IDology's study reveals US' view on identity, digital account opening, and fraud

The Third Annual IDology Consumer Digital Identity Study reflects survey responses from 1,499 US consumers between 25 February 2020 and 7 March 2020. The findings, combined with the changing fraud landscape, are a call for businesses to rethink online identity verification, particularly during onboarding. If ignored, the lost revenue could be significant as the report reveals that in the last 12 months, nearly 50% of consumers have abandoned online account sign-up because the process was untrustworthy or too difficult. Up from 37% in 2019, the abandonment rate has risen year over year.  

Further key findings from IDology’s Third Annual Consumer Digital Identity Study reveal:

• Mobile identities are highly regarded and increasingly important but bring added risk – 56% of American consumers report smartphones are increasingly important to their identities. 35 million American adults would be more concerned if their phone number was compromised or stolen than their Social Security number. 25 million American adults with smartphones have had their mobile phone or service compromised in the last 12 months.
• Lack of trust in the identity verification process has negative downstream consequences on customer engagement and cross-selling – When consumers mistrust the identity verification process during onboarding, it not only leads to abandonment, but also to negative downstream impacts on revenue and relationship engagement, such as opting for one-time guest checkouts (54%), being less likely to keep a payment card on file (37%), and less likely to purchase additional products/services (21%). 
• Consumers are less likely to engage with a business that let fraud slip through – An estimated 77% of Americans reported that knowing a business allowed a fraudulent account to be opened in their name could impact the likelihood of initiating a relationship with that company in the future. 
• Americans want companies to do more to safeguard their personal information – 147 million American adults with internet access don’t think companies do enough to safeguard personal identity information, increasing the pressure for businesses to do more.
• Americans are doing more to protect their identities than ever before – Americans are acting to protect their identities as evidenced by strong gains in activation of two-factor authentication.