.

Read more ►

Let the PR Spin Commence – Symantec’s recent PR push on VeriSign Users

Everybody loves a good spin on things – don’t they? I mean with the Presidential debates being on TV recently and each political party trying to tell us how their candidate won the debate and others in the media spinning a news story to enhance a companies or individual’s reputation, it seems everywhere you turn a news story is being spun. And sadly, this usually means that the source of the spinning is less than trustworthy. 

Engage Symantec and their recent spin-job on why several major retailers have insisted on replacing the Norton Secured Seal (which replaced the VeriSign Checkmark in April thanks to Symantec’s brilliant decision to replace a highly trustworthy brand logo with a less than trustworthy product such as Norton). 

In the month of August alone, Symantec posted no less than 14 press releases announcing that individual retail companies are ‘switching to VeriSign to power their websites’. Click these links to read the spin job yourself and I’ll explain what’s wrong about this:

http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/best-buy-chooses-display-verisign-secured-seal

http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/qvc-displays-verisign-secured-seal

Here is my favorite quote from these small little spin blog posts.

“Recently QVC chose to display the VeriSign Secured Seal on its home page. That's cool because QVC is a top-20 online shopping site, but it's cool for another reason as well.” – Tim Callan

Well Tim Callan – first; you’re a dope cause you wrote this post without giving any details on WHY it’s cool for another reason (like it’s some inside joke). 

Second – we’re not stupid nor does the Jedi Mind Trick work on people who have half of a brain who can figure out the real truth behind the reason why they insisted on switching back to VeriSign. 

Third – If you’re going to engage a PR spin – this is not the way to accomplish this; trust me as a professional publicist for well over 25 years, I’m a spin-Jedi Master. 

Here is the truth behind these ‘releases’. These retailers never ‘switched’ to VeriSign. They’ve all been protected by VeriSign Software and displayed the checkmark for YEARS! However, in April this year, they were forced (not of their choosing but Symantec’s) to display the Norton Seal. This caused online shopping to decrease dramatically and each retailer knew exactly why the drop of sales occurred. 

It was due to the Norton Seal being placed on their websites and chasing away loyal customers. It really is that simple folks. So the retailers never ‘switched’ – they just went back to what powered them successfully in the past. 

Now here is the real issue at hand. How can anybody trust a company who misleads the public so pathetically? Trying to turn their mistake into a huge success story is lying – plain and simple. These retail companies have been using the VeriSign product for years; they never SWITCHED to VeriSign recently. 

So please Symantec – keep trying to convince the masses that you’re screw up in April never occurred. We will continue to remind you that the Jedi mind trick only works on the feeble minded. And last time I checked, online shoppers are pretty smart folks.

Read more ►

How Symantec’s Norton Seal Debacle Impacts the Sports Industry

Raise your hand if you purchase sports apparel online.

If you are like the other 7 million consumers and sports fans that are holding their hands high in support of purchasing products of their favorite sports teams online, then you understand that shopping online is all about trust. And up until recently, their decision to buy products from companies who proudly showcase the VeriSign Checkmark of security was a no-brainer decision based on the quality of that software and the reliability of that checkmark of approval. 

But that all ended in April of 2012. 

It was at this time that Symantec, the parent company of Norton Anti-Virus and recently acquired VeriSign Products in 2010 made the decision that all VeriSign SSL Programs would now display the Norton Secured Seal and replace the highly trusted and regarded VeriSign Checkmark of Approval. 

In layman’s terms, this would be like paying for high-quality Nike Apparel and receiving a Nike-Quality shirt with a cheap logo. Sure it would work for you, but you would be hesitant about the quality of the product. For many people across the world, having a company change brands or identifying marks are really no big deal. When you think about it, companies do this all the time. However, when over ¾ of the people who purchase products online do so because of their trust in a particular brand and seal of approval – this can significantly impact the marketplace. 

Here is how it is impacting the sports world. 

