The security workout for online shoppers

This is a guest post by Don Duncan, Security Engineer for NuData Security, a Mastercard company

Many consumers feel like they are doing a physical workout instead of just completing a transaction online. Do ten clicks of this, create a new account, answer security questions – what is the name of your pet, put your credit card information in again, watch the screen freeze and start over. There are a variety of frustrations that plague the consumer and cause them to break off of a transaction including creating a new account, concerns about payment security along with the number of steps it takes to get through online security and prove they are truly customers.

During the second quarter of 2018, Statistica found that 74.2 percent of online retail orders were abandoned instead of purchasing. The average ecommerce store loses over 75% of its sales to cart abandonment. Some industries experience average cart abandonment as high as 83.6% according to Barilliance. Those statistics are even higher when it comes to mobile shopping.

One for all and all are one?

The challenge in the digital online experience when it comes to security, is that all customers are treated the same. Unlike a shopping experience where past experiences are taken into account when it comes to security, it is more like a one size fits all proposition. Many users have switched brands due to the restrictive nature of customer friction introduced after a recent data breach that may be heavy handed in an effort to overcompensate. There are many reviews of customers in the app stores who have voiced their displeasure on the impact these actions have taken. Customer friction equates to frustration for the consumer.

Many security solutions propose the use of multiple factor authentication (MFA) to validate users. The challenge with this approach is that many times it distracts good users from their prime objective, which is to perform a transaction or make a purchase. For many companies, security is typically perceived as an afterthought when looking at the users’ application journey, but it should be viewed as a critical component to the application engagement process.

Walk this way

Being able to differentiate between good users from bad actors or automated bots, is a critical component for any online presence. In 2017, the false‐decline rate alone accounted for $300 billion in losses in the U.S. according to the Aite Group. What is required to reduce false positives are real‐time decision intelligence that uses multiple behavioral data points through behavioral biometrics. These multitude of points such as how a person holds their device, how hard they type and hundreds of other online identifiers, allow online brands to not only immediately identify customers, but to also make real‐time decisions to shape the customer experience. It is an approach that will penetrate the market sooner rather than later.

If some risk is detected, then online brands can implement application speed‐bumps until the user is identified or the transaction is found to be fraudulent. However, these application speed bumps should be used as needed and not as part of the typical user experience. Utilizing behavioral biometrics to provide deep insight into a transaction, brands have the ability to personalize the experience. Once good customers are recognized, the number of clicks or taps for them to perform a purchase are reduced. This approach paves the way for repeat business and exceptional customer experience while removing online cybercriminals from the equation. It also helps pump up reviews and rankings.

Working out selecting products and services

Immediately Identifying consumers is especially important online so customers can quickly concentrate on working out what they want and need to order instead of jumping through hoops, sweating the details and trying to push through to the checkout.

Meanwhile all the time that customers are online there is a biorhythm that cybercriminals cannot replicate. Even if correct credentials are used or a stolen device, with behavior biometrics, cybercriminals can be identified and be blocked immediately. A behavioral biometrics security approach helps to strengthen the digital handshake that protects consumers from cybercriminals and creates the bond of trust needed for online brands to be successful. The days of generic security solutions have now gone. Taking this tailored security approach to welcoming customers, allows online brands to provide the shopping experience that consumers are craving.

About the author

Don Duncan is a security engineer at NuData Security, a MasterCard Company. He is a veteran technologist with many years’ experience working with B2C customer’s technical security needs in the areas of fraud and risk management for industries such as finance, healthcare and telecom.

DISCLAIMER: BiometricUpdate.com blogs are submitted content. The views expressed in this blog are that of the author, and don’t necessarily reflect the views of BiometricUpdate.com.

Article Topics

behavioral biometrics  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  ecommerce  |  NuData Security  |  online authentication  |  secure transactions