Consumers want convenience now more than ever. Nobody will disagree with that. Frictionless is a word that has been used to describe how the payment process should be for consumers who visit a payment portal. The more friction that is introduced into the process, the more likely that a consumer will abandon an attempt to pay a debt.
But while consumers demand convenience, they also demand security. Concerns about scams, identity theft, and other types of financial fraud keep consumers from engaging online with brands and entities to which they are not familiar. Overcoming that fear is another important step for companies in the accounts receivable management industry.
An easy way to provide comfort to consumers when logging into portals is to replace traditional passwords, or even one-time passwords, with passkeys. Using passkeys, or two-factor authentication, when logging into a portal was the most important security feature highlighted by consumers who participated in a survey commissioned in the United States and Australia by PayPal.
Passkeys are easier to deploy and more secure than passwords, allowing consumers to log into devices and sites the same way they unlock their phones, with their faces or fingerprints, which make them more resistant to online attacks like phishing.
If you’d like to see a passkey in action, go to webauthn.io, and then type in any username. Once you have typed in a username, click “Register” and then then “Continue” to save the passkey. Once the passkey is created, press “Authenticate” and “Continue.” The passkey will scan your fingerprint or face and you will be authenticated.