January 25, 2023
Groceries, transportation, relationships, entertainment, and more are all now available at the swipe of a smartphone. Buyers have come to not only enjoy — but expect — frictionless interactions that provide instant gratification. Fast response times are no longer a perk; they’re the most important attribute of the customer experience.
But an increasingly digital, geographically dispersed, and faster world makes it more difficult than ever to know who you’re doing business with — leaving companies uncertain about which potential customers are trustworthy. And their fears are justified: New research shows that the average U.S. fintech loses $51M to fraud annually, and the impact of fraud has a negative ripple effect across the entire company.
In response to this uncertainty, businesses have asked potential customers to submit more and more information about themselves during the application process: where they live, how much they earn, proof of business ownership, credit history, and more. They often also ask for documentation (such as bank statements, utility bills, W2s, etc.). Hundreds of hours each week are then spent manually reviewing those documents to determine whether the information provided by a potential customer is legitimate. All of this creates friction for consumers, who can easily leave for a competitive offering.
Assessing the trustworthiness of potential customers has now become …
And the stakes are very high: Without a clear understanding of how to identify trustworthy and creditworthy customers, financial institutions may be defrauded by cybercriminals or reject worthy applicants (resulting in millions of unbanked, “thin file,” and credit invisible consumers). Read rest here.