As you know, getting your customers online is key to improving their customer experience; it allows you to provide added value and personalized services. Not to mention the costs you’ll save by going (almost) fully digital. But for many businesses, reliable identity verification for online customers is a real concern. If you are dealing with customers in the Netherlands, iDIN offers a highly secure and user-friendly solution.
What is iDIN?
iDIN is an identity verification solution developed by Dutch banks. It allows you to reliably verify someone’s identity through their Dutch bank account. iDIN offers various options for identification, which can be fully customized to your needs:
- Identification – this option offers the richest data set. You can specify the personal details you need such as name, age, address, phone number, and email address. The customer will always see an overview of the details he or she is sharing with you before they click accept, so you are always offering full transparency.
- Login – the login option allows users to create a pseudonym which is linked to their identity (fully secure and encrypted). This helps protect their privacy.
- Age verification – this option is useful for web platforms that need to enforce an age restriction, such as online alcohol retailers. The individual’s identity can remain entirely private, as they are only verifying that they are over a certain age.
In addition to these options, iDIN is currently developing a digital signature functionality. This feature is intended to serve as a legal, recognized digital signature. This feature is planned to be released before 2019.
A trusted identity service
Customers know that the personal details they give out online are vulnerable. Headlines about data leaks and security breaches have made them more cautious when it comes to sharing personal details with companies. However, customers do tend to trust their bank to guard their personal data online. As a bank-led initiative, iDIN can help extend this level of trust to other parties. To ensure that customer information remains safe at all times, iDIN has strict security requirements for any company that wants to use the iDIN identity service in their onboarding process.
How can iDIN help your business?
iDIN can help you reliably verify customers’ identity when they sign up to your online platform or app for the first time. The iDIN identification process is highly user-friendly and very similar to the online payment process of its sister tool iDEAL, so it will feel familiar to Dutch consumers. It can be fully integrated into your onboarding process for a frictionless customer experience.
Aside from being reliable and user-friendly, iDIN is also a highly cost-effective option. The conversion rate is higher and the cost is much lower than traditional onboarding methods (physical letters or phone calls).
iDIN and security
Since it was developed by banks in collaboration with regulators and industry watchdogs, iDIN has extremely high standards when it comes to security. Using eIDAS as a foundation, it then added further requirements in four different areas:
Aside from security and user-experience requirements, privacy is a main pillar of the design. iDIN was designed to be GDPR-ready before the regulation even came into effect. Moreover, the user always has complete transparency and control: he or she can see exactly which details they are sharing with the company and what the company will use this information for before sharing it. Moreover, iDIN facilitates data minimization, helping companies ensure that they do not collect superfluous data without realizing.
Alternatives for iDIN
Since the problem of digital identification is so common, various solutions were developed independently of each other. Moreover, by their very nature identity verification services tend to be geographically restricted. As a result there are a number of different identity verification solutions available, sometimes covering the same geographic area. For example, in the Netherlands the government developed DigiD exclusively for public sector use, while iDIN can be used by both the public and the private sector. Other national and regional digital identity solutions include itsme in Belgium and BankID in Scandinavia.
Of course there are also alternatives that do not involve an identity verification service. Common examples include letters with QR codes or regular codes, emails or text messages containing codes, phone calls, or in-person identification with an authorized person or entity (insurance agent, post office, etc.). Unlike an integrated identity verification process, these methods typically force the user to wait, change to a different medium, or even leave the comfort of their home, adding unnecessary hurdles to the onboarding process.
iDIN onboarding in practice
iDIN can be seamlessly integrated into your onboarding flow. It follows a familiar-looking format (to consumers in the Netherlands, that is) which clearly sets out the steps the customer is about to take.
The customer selects his or her bank and follows the usual banking login procedure.
The customer will then see an overview of the details he is about to share with your company.
Finally, the customer is asked how he would like to login in the future.
All of the steps in this identification flow can be customized to your specifications. That way, you will always be able to meet legal and regulatory requirements (transparency, consent, data minimization etc.) and set the right user-friendly tone for your online relationship with your customer. With iDIN, you’ll be off to a smooth start!
iDIN and Onegini Connect
Interested in the opportunities banking-grade identification can offer your business? Onegini can help. Our comprehensive CIAM solution Onegini Connect offers everything you need for successful onboarding, including the option for plug-and-play integration with iDIN. And what’s more, our dedicated onboarding assessment team is at hand to help you design the perfect onboarding flow for your target audience. We are always happy to talk to you about your options, so please feel free to get in touch with us today.
