// project goals

1. Identify options for ID Verification from multiple vendors to see what paths we could take to verify

2. Create a prototype that simulates the process of actually submitting your identity (including all the hassle + feelings it may create)

3. Test with users to see if users accept the flow and where there might be pain points

4. Iterate on the content and flow based on that user feedback

// ux methods

When you’re selling properties for thousands of dollars (sometimes hundreds of thousands dollars) online, making sure your buyer is legitimate is probably at the forefront of your mind. This was the case at Auction.com, where ID verification was more of an inevitability rather than a possibility.

That meant my task, as the product designer, was to make sure that the UX of this identity verification was as smooth and frictionless as possible. To begin with, I performed a competitive analysis of other services, and examined how they pitched ID verification, what they used to verify, and when it appeared in their customer journey.

While I was doing that, my product manager was reaching out to third-party vendors to compare trustworthy options.

We knew that our customers were a bit older and more mature than other tech companies, and security and trust were going to be a HUGE point of contention. This led us to settle on a flow that used a photo of a government identity card (either a driver’s license, passport, or national ID card) from the bidder. We felt this would be less invasive than a method that involved selfies and face scanning (something we suspected our users would NOT be comfortable with).

Of course, we wanted to see how our users felt about the process, so I mocked up a prototype that required them to submit scans of their driver’s license. We know quite a few of our users may be on devices with cameras, so we also included an option to take a photo directly, or upload a photo in the app. We wanted to validate this with both new users and existing users of Auction.com, so I drafted up a test and launched it with 20 participants on UserTesting.com (10 new, 10 existing).

An hour later, we had our results. (Spoiler: They were really, really good.) I organized their findings into quantitative data, grabbed some notable clips, and organized them into a presentation for the executive stakeholders to review.

From here, the team will take the feedback and update the content and build out the flow. We’ll also prepare training and education for our customer service agents, as they might be receiving new calls asking for help with verifying their ID, and that’s part of the experience too.

// key focus areas

Will people feel uncomfortable with the ID verification process?

Where in the customer journey does identity verification belong?

What can we do to make people feel confident in the ID verification process?

Are there any users that we might be unfairly excluding with this process?

// ux solutions

require id verification only when they’re ready to bid

We know from our customer journeys that often users are looking at and saving properties for a few weeks before they’re ready to bid. Since our vendor was able to verify IDs in a matter of minutes (not days), I felt that if we required ID verification before they were "serious” about bidding, it would turn users off. This way, we can provide value long before asking them to put in the effort to verify.

This was validated in the user test. One user commented: “This was good. I would have no problem giving this information if I’m at the point where I’ve found the house I wanted and I’m ready to buy. That wouldn’t stop me.”

be honest and transparent about why this is required

The content was extremely important in this section. We didn’t want users to feel like their data wasn’t going to a safe place, or that we were just mining them for their data.

Several users actually commented that this INCREASED their trust with Auction.com, saying “It would give me pause if you didn’t ask for this” and “It makes me feel like [they] are treating their customers in a fair, ethical way.”

be flexible in how they can verify

We knew this process was already an additional friction for our users, so we tried to give them lots of options in what they could verify and how they could verify it. This eased the friction, by allowing them to pick the easiest option, and made the user feel more empowered during the process.

Additionally, flexibility helped to avoid excluding valid buyers (in the event that someone doesn’t have a driver’s license, for whatever reason).

Users responded well, praising the flexibility and the freedom it provided. One commented, “I was thrilled with it because it was easy. You gave me lots of options to use, options to upload, and guided me each step of the way. Great.”

//outcome

The test results were extremely positive. Due to the feedback we got, this project jumped to the top of the priority list. I recommended changes to the content to emphasize how seriously we took their data protection, and to be transparent if we are storing their data or not.

• When asked to rate how easy the process was on a scale of 1-5, 100% of participants rated the process as 5, Very Easy

• 100% of participants responded positively to the way the process was presented

  • They cited the clear content, flexibility, and simple design as reasons why they liked it

• 100% of participants said that this would NOT have prevented them from registering for the auction

  • Three participants had recommendations on how we could ease any hesitation they might have had, mostly to do with how we were handling their data after the fact