Can Camera Phones Improve Online Conversions?

Shopping cart abandonment is the result of many things but increasingly, in a mobile world, is the result of a lengthy, tedious check out process that consumers don’t have the patience (or finger dexterity) to tackle. Digital wallets are one solution but acceptance is still inconsistent. Payments and software-as-a-service company Jumio says it has cracked the code on this problem by replacing the keystrokes with camera phones – making it easy for consumers to purchase while verifying that they actually are who they say they are. We spoke with Ingrid Pinheiro of Jumio to get the scoop on what these solutions entail and how they are unique to the mobile payments space.

Ingrid, to start us off, please introduce us to Jumio.

IP:  Jumio has both mobile and online products that use a unique computer vision technology used to scan and validate credentials, which eliminates the need for time-consuming key entry. Consumers who use our client apps can speed through the sign-ups and checkout processes. We have three solutions that we offer: Netverify, Netswipe and Fastfill.

There are many solutions in the market designed to reduce online and mobile fraud. What makes yours different – what can you do that other credential management companies cannot do?

IP: First of all, Netverify allows businesses to authenticate their customers’ identities, and its done in real time by validating their passport, driver’s license, or ID card. Consumers hold their ID up to their smartphone or desktop camera, and Netverify validates the ID, extracts the personal information it contains, and fills it into an online form. And in order to confirm that the person presenting the ID is the person shown in the ID, Jumio uses its face-match technology to help businesses assess the extent to which the photo matches the face. That’s the key differentiator in the industry, since no other solution really provides the same breadth of real-time identity verification. Netverify product also helps organizations meet industry regulations while reducing fraud and chargeback costs in transactions.

Next, Netswipe turns a customer’s smartphone into a secure credit card reader that eliminates the need for them to manually enter credit card payment information. The customer can hold up the credit card to the mobile device, and it will automatically scan, extract the name, expiration date, and card number. This makes transactions faster and easier for the customer.

The last product is Fastfill, which provides a faster, more convenient way for customers to open accounts and complete web registration forms. It removes friction from the checkout process. Those who need to fill in a form on a company’s mobile app can simply tap a scan ID button, hold the ID up to the smartphone camera, and the data is extracted and populated into a form. They are no longer subjected to minutes of data entry, and merchants don’t have to worry about losing customers in the sign-up process.

What are the top 3 online security challenges that financial institutions and retailers face today and how are you prepared to address those? Can you provide examples?

IP: There are a lot of online security challenges, but the three that I want to focus on are fraud, loss of customer satisfaction, and chargeback costs. The challenge of payment security has really been a balancing act, where you’re toggling between making the payment process as convenient as possible for the consumer and yet also safe for the merchant. That same balancing act is seen among financial institutions, where they also want to transact online. The two objectives, ease of use and fraud control, have been on historically opposite ends. We have developed a service that breaks open that paradigm. Jumio is working toward the goal of a no-key entry transaction process, meaning real-time authentication activities need to take place behind the scenes while consumers sail through that transaction process. Online merchants spend time, money, and energy getting people to their sites in apps, but they also forget that actually getting them through the checkout process and sign-ups are really just as important to their revenue goals.

When it comes to identity verification, do retailers really know who their customers are?

IP: There are so many systems put in place to help retailers know their customers, but due to growing concerns of fraud, there are ways to get around those systems. Our founder, before starting Jumio, was on a trip in France and was trying to purchase an airline ticket for a friend of his. He went online and started the purchase process, but issues started to arise – he had a new credit card, he wasn’t making the purchase for himself, and he was using an IP address in France but is an Austrian citizen. To top it all off, he just had moved to new location, and his old address was still linked to his credit card. He spent hours on the phone, faxing documents back and forth, and it was really frustrating. He wanted to find a way to tie the process all together so that the company knew that it was actually him on the other end. That’s the true reason Jumio was born.

For more on Jumio’s ID and scanning technology and how its solutions can boost customer satisfaction and merchant revenue, register for the webinar on May 20th, 2014 at 11:00 AM (PST) by clicking the button below.

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