Consumers want digital identity verification from online brands

Providing a digital identity to create an online account or complete a transaction is becoming more commonplace globally and consumers are now expecting this as part of their engagement with a business.

Research carried out by Opinium for Jumio surveyed 8,000 adult consumers split evenly across the UK, US, Singapore and Mexico. It finds that 57 percent now say they have to use their digital identity 'constantly' or 'often' to access their online accounts.

Singapore has the highest level of digital identity use (70 percent), compared to the US (52 percent) and Mexico (55 percent), with the UK trailing on 50 percent.

Over two-thirds of consumers (68 percent) think it's important to use a digital identity to prove who they say they are when using a financial service online, closely followed by healthcare providers (52 percent) and social media sites (42 percent). While all markets are agreed that financial services is the most important sector for robust identity verification, 49 percent of consumers in Mexico believe it is an important step when interacting with sharing economy brands. In the UK 40 percent of consumers believe it should be required when shopping online.

As well as preventing fraud and identity theft, 83 percent think that it's important for social media sites to verify identities so that they can hold users accountable for online hate speech and comments.

"As our use of online services only continues to grow, organizations are clearly implementing the robust identity verification methods required to prevent against the risks associated with virtual services," says Philipp Pointner, Jumio's chief of digital identity. "But this research reveals the demand for digital identity solutions, too -- particularly in the financial services and healthcare spaces -- and is clearly now a point of differentiation. Implementing these kinds of solutions should be a 'when,' not a 'maybe,' and will now ultimately determine whether a consumer chooses your business over another."

You can find out more on the Jumio blog.

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