Knowing who’s who whilst online has never been as important to global consumers as it is now. Identity checks form a crucial access point to financial services, but as new research from Jumio points out, consumers are becoming increasingly interested in seeing such checks being extended to other areas of digital services; such as healthcare and social media.
Jumio, a provider of orchestrated end-to-end identity proofing, eKYC and AML solutions, has released the findings of its global research, conducted by Opinium, which brings to light the impact of the increasing use of digital identity on consumer preferences and expectations.
The research questioned 8,000 adult consumers split evenly across the UK, US, Singapore and Mexico. It found that, on average, 57 per cent have to use their digital identity ‘constantly’ or ‘often’ to access their online accounts following the pandemic.
Consumers in Singapore report the highest level of digital identity use at 70 per cent, as opposed to in the UK which recorded 50 per cent, the US which recorded 52 per cent and Mexico which recorded 55 per cent.
Demand for digital identity as a form of verification
As providing a digital identity to create an online account or complete a transaction becomes more commonplace globally, consumers are now expecting this as part of their engagement with a brand, specifically in certain sectors.
68 per cent of consumers think it’s important to use a digital identity to prove who they say they are when using a financial service online, closely followed by healthcare providers at 52 per cent and social media sites at 42 per cent.
While all markets were united in financial services being the most important sector for robust identity verification, consumers in Mexico believe it is an important step when interacting with sharing economy brands, whilst UK consumers believe it should be required when shopping online.
Where more sensitive personal data is concerned, consumers indicated robust identity verification becomes even more important.
Leaders and laggards: certain sectors need to enhance their usage of digital identity
Despite more consumers demanding digital identity solutions for verification when engaging with companies online, they aren’t confident that all businesses are doing everything they can to protect their online accounts.
Only one-third of consumers believe that their bank has implemented more online identity verification checks since the pandemic to protect them against online fraud and identity theft.
Similarly, in the gaming and gambling space, 41 per cent of consumers say they are ‘confident’ that providers are doing what they can to accurately verify identities and prevent identity-related fraud.
Online identity verification can restore trust
While digital identity solutions are recognised as important in preventing identity-related fraud, consumers have other concerns that these solutions could address.
In healthcare, one-third of consumers are most concerned about not knowing the identity of the healthcare practitioner they are engaging with. This was of particular concern for 45 per cent of consumers in Mexico.
In the social media space, an overwhelming 83 per cent of consumers think that it’s important for social media sites to verify identities so that they can hold users accountable for online hate speech. As such, the use cases and benefits of digital identity extend beyond just fraud prevention and could provide a solution to broader consumer concerns.
“As our use of online services only continues to grow, organisations are clearly implementing the robust identity verification methods required to prevent the risks associated with virtual services,” said Philipp Pointner, Jumio’s chief of digital identity.
“But this research reveals the demand for digital identity solutions, too – particularly in the financial services and healthcare spaces – and is clearly now a point of differentiation. Implementing these kinds of solutions should be a ‘when,’ not a ‘maybe,’ and will now ultimately determine whether a consumer chooses your business over another.”
