Win More Customers With Smarter Identity Verification — Hello Soda
In the gaming industry, creating a smooth onboarding process which is both robust and efficient is no mean feat, especially with increasingly strict KYC & AML laws.
But, there are ways you can employ smarter methods of identity verification to win more ‘good’ customers and have them using your services as soon as possible…
Traditionally, when performing some form of identity verification or onboarding, businesses would use methods such as proof of address or sending a copy of a passport and manual checks. These outdated processes can be time-consuming, frustrating and create a poor user experience for customers who may be likely to move to a competitor. Gaming customers (or ‘players’) infamously have some of the lowest tolerance for cumbersome ID checks out there, and a poor onboarding experience can see up to 45% of players drop off. Relying on traditional data to verify identity doesn’t just alienate the modern digital customer, it can also lead to huge demographics being unable to access the services they want.
As we explored recently in our blog post on Financial Inclusion, 21% of young adults aged 20–34 in the UK live with their parents. That is 2.7 million people who are unlikely to be named on utility bills, have a credit card, pay rent or have a mortgage; 2.7 million people who may not have readily accessible bills or statements that they’re named on. Students are another key population that struggle with traditional identity verification processes; 40% of students say that they would find it inconvenient to provide a paper copy of a bank statement, whilst 28% stated that it would be impossible for them to provide a paper copy of a recent utility bill.
These groups are referred to as ‘thin-file’ customers, and are those who most often fail frictionless onboarding. They’re also the most impatient players and expect instant access; if they have to wait days or even weeks to discover whether they have been approved or unapproved, they’re very likely to go to a competitor where they can be up and running in minutes. This is especially prevalent when operators are running promotions; if an operator is running a promotion for a big horse race, a new customer will want to be using their service before the race so they can make use of the promotion. If the onboarding process is taking too long to come to a decision, the customer will use a provider where they can bet on the race.
While these ‘thin-file’ customers usually have some form of identification, they often lack the documentation and credit records required by financial service providers to assess creditworthiness and perform consumer due diligence.
Smarter identity verification
In the last decade, gaming has largely moved into the digital space. The majority of gambling is now online in the UK, with 38.6% of all gambling revenue being generated remotely; this represented £5.5m Gross Gambling Yield in the last year.
But over recent years, increasingly strict regulation has called for more stringent security measures to ensure players are properly protected. New regulations have centred around age & address verification and 2+2 checks, and they look set to multiply in the coming months, potentially requiring document and biometric verification in certain situations. For now, the current LCCP conditions are as follows:
2+2 identity verification checks must take place before:
- A player deposits funds or gambles.
- Access to any Free-to-Play (F2P) versions of games are made available.
- A player receives or is allocated free bets or bonuses to play with.
2+2 identity verification checks state that a customer must provide two forms of documentation that state either their Name & Date of Birth, or their Name & Address in order to be verified.
Regulators may once have been lenient on those not meeting their KYC requirements, but the tide is turning and the consequences these days are crippling; some companies have been put out of business by enormous non-compliance fines and some big brands have suffered huge reputational damage. The challenge going forward is to meet regulatory requirements without adding friction and delays, which lead to customer frustration and drop-offs.
Gaming and gambling is now done in real-time. However, for many operators, the identity verification KYC steps that have to take place to onboard a new customer are not done in real-time. Instead, they are stuck in the dark ages, with painfully slow and outdated methods.
Operators who have been the most innovative have made the most gains in new customer acquisition, retention, and increased revenues as a result. A robust, efficient and compliant onboarding process will ensure that you win more ‘good’ customers and have them using your services as soon as possible.
Here at Hello Soda, we’ve a comprehensive family of KYC and AML solutions all working together and delivered via a single API integration. Utilising all forms of data, this integrated approach helps increase pass rates in countries all over the world, which in turn increases revenue and customer acquisition with real-time onboarding, creating a better customer experience.
Traditional checks, such as using credit history mean that many good customers are turned away. A vast number of millennials do not have CRA data so if this source is used, they are rejected. Equally in countries with thin files, where traditional data does not exist or is scarce, our product offering can be used to qualify and verify new customers.
Our global ID, KYC & AML platform, Sodium, is designed to help save you time and money, streamline your customer journey, automate your onboarding process, reduce fraud and achieve regulatory compliance. One simple integration; a flexible 360° solution which is scalable and secure.
A unique and real-time ID scoring system intelligently verifies identity through a combination of data sources, including digital footprint verification, document authentication, facial recognition matching, liveness verification, live utility data address verification and CRA identity checks.
Utilise a single element or multiple processes — it’s entirely up to you. Learn more about how we can help to automate and simplify your verification processes to help you to learn more about your customers.
Our Future of Gaming guide details what we expect from the future of identity verification, KYC & AML for Gaming, eSports & Gambling Operators. Download it today to make sure you’re fully up to date:
Originally published at https://hellosoda.com on November 3, 2020.
