UPDATE
January 2023

Why user experience matters in identity verification

It’s no secret that a great user experience can go a long way in the modern world. With so many options, users are quick to abandon products and services that don’t meet their needs. As companies move further into the digital age, they face new challenges that require innovative solutions. One of those challenges is knowing whether an online user is who they claim to be, which can have significant consequences for businesses and customers.

Humans have been verifying identity for millennia—from hieroglyphics recording ancient Egyptian pharaohs to embossing seals on written documents. Identity verification has evolved along with society, but the goal remains the same: to ensure the people we interact with are who they say they are. This is done through the digital identity verification service in today’s virtual age.

Seamless onboarding

While there is no shortage of companies providing identity verification services, it can be challenging to choose the right one. The modern consumer expects a seamless experience. They want it to be easy to verify their identity without sacrificing security or privacy. This is especially true when completing new account registration or logging into a website or app. This process can often be frustrating and confusing.

Confusing steps can lose users

When done well, identity verification should be fast and easy for both customers and businesses alike. But when users are presented with confusing steps or unclear instructions during an identity verification process, frustration can result in them leaving altogether (or worse – taking their business elsewhere). That’s why it’s so important for companies to have processes in place that ensure smooth user experiences through each step of their customer onboarding processes.

First user experience

According to the CMO Council survey, more than 6 out of 10 consumers report leaving online transactions due to problems verifying identity. Over 8 in 10 say they prefer to do business with companies and brands that make identity verification simple and safe with biometrics. This is especially true among millennials and Gen-Zers, who take their first steps into adult life—and, therefore, banking. Having a good experience with their bank or financial institution is incredibly important for young people. Because it means they have one less thing to worry about as they navigate the other stressors that come along with being a young adult.

Bank accounts, credit cards, and loans aren’t the only financial products that require you to prove your identity. The verification is required for investments, mortgages, auto loans, credit card applications, and online shopping at many e-commerce sites. Since these transactions are often some of the first ones a millennial makes independently as an adult, they must go smoothly. If this happens, shopping online and using financial products becomes second nature—not something they dread because it requires them to jump through inconvenient hoops.

KYC platform for global customer onboarding

Decrease onboarding costs up to 46% Improve pass rates up to 26% Complete verifications in less than 15s.

User comes first

When it comes to identity verification, you’ve got to keep your users in mind. After all, how can you expect to capture the information you need if they don’t feel like they have a good experience while they’re giving it? It might seem like the most important thing is just getting their data. Still, today’s digital consumers are pickier than ever, and if your UX isn’t up to snuff, they’ll leave, and they won’t come back.

So what exactly do people care about when it comes to their user experience? And how can you make sure that your identity verification process gives them what they want and keeps them coming back?

Mobile-friendly
Make sure that your digital properties are mobile-friendly. In 2016, mobile browsing surpassed desktop browsing for the first time, and the gap has only grown since then. Nearly two-thirds of all web traffic comes from a mobile device. If you’re making people switch platforms to complete a task (like providing identity verification), their experience with your site will suffer.
Minimize customer effort
Every step of your verification process should be as simple as possible. Reducing the number of fields that the user must fill out during registration will make onboarding smoother.
Be patient with your customers
You don’t want to frustrate them—or have them feel like they’re being treated as fraudsters—so give them time to complete each step of the process and make sure they can access the information they need to finish it quickly and easily. A live chat function or an FAQ page are both useful features that can help reduce frustration in these situations.
Take the user’s perspective
Once you’ve determined how your identity verification affects the user experience, start taking a step back and looking at the process from your customers’ perspective. This can be difficult — after all, it can be hard to put yourself in their shoes when you’re choosing an identity verification process that they may only go through once or twice. But doing so is crucial to ensuring that you’re not losing users due to a poor customer experience.

Identity verification

You may have spent a lot of time and effort creating the perfect user experience for your website, but are you just as diligent about it when it comes to verifying identities?

A great UX is defined as anything that enables users to achieve their desired goals efficiently. So if your identity verification process is complicated or takes too long, then it will be harder for people to sign up for your product or service. You’ll end up with fewer conversions and a lower customer satisfaction rate. And once someone has had a bad experience with your company, they might not return.

There’s no question your business needs to verify the identity of its users, but how you do so is up to you—and how well you manage the process makes all the difference in whether or not it succeeds. If you’re looking for a better way to balance security with usability, Fully-Verified is here to improve your customer’s experience when verifying their identity.

We offer verification solutions that allow you to quickly and easily verify your users’ identities using video verification. Providing you with the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your online community is secure and content with the customer service.

Live-verify real-time, human, video identity verification technology that allows verifying the identity of anyone, anywhere.
Self-verify: allows users to quickly and easily verify their identity. By using their webcam and following simple steps, participants can record their process and know their identity is swiftly confirmed (and without human interaction).

Within our live-verify solution, we offer a real-time address verification service. Proof of address confirms that the address stated for verification is actually a residence address and ties the user to a specific location.

What about a reliable and comprehensive way to check for potential PEPs and sanctions violations? Fully-Verified has you covered with our monitoring list checks of over 350 databases. We’ll help you ensure compliance with all the relevant regulations without compromising the happiness of your customers.

Whether you have your own KYC procedures established and need some extra help or are looking for a team to take care of it entirely, we are here to help you with a manual KYC procedure. To make sure you’re creating the best possible user experience across various use cases, here are some things you need to know. Making identity verification fast and easy helps facilitate excellent customer experiences. When security doesn’t hinder user convenience, users feel safer.