Customers should be able to complete a digital onboarding process in less than three minutes to maximize conversion rates, said Juan Pablo Ortega, co-founder of Rappi.
After three minutes, the customer’s attention begins to fade and the conversion rate drops, especially if a customer encounters a difficult point in the application process a few minutes later.
“It is not a standard rule, but when we measure the [onboarding] process, it takes between 1-2 minutes. I think if the process goes over three minutes, you’ve already lost the customer’s attention.”
The comments came at a webinar on digital onboarding, a topic of vital importance to banks and financial institutions during the pandemic.
“[Digital onboarding] is something we must have to initiate a fully digital relationship, deliver a fully digital personalized value proposition, and maintain that relationship over time, growing in value for the client and company,” said Luis Torres Mariscal , SVP Banca Digital at Scotiabank Peru.
Digital onboarding has picked up in recent months as a result of Covid-19 and the touchless measures that accompany it, said Samer Atassi, director of Latin America at Jumio, a global company that provides digital fraud detection services. A complete experience for companies lies in finding a balance between weeding out fraud and minimizing friction, he added.
From the beginning, Rappi has prioritized an easy, quick enrolment process.
“It was super important for us for customers to open a bank or electronic fund account as easily as ordering a hamburger or food delivery. The challenge was always how to offer that account opening simply and with just a few steps,” says Ortega.
Currently, opening a digital account on Rappi takes four steps: scanning the user’s ID, taking a selfie, answering some regulatory questions, signing – and voila. After registration, the customer receives a card through delivery in 30 or 60 minutes.
By photographing clients’ ID cards, the company collects between 80% to 90% of the necessary information with just one shot, so it doesn’t have to ask the user for those details.
Eliminating friction in banking apps
Scotiabank Peru’s application offers digital onboarding, as part of a friendly user experience overall, but getting there was hard work, says Torres.
“Rethinking all this has taken us many cycles to see how these new processes adapt to traditional regulation,” said Torres, adding that “banks are and will continue to be banks,” so collaboration with technology companies is necessary to execute this type of process in the best possible way.
For Rappi, the onboarding process is also a constant exploration, analysis and tests as a result of changes in regulation, in addition to entering new markets.
“We all want to do good KYC process, but there are parts of the regulation that were made 20 or 30 years ago that no longer make any sense, and that is a bit frustrating because it makes you take steps so that the user does things that generate friction and that sometimes they do not have any benefit,” says Ortega.
See also: Payments and E-Commerce LatAm: Trust grows as transactions surge
The Rappi executive adds that the company is in constant conversations with regulators, in order to demonstrate how new technologies make legal requirements no longer essential.
In the financial services industry, the main challenge in the process of eliminating friction is comes down to keeping up with customer expectations while balancing security requirements.
“Rappi’s consumers are the same as banking consumers, and when they use Rappi, they have an expectation of doing things in a minute or two – then they enter the app next door and want to do the same with the same speed.
And these are services that require regulatory compliance, laundering prevention, a number of demands. So the great challenge is to work with these two variables, and do the best possible,” said Torres.
See also: Real-Time Payments LatAm: Options expand but usage grows slowly
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