Think fast: How many passwords and usernames do you actively use? Simple answer: There’s no good answer. Either it’s so few you’re an easy fraud target, or so many you can’t remember.
As digital commerce ballooned during the pandemic, more people were confronted with legacy authentication measures misaligned with the connected economy. Consumers are demanding easier, faster ways to prove identity during transactions — particularly online — rewarding companies that provide authentication options and abandoning those that don’t.
This trend is analyzed in “Consumer Authentication Experiences: How to Achieve Friction-Free Customer Care,” a PYMNTS and Pindrop collaboration, based on a survey of nearly 3,800 U.S. consumers and their changing preferences for more precise digital authentication.
What’s immediately clear in the findings is a growing aversion for username/password recall, as well as impatience dealing with call center wait times and related inefficiencies there.
“Our data makes it readily apparent that usernames and passwords represent major headaches for consumers,” the study stated. “Between 25% and 30% of respondents who use online services say having to keep track of their credentials is a negative aspect of identifying themselves when logging in to an online account.”
More frustrating yet is that 25% of consumers “cite difficulty remembering their usernames and passwords when talking to a representative on the phone as a negative aspect. Solutions that obviate the need to remember such credentials, therefore, hold great promise for companies.”
This is where advanced identity verification is making a positive impression, with 29% of consumers that PYMNTS surveyed “very” or “extremely” interested in “technologies that make use of voice recognition, keyboard logging, liveness detection with selfies and fingerprint scans.”
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Millennials Are Big on Advanced ID
Looking at data on consumer pain points around entrenched authentication methods, Consumer Authentication Experiences found frustrations people know all too well.
Per the study, the most common complaints involve “struggling to remember credentials, being put on hold for too long and having to repeat authentication processes. Nearly half of consumers are worried about having to wait a long time when going through identification processes,” and younger consumers have far less patience for it than older groups.
The Generation Z cohort stands out as being “almost 20 percentage points more likely than baby boomers and seniors to say providing texted codes or passwords takes too long.”
Unfamiliarity with advanced ID verification is perhaps the only thing preventing more people from using solutions like voice ID and biometrics. Once they do, they tend to prefer it.
“The data strongly suggests that consumers like these verification technologies once they have tried them,” the report stated. “On average, 57% of those who have used advanced ID verification would be ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ interested in using it again. This share rises to 66% among millennials, 63% among bridge millennials and 64% among those who make more than $100,000 annually.”
Benefits Beyond Authentication
As the username/password issue comes to the fore in 2022, merchants and brands should also consider positive impacts advanced authentication bring to consumer experience.
According to the study, “39% of consumers believe introducing advanced ID verification methods would positively impact their satisfaction with a service provider.”
It adds that “consumers who prioritize security are especially likely to see the value of advanced ID verification methods. We find that approximately 70% of those interested in these technologies for data security and the safety of money or assets say the methods improve their satisfaction and trust in the companies with which they do business.”
How businesses bring advanced ID verification into their authentication flow can impact adoption, as people are used to passwords and usernames despite their imperfections.
“Just 13% of consumers are ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ interested in using the technology for the first time,” the study found. “Businesses that take this into consideration and strategically introduce their customers to these technologies may find that they not only have improved customer satisfaction but also have fostered an appreciation for these methods that will help build customer loyalty.”
PYMNTS’ research found that “42% of consumers say advanced ID verification methods would positively impact their trust in the organization offering them.”
Get the study: How to Achieve Friction-Free Customer Care
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