It’s Time To Refocus Customer Experience In The Era Of Risk

In this guest post, Andy Mellor, regional vice president, ANZ at Kofax, asks what does customer experience look like in this era of privacy and risk?

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” If only you had a dollar for every time you heard this saying, right?

When we talk about customer experience, it tends to be around how to nail the first impression or win customers over. A positive initial customer experience drives higher retention and gives companies a competitive advantage, but what’s often less talked about – and shouldn’t be – is the importance of a secure onboarding process.

With 72 per cent of Australian businesses saying the risk of fraud increased during the pandemic and 85 per cent expecting this to continue in 2021, fraud mitigation needs to be at the top of the agenda.

Herein lies the challenge: while customers want a fast and easy onboarding process, businesses must capture, validate, and continuously monitor customer identities – without increasing customer friction.

So, how can you balance the implementation of sophisticated fraud prevention measures while delivering an effective, seamless onboarding process?

The answer lies in the automation of business-critical workflows that support effective customer onboarding.

Leaning into digital identity processing

There are a range of technologies and tools available to help you create a frictionless onboarding process, as well as a solid defence against fraud.

Facial recognition technology is a perfect example of this. The process is simple for the customer — all they need to do is take a selfie. Liveness detection verifies the selfie is taken in real time, and face-matching technology compares the image to their ID to verify identity.

When it comes to document verification, at a simple level the machine-readable portion of a document such as a password can be verified and in higher-security cases, infrared and UV light or chip-reading are used.

While taking a selfie is easy, when customers have to resubmit their headshots multiple times this introduces friction and can cause them to abandon the process. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies can guide customers through the selfie process, ensuring pictures are crisp and clear, with all the necessary information captured.

Digital identity verification technologies offer different mixes and levels of these technologies, so it’s important to choose the best solution for each unique customer base and the required level of protection.

Building a blueprint for better CX

Businesses across industries must abide by many regulations, from data privacy to licensing. Compliance must remain front of mind throughout the entire onboarding process. Software robots can automate customer due diligence, such as ‘know your customer’ (KYC) checks. Businesses can verify data against internal and external databases, and reduce errors in the compliance process.

Customers – new and existing – don’t want to waste time figuring out each digital platform. When it comes to a banking or retail mobile onboarding program, ease of use is a priority for customer retention. Ensure you have a simple step-by-step journey that guides users through the process with no sticking points.

Even an advanced digital onboarding system needs a strong management team behind it. Consider technologies that give administrators the ability to securely review all identity and compliance data — including facial images, document uploads, and watchlist results. Real-time visibility lets you manage every step from start to finish.

Today’s customer is more impatient than ever, and a slow onboarding process can sour their opinion of your business. Ensuring your business provides mobile capabilities makes an efficient, streamlined onboarding process a reality. Robotic process automation (RPA) automates time-consuming tasks. AI technology such as natural language processing (NLP) streamlines document processing.

Nailing the implementation

 As with any technology implementation, there may be some challenges and roadblocks. There are a few best practices to keep in mind when evaluating customer onboarding solutions.

Firstly, it’s critical to look for automation capabilities. Some providers still involve humans in the verification process. This not only slows down the onboarding experience for the customer, but it increases the risk that fraudulent activity may go undetected. Consider implementing automated digital identity verification to keep your customers happy and the business protected.

Secondly, make sure you can address common facial biometric issues such as ageing. Identity documents such as passports and driver licenses may not always be in the best shape or quality. Can your technology adjust to these issues without sacrificing accuracy and security?

While digital identity verification helps prevent fraud, your customers are uploading sensitive documents as part of the process. What happens if an unauthorised individual gains access to the data? Businesses can’t afford a data breach any more than they can fraud, so larger security measures need to be put in place to help prevent these issues from occurring.

The customer experience ballgame is ever-changing, but in the era of risk and uncertainty, we need to refocus our efforts with security at the forefront. Turning to technology, particularly digital identity processing capabilities, gives you peace of mind and allows you to focus on the fun stuff – building experiences that engender loyalty and repeat business.