Member Article

Why digital identity and the customer journey is crucial for today’s businesses

The digitally-accelerated world we now live in is the catalyst for great opportunities for a myriad of businesses and organisations.

Millions of people now familiar with accessing services online, whether that be via their mobile or desktop. Businesses that are best-prepared to take advantage of digital acceleration can ensure their survival and achieve sustainable success. Fundamental to this is the customer journey and digital identity. The ability to identify and then onboard new customers quickly and efficiently is the foundation on which a successful digital operation is built.

Without it, businesses risk losing sales - something they can ill-afford at a time like this.

The customer journey

Research conducted by Experian for its Global Insight Report reveals how important the customer journey is, including verifying a customer’s identity in as frictionless manner as possible. Across the globe, 60% of consumers told us they now have higher expectations of their digital experience than they did before the pandemic took hold. Even more startling is that a third of consumers globally are only willing to wait 30 seconds at most before abandoning an online transaction. In the UK, we’re a little more patient, with four in ten consumers willing to wait more than 60 seconds before leaving their online basket and going elsewhere – but still not a great deal of time within which to secure a potential sale.

In the face of such heightened expectations, it’s clear that the customer journey is critical. But with less than a quarter of global businesses (24%) committing to making changes to their journey, many could face themselves missing out.

Fraud prevention

We must find a compromise between fraud prevention and a frictionless customer journeys. Finding a balance between adding an acceptable level of friction to the customer journey and letting potentially questionable transactions be approved is one which all prevention teams must grapple with.

Consumers also value security and are happy with an experience that feels safe for them, even if they have to provide more information on their first visit.

Digital identity

The key is digital identity and verification. Businesses need to be confident their new customers are who they say they are to minimise fraud risk and – in the case of financial services, for example – meet compliance requirements.

A new report published this week by Juniper Research, Digital Identity: Technology Evolution, Regulatory Landscape & Forecasts 2020-2025, emphasises the importance of digital identity in this rapidly developing market.

The report, which recognises Experian as a global leader in digital verification services, discusses new approaches in the identity space and what best practice looks like, highlighting what businesses need to consider.

In some ways, the future is already here. Through a combination of advanced analytics, rich data assets, identity insights and fraud prevention capabilities, businesses now can quickly adjust their strategies, based on new and evolving threats and business needs.

All businesses with an online presence will need to grapple with these challenges in 2021 and beyond. Organisations which are up to the task stand a real chance of being best-placed to take advantage.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Steve Pulley .