Privacy is something that’s getting harder to maintain these days. Every week you hear about one company or another getting hacked and exposing their customers and guests to any number of scams out there. So security should be on your mind when it comes to your online presence, not just for your own benefit but for that our your customers as well.
Every day you’ll find members of RLC Design looking through potential client websites. And this morning while looking at RV Resorts in the Havasu area I personally came across something that really surprised me. An RV Resort that actually put client e-mail addresses and phone numbers out there for the world to see. No effort to safeguard their clients’ privacy whatsoever, and I’m sure every e-mail address listed has be subject to a lot of spam.
You hate spam e-mails, right? So why would you expose your clients, and offer up their addresses publicly online? They probably hate the spam as much as you do.
We’ve blacked out the phone numbers and addresses to safeguard the privacy of the folks on the list.
No e-mail address privacy here
While seeking out RV Resorts that might need our help I came across Sam’s Beach Comber RV Resort, on Lake Havasu. Now their website is nice enough to look at, but it doesn’t translate on mobile at all. There’s strike number 1 for today’s RV’ers. We use our mobile devices to find parks and resorts to stay at. The site is easy enough to navigate, and I was going to give it a pass until I scrolled down the page further.
Making my way down the page I found listings from residents who are looking to sell their lots or Park Models, or rent them out as well. That’s typical with RV Resorts as well. But what wasn’t typical was the fact that they actually provided the guests’ e-mail addresses for direct contact. Also, the direct phone numbers for these folks. Talk about a great easy access list for spammers, telemarketers, etc!
Woah! It’s like a list telemarketers would love to buy, and instead it’s just out there freely provided.
Your customer’s privacy should be as important as your own!
The most interesting part in my research on this particular website had to be the Resort’s own e-mail contact. In the case of getting in touch with them the Resort utilized an e-mail contact form. The form handles mailing to their private e-mail address, and makes it a little harder for spammers and marketers to get in touch with them.
Bottom line, I’d have a real easy time contacting any of their guests, but a more difficult time reaching out to them.
Returning privacy to guests
In the case of this website, it would be a straightforward job to help the resort protect their guests’ privacy. Creating a “Rental inquiry” and “Sales Inquiry” e-mail address would be pretty straightforward. And then create a contact form (like the one the resort has for itself) for Sales and Rentals. Have a Resort employee keep the list of phone numbers and e-mails, and have them act as intermediary between inquiries and the folks listing their units. Have you ever seen a real estate agency list their client’s phone numbers and e-mails? No way!
Personally, at the moment I’m still trying to find the Resort’s e-mail address so I can contact them about the help we could offer. It would be easier to e-mail their guests and see if they had the correct e-mail address for the resort. After all, their e-mails are out there for anyone to see on the website.