Home / Resources / Blog / How to Verify Your Users without Hurting Your Conversion Rate

How to Verify Your Users without Hurting Your Conversion Rate

BLOG POST JUL 12, 2023 | 4 MIN

JUL 12, 2023 | 4 MIN

WRITTEN BY MetaMap

KYC and AML checks help financial services and other regulated firms prevent fraud, money laundering, and corruption.

WRITTEN BY MetaMap

Online operations grow by the minute, with them the need to effectively verify who’s on the other side of your screen grows as well.

You’ve probably heard the adage “on the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog”. Well, now you can! And doing this is easier than you might think. Integrating a strong identity verification service can help you find out exactly who your customers are.

Now, you may be wondering whether verifying your customers will hurt your onboarding experience. The short answer is no – customers only get frustrated when they see unnecessary friction. If your user sees value in completing the authentication process, they’ll be satisfied.

What’s that? Do you still believe the shorter the funnel, the more customers you will onboard? In theory, you might have a point. However, sometimes adding what you think might be “an obstacle” is the price you pay for quality over quantity when it comes to leads.

In addition, in some industries such as fintech, lending, and marketplace, regulations demand an extra step known as Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) compliance. So, skipping ID verification is a no-go.

The benefit of compliance

KYC and AML checks help financial services and other regulated firms prevent fraud, money laundering, and corruption. These are all issues that can affect any business – and that’s especially true for fintechs. This is where an identity verification service can step in and undertake due diligence of new customers to identify and carefully revise that they are who they claim to be.

Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that you saw the value of properly verifying your users. Now what? Here are a few tips that might be useful to you.

1. It’s time to move past manual verifications

When it comes to identity verification, you are faced with two options for your operation: manual vs automated. The differences between these options are simple: manual verifications are done internally by an employee or a contractor, who will likely have to:

Validate manually that the documents submitted are matching;
Check the authenticity of said document;
Depending on your industry and local regulations, corroborate with government databases and watchlists to make sure that your user officially exists, and that they are not a criminal or someone totally unexpected (unless your platform is Twitter, I don’t think Donald Trump will register for your Neobank);
Conduct a due diligence process if something seems off.

Depending on the efficiency of your team, manual processes will take approximately 5 hours, meaning that your user has to wait around for those 5 hours before fully accessing your service. That’s a blocker. Not to mention the cost of building an in-house team (around $200,000 a year, according to cloudtask).

How do automated verifications differ from manual ones?

Well, that’s simple: automation skips the first 3 steps of this painful process with a higher degree of certainty & fewer mistakes, which means that it would take around 1 to 3 minutes max for your users to be verified.

One of the biggest reasons potential customers drop out while onboarding is the time it takes, and if you deal with a large volume of users every month this can get messy pretty quickly. However, by reducing the time in the “waiting room” you reduce possible churn.

2. UX is key

Think back to a memorable experience when using an app, or navigating the web, when you found exactly what you were looking for. This might be hard to do, but try this for a negative experience, one where you were left feeling frustrated. Those pop up into mind a little easier, right? That’s because User Experience matters.

A potential customer will be more likely to finish the verification process if it has a seamless flow and premium design. One that is easy to navigate, and that leaves your user with a pleasant aftertaste.

Providing an elegant, fully customizable flow right at the onboarding phase is a great way to set the tone for what you have to offer.

3. Explain the value in the verification process

Supply your user with as much guidance as possible about the verification process. You know the value in this, but they might have no clue, and disclosing personal information on the internet leaves people feeling at risk.

That bad feeling can be easily prevented by showcasing a short video or posting a brief explanation to inform possible clients that verifying your identity with the right service won’t expose them to potential online danger. You can also redirect them to your Privacy Policy page (have a look at this great example). Trust is the key to verified frictionless sign-ups!

Building a close relationship with your customer is not as hard as seems. You can start by displaying your company logo and customizing the verification flow with your company colors. Ask only for the information you need and continue to update the users on doubts they might have throughout the process.

Wondering where to start? Don’t worry, we’re here to help! Get a free trial of our product and discover how you can enable fast and safe interactions between your platform and your users in a few minutes.