Strategies to deliver a standout customer experience when onboarding
By Barley Laing, the UK Managing Director at Melissa
Improving the customer onboarding experience in an increasingly competitive and congested financial services industry is vital for both legacy banks and those in fintech serious about growth.
Delivering a great customer experience from the outset, during the onboarding stage, to ensure high rates of customer conversion is critical with it costing on average five times more to source a new customer than to keep an existing one. Particularly as recent research by Deloitte highlights that 38% of all new banking customers abandon the account creation process if it takes too long.
Address autocomplete
To collect correct contact data seamlessly at the customer onboarding stage, use an address lookup or autocomplete service. By using such technologies it’s 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. Additionally, the number of keystrokes required when entering an address is reduced by up to 81 per cent. This results in a speedier onboarding process that diminishes the probability of the user not completing an application or purchase.
The good news is that 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 also supports the wider ID verification process, and ongoing accurate and fast personalised contact with customers.
Electronic ID verification (eIDV)
To deliver effective KYC, KYB and AML, and prevent fraud data hygiene and verification practices on their own aren’t enough. An automated electronic identity verification (eIDV) platform should be sourced, 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.
Because they are ‘always on’ such tools can in real-time cross-check the names, addresses, email addresses and the phone numbers provided by prospective customers when remote onboarding, delivering a good customer experience, while helping to prevent fraud.
For best results it’s recommended to obtain 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. This way it’s possible to deliver effective global ID verification when onboarding customers.
There are many benefits of using such a tool over 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 a manual approach, while helping to provide a standout customer experience. Also, with this technology no additional staffing or training costs are required, and the risk of human error is minimised.
It's much easier for an individual to engage in background data checks with an eIDV service, because they only need to provide a name and address, rather than uploading an ID document. Therefore, potential customers are much more likely to complete the onboarding task, instead of scrolling on when confronted with more complex document verification tasks. And bear in mind the cost of 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 help financial institutions to enhance their competitive edge by speedily onboarding customers in real-time, aiding them in the delivery of a standout customer service, while also meeting global KYC, KYB and AML regulations. The provision of a consistent positive customer experience online from the outset supports the building of stronger, more resilient long-term customer engagement and revenue well beyond 2025.
This guest blog was written by Barley Laing, the UK Managing Director at Melissa. To learn more about Melissa, please visit their LinkedIn and Twitter page.
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James Challinor
Head of Financial Services, techUK
James leads our financial services programme of activity. He works closely with member firms from across the sector to ensure innovation and technology are fully harnessed and embraced by both industry and regulators.
Prior to joining us James worked at other business organisations including TheCityUK and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in roles focused on supporting the financial & related professional services eco-system, with a particular focus on financial technology and market infrastructure.
He holds degrees from King's College London and Oxford Brookes University, and outside of work enjoys socialising, exercising, and travelling to new locations.
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Ella Gago-Brookes
Junior Programme Manager - Justice and Emergency Services, techUK
Ella joined techUK in November 2023 as a Markets Team Assistant, supporting the Justice and Emergency Services, Central Government and Financial Services Programmes, before progressing into Junior Programme Manager in January 2024.
Before joining the team, she was working at the Magistrates' Courts in legal administration and graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2022. Ella attained an undergraduate degree in History and Politics, and a master's degree in International Relations and Security Studies, with a particular interest in studying asylum rights and gendered violence.
In her spare time she enjoys going to the gym, watching true crime documentaries, travelling, and making her best attempts to become a better cook.
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Authors
Barley Laing
UK Managing Director , Melissa
Barley Laing joined Melissa and set up the UK office in 2014 during an exciting expansion phase of the California headquartered company.
As Managing Director, with 27 years of technology and data industry experience, his role is focused on meeting the data quality and ID/compliance needs for organisations in the UK and worldwide.
The team that Barley heads up provides data consultancy, sales and technical support across their wide range of market leading web services, apps, SaaS and on-premise software solutions. These help organisations to deliver efficient multichannel customer engagement; onboarding; build customer loyalty; optimise organisational efficiency; and deliver data management and ID verification to meet Know your Customer (KYC), Know your Business (KYB) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements.
Under his leadership Melissa’s UK office has experienced double digit growth over the last six years, including 20% growth in 2022, and 25% in 2023. Over this period Barley has significantly grown the UK client base, which includes: ASOS; BBC; Citi; Family Fund; the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA); the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office; GCHQ; GSK; Lambeth Council; Mars; P&G and Visa.
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- https://twitter.com/MelissaLTD
- Website:
- www.melissa.com/uk/
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/melissa-data-uk/
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