85% of consumers are more likely to interact with websites that verify the identity of all users
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 20, 2018—Mitek (NASDAQ: MITK, www.miteksystems.com) today released the findings from its 2018 Digital Identity: Consumer Confidence Report. The survey, conducted by Zogby Analytics, examined the behaviors and sentiments of U.S. consumers around trust and identity verification with digital interactions.
Over the last decade, social networks and digital commerce platforms have become mainstream for consumers and businesses alike. In fact, according to a March 2018 report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the digital economy has grown at an average annual rate of 5.6 percent in the last 11 years compared with the 1.5 percent growth in the economy as a whole. Despite this growth, high-profile data breaches and mounting data privacy concerns have caused consumers to be more cautious than ever before when it comes to online interactions. As a result, organizations are increasingly scrutinized for their ability to verify their users’ identity as consumer demand for trust continues to grow. In fact, nearly all survey respondents (99%) said the feeling of trust is important to them when it comes to doing business online.
Taking this a step further, even in the era of instant gratification, consumers want online businesses to take extra steps to verify the identity of their users. They are willing to put up with some friction online if it makes them feel confident that the person they are doing business with is who they say they are – as long as it is done reliably and they don’t have to take action in person. Eighty-five percent of respondents said they are more likely to interact with websites that have a ‘seal of approval’ indicating that they verified the identity of all users vs. sites that do not.
“Consumers are cautious when it comes to online interactions,” said Kalle Marsal, chief operating officer at Mitek. “Companies have to work harder to build trust, loyalty and a good reputation with their customers, especially in digital channels. With the volume of online transactions and communications continuing to grow, consumers will proactively seek out businesses they can trust. Because of this, identity verification is no longer a nice-to-have, but a must-have.”
Key findings from the survey include:
Convenience takes a back seat when it comes to online safety
- 85% of U.S. consumers are more likely to interact with websites that had a ‘seal of approval’ indicating that they verified the identity of all users vs. sites that did not
Consumers expect online businesses to have the right tools for verifying identity online
- 94% said being able to complete their transaction online, without having to mail in anything or go to a location in person is important and 62% say it’s very important
- 67% said they would be more likely to do business using a website that could guarantee that a person is who they claim to be
Creating trust with digital users is imperative for customer retention
- 49% of users that have been deceived online never did business or interacted with that business/individual again
- 82% are concerned that people on websites that connect users with individuals offering goods or services aren’t being honest about who they are when it comes to doing business online
- 85% are concerned that if something goes wrong with a transaction, they are on their own to take care of it
Identity verification is especially important to digital users tapping into the gig economy
- 91% of Americans are more likely to do business with in-home services, such as dog walking, home repair or childcare, that validate identity before inviting someone into their home
- 82% of respondents are concerned that e-commerce websites aren’t doing enough to verify that users are who they claim to be
Read blog and view infographic on the survey findings.
Survey Methodology
Zogby Analytics was commissioned by Mitek to conduct an online survey of 1176 digital users in the U.S. Using internal and trusted interactive partner resources, thousands of adults were randomly invited to participate in this interactive survey. Each invitation was password coded and secure so that one respondent could only access the survey one time. Using information based on census data, voter registration figures, CIA fact books and exit polls, we use complex weighting techniques to best represent the demographics of the population being surveyed. Weighted variables may include age, race, gender, region, party, education, and religion.
Based on a confidence interval of 95%, the margin of error for 1176 is +/- 2.9 percentage points. This means that all other things being equal, if the identical survey were repeated, its confidence intervals would contain the true value of parameters 95 times out of 100. Subsets of the data have a larger margin of error than the whole data set. As a rule we do not rely on the validity of very small subsets of the data especially sets smaller than 50-75 respondents. At that subset we can make estimations based on the data, but in these cases the data is more qualitative than quantitative. Additional factors can create error, such as question wording and question order.
About Mitek
Mitek (NASDAQ: MITK) is a global leader in mobile capture and digital identity verification solutions built on the latest advancements in AI and machine learning. Mitek’s identity verification solutions enable an enterprise to verify a user’s identity during a digital transaction, which assists financial institutions, payments companies and other businesses operating in highly regulated markets in mitigating financial risk and meeting regulatory requirements while increasing revenue from digital channels. Mitek also reduces the friction in the users’ experience with advanced data prefill and automation of the onboarding process. Mitek’s innovative solutions are embedded into the apps of more than 6,100 organizations and used by more than 80 million consumers for mobile check deposit, new account opening and more. Learn more at www.miteksystems.com.
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Mitek Contact:
Ann Reichert
Senior Director of Marketing
Marissa Livingston
LEWIS for Mitek