Imagine this scenario: you go to log onto an eCommerce site you haven’t used in a while. When it asks for a password, you draw a blank. Handily for customers, there is a lost password link. You click it and within minutes have an email to create a new password – one you probably won’t remember next time either. Hassle-free, right? Well, studies have found that it actually costs businesses a lot more than you’d expect when customers forget their passwords. Nearly 20% of each online basket abandonment comes from a time-consuming or lost password reset link. Could biometric authentication solve this problem?
Consumers themselves can suffer too when it comes to lost passwords. Sometimes, if the customer fails to input the correct password too many times, they could be locked out of the account. Occasionally this then results in lengthy discussions with customer service teams. If the account is a social media one, the chances of getting swiftly back into the account dwindle. To safely reset the password in this instance, the business will have spent money on this issue. Tech companies suggest that security shouldn’t come at the expense of the user’s experience on a site or with a company.
The user experience of a site is one of its most important facets. Good UX results in loyal customers and frequent purchases. Even better UX results in unofficial brand ambassadors. The best UX results in ‘fanboys’ as we have seen with the likes of Apple – a company with such a dedicated base of supporters. Online companies that require the personal information to be stored and exchanged, such as banks and other financial businesses, spend a lot of time perfecting their UX. They should also, therefore, make sure they spend time on the other side of UX as it relates to identity verification. Improving UX here could benefit the business.
There are many suggestions for how to improve identity experiences and to remove the need for so much time-consuming and potentially costly authentication. For instance, Transmit Security has raised $543 million in a bid to use cyber-led tech to remove the need for passwords by creating better user experiences. Elsewhere, biometric authentication has proven useful for smartphones. Using information such as a unique thumbprint, retina scans, or facial characteristics can allow users a seamless transition into an account. This will prevent annoyance or too much analysis, both of which could lead to a lost sale. Changing identity experiences in terms of UX will be something the tech industry focuses on in the future.
Moving towards a better form of authentication, such as biometric authentication, could help both the user experience and the functionality of the business. 40% of calls, according to research conducted by Gartner, to customer service desks are about password resets. Freeing up this time could save the business money and allow customer service teams to work on improving the customer’s user experience. Biometric authentication could be one of how the lost password problem could be solved once and for all.
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