How essential is the role of customer engagement in beating fraudsters?
Part of an effective customer success role involves maintaining the customer relationship to ensure continued cooperation. A big focus of this process is to be the point of contact between numerous groups, each with a different perspective and understanding of how advanced fraud detection and prevention solutions work. We have a team of people ranging from data scientists, programmers, developers, machine learning experts, and intelligence specialists, to name a few. What they collectively build can appear daunting to understand.
We detect and prevent fraud by analyzing behavioral biometrics, digital fingerprinting of each users’ device setup, scanning thousands of pieces of data, automatically, passively, and in real-time, all backed up by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models. Despite being a mouthful, this sums up nicely what our fraud solution offers. But we understand this can be overwhelming, especially in the beginning of the customer journey. Therefore, we actively engage with customers to educate them about the tech behind the fraud solution, its capabilities, and how best to deploy it to meet the customer’s fraud fighting needs. This approach helps the customer understand the value they will gain from our product and service. Some companies can neglect customers, and it may seem obvious, but it’s important to always listen to their concerns and find the best possible solution to their problems.
What are the most common mistakes e-commerce merchants make when fighting fraud?
It is common advice to hear cybersecurity experts advise individuals to keep all software up to date on any devices they use to surf the internet, whether it be operating systems, anti-virus programs, etc. The latest versions of such programs will always have security patches and updates available to prevent various forms of attack on a user. The same housekeeping principle applies to e-Commerce merchants. For instance, choosing an advanced fraud solution backed up by ML models is a far better option than using rules-based fraud management systems, which can be easily bypassed by determined fraudsters that know how to cover their tracks.
The strength of your overall cybersecurity is only as strong as your weakest point.
Even with an advanced fraud solution in place, sometimes customers require a reminder to update all their systems – the strength of your overall cybersecurity is only as strong as your weakest point. For example, in Latin America, the Magento open-source e-Commerce platform is popular among merchants. However, despite patches being released by owner Adobe to update and seal security gaps, many merchants neglect to update it or do it too late after revenue losses from successful fraud attempts. So common are attacks on this platform that the term Magecart attacks evolved and features regularly on dark web forums and marketplaces where fraudsters exchange the tools and knowledge to enable cybercrime. The same approach applies to 3DS2 (3D Secure 2.0) payment authorization protocols for online payments, as there are still many merchants around the world that choose to use version 1.0, which is not as safe as the latest versions.
What additional security advice could you give e-Commerce merchants?
Don’t be afraid of the technical jargon surrounding advanced fraud solutions, nor believe that such setups are priced astronomically high – they are not. The cost of implementing advanced and effective anti-fraud measures is financially prudent compared to merchants choosing ineffective systems, continually being affected by fraud and its ill effects. Put simply, going well and above accepted fraud thresholds can impact company reputation amongst online shoppers who can easily find alternative, safer stores to buy their goods and services. The result is a negative impact on revenue growth.
This fear is a continuing global problem, one partially caused by the immediate effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. When merchants around the world were forced to move online as lockdowns were introduced, both consumers and merchants were suddenly thrust out of their comfort zone. When it comes to fighting fraud, many merchants believed (and many still do) that the choice was between effective fraud management that could cause customer friction through invasive payment authentication and lead to cart abandonment or ensuring the user experience (UX) over effective fraud management. The reality is advanced fraud solutions can ensure frictionless checkout experiences while providing the highest level of security.
It is customer success teams that should listen to and engage with merchants as regularly as possible to ensure that all concerns are listened to, and effective solutions are found and explained adequately to customers using advanced products. Customer centric approaches are proven effective, and merchants should definitely take advantage of the help that is always available to them with forward thinking fraud fighting companies.
