Strategies to deliver a standout customer onboarding experience

In an increasingly competitive and congested financial services industry, improving the customer onboarding experience is vital for those serious about growth.

With it costing on average five times more to source a new customer than to keep an existing one delivering a great customer experience from the outset, during the onboarding stage, is critical to ensure high rates of customer conversion. This is backed up by recent research from Deloitte which highlights that 38 per cent of new banking customers abandon the account creation process if it takes too long.

Address autocomplete

A good place to start to seamlessly collect correct contact data at the customer onboarding stage is to use an address lookup and autocomplete service. These technologies make it possible to obtain accurate address data in real-time by providing a properly formatted, correct address when the user starts to input theirs – vital when 20 per cent of addresses inputted online contain mistakes. An additional benefit is the number of keystrokes required when entering an address is reduced by up to 81 per cent. The result is a faster onboarding process that reduces the probability of the user not completing an application or purchase.

The first point of contact verification can be extended to email, phone and name, so this valuable contact data can also be verified in real-time. This data supports the wider ID verification process, and ongoing accurate and quick personalised contact with customers.

Electronic ID verification (eIDV)

Data hygiene and verification practices on their own aren’t enough to deliver effective KYC, KYB and AML, and prevent fraud. Sourcing an automated electronic identity verification (eIDV) platform is important, one that can be accessed via any delivery mechanism – SaaS and cloud API - and can be scaled up or down according to the needs of the user.

Being ‘always on’ such technology can in real-time cross-check the names, addresses, email addresses and the phone numbers provided by prospective customers when remote onboarding, helping to deliver a good customer experience, while preventing fraud.

Obtaining eIDV technology with access to billions of consumer and business records from reputable sources around the world, such as from government, utility and credit agencies, is the way forward. Only then is it possible to deliver effective global ID verification when onboarding customers.

Using such a tool is so much better than undertaking manual checks. An eIDV service is considerably quicker, and provides a more accurate and cost-effective way to undertake ID verification and prevent fraud than physically checking documentation, and therefore helps to provide a standout customer experience. Additionally, with this technology no additional staffing or training costs are required, and the risk of human error is minimised.

It is much easier for an individual to engage in background data checks with an eIDV service, because they don’t need to upload an ID document. They simply provide their name and address. This results in potential customers being more likely to complete the onboarding task, instead of scrolling on when confronted with more complex document verification tasks. Also, eIDV background checks are generally far more cost effective to licence than alternative ID regimes.

In the digital age technologies like address autocomplete and eIDV aid those in financial services in enhancing their competitive edge when onboarding customers in real-time, helping them in the delivery of a standout customer service, while also meeting global KYC, KYB and AML regulations. From the outset the provision of a consistent positive customer experience online supports the building of stronger, more resilient long-term customer engagement and revenue well beyond 2025.