Virtually every Major Sports League team’s website in the past few years has been protected online with some sort of SSL Certificate of Approval – and most of them used VeriSign as their choice to protect the online security and privacy of their customers. Two great examples are the NFL’s San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders. 

Both teams are hard fought rivals in the AFC West, and up until last year, both teams’ websites have been protected by VeriSign SSL Security Software. Take a quick look at both teams’ websites and tell me what you see.

http://www.sandiegochargers.com

http://www.oaklandraiders.com

If you clicked on the link, you’ll notice that there is ZERO SSL Certificate posted on their main websites. This means that if you choose to order merchandise from these two highly established NFL Franchises – there is nothing protecting your privacy folks. The Charger’s website has no SSL secured software, and the Raiders have now moved to a different provider than before. 

Now why would a company and established Professional Franchise like the two above NOT protect their customers or change all of the sudden?

Perhaps because the company they used in the past is no longer reliable. When Symantec made the decision to place the Norton seal on VeriSign products this showed a significant lack of trust and judgment. I don’t know for certain why these two sports teams are ‘naked’ online now, but I find it very curious that they no longer support VeriSign, Norton or any other SSL Security Software. 

So, the lesson here is if you shop online for sports apparel – buyer beware that most of these professional websites have ZERO SSL Certificates and your personal information could be at risk – all thanks to Symantec’s business branding decision.

Read more ►

Do You Trust your SSL Certificate? – I Don’t thanks to Symantec

There has been a lot of discussion lately about the integrity of the entire SSL Certificate industry thanks in part to Symantec’s decision to cheapen the trust level of one of their best products – VeriSign’s SSL Certificate software.

In case you’ve lived under a rock for the past few months, back in April of this year, Symantec, who owns both Norton and VeriSign SSL Certificate software products made the decision to change the highly regarded VeriSign SSL Checkmark of approval to the less-than-reliable Norton Secured Seal. This decision instantly caused a panic for those who take internet security seriously. It also developed quite a cult following of people who previously hated Norton for several other reasons to jump on the Hate Symantec bandwagon. 

Maybe I’m a bit paranoid, but when I shop online, the first thing I do is check to see if the website is protected by a reliable SSL Certificate. This blocks any hackers from logging onto the website when I’m entering my private banking information to purchase a product and then steal my identity or private info. If I don’t see a reliable SSL Certificate, I don’t buy – it’s really that simple. 

The funny thing is that I’m not alone in this philosophy. Several million online shoppers base their entire online habits based on trusting that a website or online company has their safety and security top of mind. This is what VeriSign established for several years with their highly trustworthy Checkmark. And sadly what Symantec destroyed with one quick decision in April 2012 to replace their best marketing tool with a bag of crap. 

And that’s precisely what the Norton Secured Seal is – a crappy guarantee for a product that simply does not work to protect consumers online as well as the VeriSign product has done in the past. 

The question that needs to be asked is why did Symantec make this decision? Was it about ego and trying to brand Norton (their pet project) and destroy the VeriSign Brand? If so, that was a really lame decision on their part. I don’t want to act like I know it all, and I certainly don’t own a huge SSL Security Software company (but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night which makes me qualified), but it seems to me the better philosophy would be to place the highly trusted VeriSign Checkmark on Norton products – not the other way around. 

I’m certain had they done this, the Hate Norton blogs would be shorter than they currently are and that Symantec would actually be a reliable and trusted company. Sadly, they didn’t sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last the night before making this cataclysmic business branding decision and several online shoppers and companies are striking back.

Several industry leading websites that used to be protected with SSL Certificates are naked now with zero online protection. Internet sales are dropping due to this business decision and frankly many people who own online companies are searching for a reliable company who can provide their customers with a safe place to conduct business. 

Again, perhaps I’m paranoid, but honestly, I don’t trust my Symantec SSL Certificate any longer and will be making a change to another reliable company very soon. Any suggestions on what product I should use would be helpful.

Read more ►