Customers will largely decide if you are trustworthy based on your behavior. Below are some guidelines:

No surprises

  1. Do not unilaterally re-purpose customer information, thereby surprising the customer when the information pops up in a different context.
  2. Do not allow their information to leak to third parties.
  3. Do not lose their information and then ask them to supply the same information again.
  4. Don’t collect their personal information from third parties without their consent.

Be open

  1. Tell customers exactly what information you need and why.
  2. Tell them who you are and where you are.

Give them control

  1. Allow customers to access and correct their information.

Applying the suggestions above will go a long way toward achieving compliance with POPI because these are basically paraphrasing the information processing principles found in Part A of POPI (the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013).

Other factors

  1. Professional branding and design tends to increase customer trust.
  2. Direct interactions with the customer facing staff are important.
  3. Evidence of security measures like SSL, PCI DSS, ISO certifications and so forth are important to savvy customers.