Visa's Security is at the Forefront of Its New Customer Experience Strategy
brought to you by WBR Insights
Digital security has been headline news for some time now. With high profile data breaches such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal rocking the world and a new regulatory landscape being put in place, such as with the European Union's GDPR, the public has never been more conscious of the way their information is managed online.
In few areas of business is the need for security more crucial than the financial industry. With people's hard-earned money at stake, security forms a core component of the financial customer experience, and companies need to be constantly innovating to make sure their clients are adequately protected.
Visa understands this better than most and is putting security at the top of its list when it comes to customer experience.
A Secure Customer Experience
With the European Commission set to introduce another set of regulations - Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) - in September, Visa is working hard to make digital payments more secure than ever.
However, it also understands that its customers now pay with a wide range of platforms - Apple/Google Pay, contactless cards, etc. - and security must be balanced with the level of convenience these consumers expect.
"Visa has refined the art of identifying potentially fraudulent purchases in real time," writes the company in a press release. "We interrogate each purchase on a host of different factors including location, merchant type, previous purchases, and transaction size - arming the card issuers with intelligence that helps them catch potential fraud. When consumers are asked to take an extra step and verify their identity, it's usually to prevent unauthorized use of their account. However, it's essential that they have convenient options for doing so."
Visa is facilitating this new convenience/security dichotomy by allowing customers to achieve the required two-factor authentication using biometric information. Now banks can integrate the technology into their apps and allow their customers to authenticate using a fingerprint, their voice, or facial recognition software - far more convenient than entering information manually, while still maintaining a high level of security.
The new regulation also includes exemptions for low-risk transactions - i.e. low value or regular purchases which are unlikely to indicate fraudulent activity. Visa is building better software and working with retailers to develop more sophisticated methods of identifying low-risk transactions and making those transactions more streamlined by removing unnecessary authentication steps.
Tokenization and Netflix
Another way Visa is looking to make online purchases more secure and convenient is by using tokenization to improve authentication rates for recurring online payments. The company has been working closely with streaming entertainment provider Netflix to test this new method of authenticating card-not-present payments and is now ready to roll the system out globally.
With the Visa Token Service, online card details are replaced with a unique digital identifier, allowing payments to be processed without ever revealing the customer's account details. Not only does this make payments more secure, but it also allows for real-time push updates on lost, stolen, or expired credentials.
"As the Visa Token Service and associated payment frameworks continue to scale, we believe low risk, trusted merchants, like Netflix, can realize authorization approval rates and a customer experience on par with the face-to-face environment," said Vice President of Payments at Netflix, Vickie Gonzalez. "We look forward to our continued work with Visa to consolidate that potential under a broader digital merchant acceptance program and further improve the payment experience for Netflix members globally."
Final Thoughts
As cybercrime becomes more sophisticated and regulations get ever tighter, it will be those financial brands which make digital security a core element of their customer experience strategy the most likely to succeed. Consumers today are more aware of their rights now than ever before. They expect the brands they choose to do business with to treat their data with the utmost respect.
"Security is always dynamic and sophisticated - it has to be to combat fraud - but that doesn't mean we have to sacrifice convenience," said Visa. "We're working closely with our clients and partners to develop creative ways to ensure that enhanced security doesn't feel like a burden. When it comes to payment security and convenience, it is possible to have both."
You can hear Visa's Senior Director of Research and Insights, Michael Marx, speak at CXFS 2019, taking place in July at the Westin Copley Place, Boston MA.
Download the agenda today for more information and insights.