For the past few years businesses have been bending over backwards to find the ways to improve customer experience to stay competitive. Customer experience is even said to be overtaking price and product. On top of that, if the most loyal customers can in cold blood replace the brand with a competing one, companies should really be alert and never stop looking for new solutions. Sometimes it helps to look for them in details that are underestimated, e.g., login to your self-service portal, web or any other e-service you provide.
Numbers don’t lie
Surveys* show that 66% of customers are willing to pay more for a great experience and 84% say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services. It proves the growing importance of customer experience.
However, security is becoming a critical factor for the customers as well. 84% of them are more loyal to companies with strong security controls, but 41% of customers don’t believe companies care about the security of their data. Actually, half of customers have already stopped buying from companies or using their services due to privacy concerns and 72% say they would if there were any concerns.
The most common missteps
Looking at data, it’s clear what customers value. Yet, service providers seem to sometimes ignore these crucial elements in some areas, for example, logins to their services. How does it look like?
For a long time there have been two most common user authentication methods. Nowadays, however, both of them are rather outdated to some extent. Let’s review a few scenarios.
Password-based authentication
It’s been talked a lot about password-based authentication, whether it’s username-password combination or social media account login. Tons of cases have been discussed globally about account breaches and stolen data. And yet, many e-service providers still use them.
We constantly hear 2 main reasons for that. One, it’s cheap. Actually, it doesn’t cost a thing. However, with this mindset e-service providers are dependent merely on luck. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen. But let’s not get into that, we believe you understand the risk quite well. The second reason is, service providers think it is easier for users. But is it really? How many times have you forgotten your username or password? The truth is, it happens all the time, especially if you’re not using the same password for all of your accounts. It’s even more complicated when there are specific requirements for passwords: at least one capital letter, at least one number, etc. Of course, you can use 2-factor-authentication tools or password managers, but it doesn’t really make it simpler, does it?
Read more about security risks of passwords here.
Banklink-based authentication
Banklinks on the other hand are quite secure and perhaps convenient enough. But today, it’s still not the most convenient method there is, which means that customer experience in this case can be improved. Keeping in mind that competition is really fierce, this might mean a lot.
In addition, when using banklinks the bank doesn’t ensure that the person who logs in through banklink is truly the person whose bank account it is. In other words, the bank doesn’t take responsibility for customer identity. If you are required by law to use strong customer authentication, then banklinks might not be an option for you.
What’s the alternative then?
PKI-based authentication! It’s not only a way more secure option but it’s also a more convenient one.
Why it’s simpler from a password-based login it’s probably clear but how is it simpler than banklink-based login, especially since most people nowadays log in to banks using Smart-ID or Mobile ID? Well, it’s the matter of how many buttons your customer clicks.
With banklinks, users are redirected to bank webpage where they first have to enter their user ID and only then they can enter their PINs to verify their identity in order to log in. Whereas using Smart-ID or Mobile ID directly, it shortens the login journey. It might be a minor difference but if you do it often it might become a major characteristic.
You might have another argument in favour of banklinks – everyone has them, whereas Mobile ID or Smart-ID has a limited range of users, right? Well, not quite true. Most people logging in to banks online are using either of the mentioned tools as code generators are not too popular and are quite costly compared to Mobile ID or Smart-ID, especially since the latter is a free mobile app available to everyone in the Baltics.
But is it convenient for you as a business unit to implement and maintain it, you might wonder? Well, depends on your choices. We believe that Dokobit’s authentication solution is the best option and here’s why.
Firstly, you won’t have to integrate different eIDs separately, which means it will be faster and cheaper, and all under one agreement, so there’s less paperwork. Secondly, you won’t have to think about how it all looks like because we’ve got a prepared user interface which can be customised and branded, so the whole login will look like an integral part of your system. In addition, it won’t require maintenance efforts from your side as we take care of infrastructure changes on our side, which means you’ll have more time on your hands and, well, more money to spend on better things. And that’s just a short version of our arguments. For more information, visit our website or contact us directly.
But before, check out how our authentication solution is used by companies like yours:
* State of connected customer, Third edition by Salesforce