Verification Does your business need to verify users’ identities, reset passwords, prevent service abuse, block malicious activity, secure transactions or increase open rates on messages? If your answer is yes to any of them then you’re ready to start using SMS to authenticate users.
And there’s no such thing as being too new or too small to get started with SMS for the uses mentioned above.
By the way, a new business forms in the U.S. literally once every minute. The U.S. Small Business Administration says there are 28 million small businesses in America. Together they account for 54% of all U.S. sales. Certainly, a great deal of this includes products and services sold by small businesses to small businesses, often positioned as the means to catch up with what large companies can do.
Authentication for Small Businesses
These offerings didn’t include authentication until less than a decade ago — when RingCaptcha began to germinate. Ever since it launched, small businesses have had a way to authenticate end users. But what circumstances warrant this in the first place?
The popular refrain about authentication goes that there are three generally recognized factors: something you know, something you have, and something you are.
Most people think of passwords as “something you know,” but the last time we checked, only 25% of businesses said they thought PINs alone are enough to authenticate accounts — plus they’re easy to steal, people forget them and require resetting, both of which drive up the hidden costs of administering them.
Two-factor authentication becomes much easier and more affordable than ever with RingCaptcha via SMS and voice.
Four Things Authentication Can Do
But if you can combine that password with something you have, like a mobile phone, authentication becomes much stronger — exponentially so. Here are four things that authentication can do for a small business.
Prevent Malicious Activity
Verifying users early in the lifecycle process via SMS and voice can drive away ill-intentioned users before it’s too late — it keeps spam and scammers from getting into your system in the first place. Phone verification reduces the risk of fraudulent transactions associated with important or highly sensitive information. It can block bulk registrations while also setting up customer segments. And it can also help verify that someone is in the relevant geographical location for a regional service.
Easy Identification
Email-only logins are becoming obsolete. In the mobile era, it makes more sense to ask for a phone number to sign in, making the process an easier transition. A phone number is a unique ID that allows users to be identified on any device.
Build Reliable Communities
Build a reliable community within an online marketplace or e-commerce website by confirming participants’ identities. Phone verification can be used after the registration stage in order to confirm users’ identity and strengthen users’ reputation in marketplaces. Also, it can be used as a secure password reset process and as a marketing tool.
Get the Message Across
SMS has proven to be one of the most invaluable tools for marketers, boosting response rates and engagement. Text message open rates exceed 98% compared to 22% of emails. Users can set custom alerts and reminders, improving the interaction time. Plus you can redirect people to the app store, driving traffic from web to mobile.
Growing? Start Using SMS
This diagram shows what a user authentication pathway looks like when you start using SMS.
Chances are at least one of these use cases might fit your your business, especially if it has a growing customer or user base. No matter what size your business currently is or what pace the customer or user base is growing, you’ll find it very easy to start authenticating users with RingCaptcha. Find out more about it by clicking here.
