Truora Blog

Digital onboarding process: learn the 7 steps to implement it

Written by Belén Pérez Santillana | Mar 8, 2024 9:34:06 PM

If we talk about acquiring customers safely and effectively, we also need to talk about digital onboarding; the user's highway to your company! That's why the current trend is to conduct this process through WhatsApp. In this post, I'll tell you all about it.

Digital onboarding: the starting point of your customer journey

The incorporation process is the first step in your customers’ relationship with your company. From that moment on, their experience begins.

Truora plays a key role in this stage by offering digital onboarding services that are secure, fast, and frictionless.

Digital onboarding is not only about speed or accuracy. It’s about:

  • Creating smooth experiences
  • Building trust from the first interaction
  • Understanding market trends and user expectations

That’s why Truora provides cutting-edge technology to help you onboard customers securely and without friction.

In this article, you’ll learn about:

  • What digital onboarding is
  • The importance of identity verification
  • The shift toward portable digital identity
  • WhatsApp as a digital onboarding channel
  • How Truora enhances onboarding through WhatsApp
  • The 7 key steps to an effective digital onboarding process

What is digital onboarding?

Digital onboarding is the process of registering, verifying, and activating users online.

It usually includes:

  • Account creation
  • Digital identity verification
  • User profiling
  • Electronic signatures
  • Preference setup

The main goal is to:

  • Reduce friction
  • Speed up access to products or services
  • Improve the overall user experience

In short, digital onboarding turns a mandatory process into an opportunity to delight users.

Identity verification

Identity verification is a critical step in digital onboarding. It creates trust, ensures security, and helps companies comply with regulations.

Security and compliance

Verifying a user’s identity helps:

  • Prevent fraud and identity theft
  • Protect sensitive data
  • Create a safe environment for transactions

It also supports compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, helping companies avoid fines and penalties.

Evolving customer expectations

Today, identity verification is not just about meeting requirements.

Users expect companies to:

  • Handle their data responsibly
  • Use information to improve their experience
  • Offer personalized and seamless onboarding

This shift has opened the door to new onboarding experiences, including fully digital flows through channels like WhatsApp.

The market’s shift toward portable digital identity

The rise of platforms like WhatsApp reflects a broader market trend:
users want simple, portable, and secure digital identity solutions.

These solutions allow people to:

  • Reuse their verified identity
  • Avoid repeating the same steps on every platform
  • Stay in control of their personal data

Demand for portable digital identity

As more online services require identity verification, the process often becomes repetitive and frustrating.

Portable digital identity solutions aim to solve this by:

  • Allowing users to store their identity securely
  • Sharing verified information across platforms
  • Reducing onboarding time and friction

Challenges in identity verification

Despite their benefits, digital identity solutions face important challenges.

New technologies such as:

  • Artificial intelligence
  • Deepfakes
  • Synthetic identities

make it easier to create fake or manipulated identities.

This increases the risk of:

  • Fraud
  • Data breaches
  • Cyberattacks

That’s why identity verification must combine strong security with a smooth user experience.

WhatsApp for digital onboarding

WhatsApp has become a powerful channel for digital onboarding.

Companies can use it to:

  • Guide users step by step
  • Verify identity in real time
  • Reduce onboarding friction
  • Improve user engagement
  • Lower acquisition costs

With WhatsApp, onboarding happens in a familiar environment, making the process faster and more intuitive.

Ease and efficiency in digital onboarding

Its simple and familiar interface makes it easy for users to interact and complete the digital onboarding process quickly and seamlessly. Additionally, you can conveniently and efficiently send text messages, images and documents, along with the necessary information from your users.

Enhanced user experience

Using WhatsApp for digital onboarding not only simplifies the process for users but also significantly enhances their experience.

By providing them with the option to complete the onboarding process through a platform they already use and are familiar with, you remove entry barriers and reduce friction, increasing the likelihood of users successfully completing the process.

Reduction in acquisition costs

By leveraging a free and widely used messaging platform like WhatsApp, you eliminate the need to invest in expensive marketing or advertising campaigns to attract new users.

Instead, you can directly reach out to your customers and leads through a channel they already actively use, resulting in more cost-effective and efficient customer acquisition.

Harnessing the potential of WhatsApp with Truora

Using WhatsApp for digital onboarding provides a range of significant benefits, and Truora is a company specialized in helping you maximize them

Offer your users a faster, more convenient and satisfactory digital onboarding experience.

The 7 key steps to implement an effective digital onboarding process

Finally, I'll tell you the key steps to carry out this implementation, based on market trends in identity verification.

1 - Define objectives and requirements

The first step is to clearly define the objectives of the process and the requirements necessary to achieve them.

This includes:

  • Identifying the stages of the onboarding process
  • Defining he information you want to collect from your customers during the process.
  • Identifying the security and compliance standards that must be met

2 - Select an identity verification platform

Once the objectives and requirements have been established, it's important to select the identity verification platform. Truora offers the most advanced solutions so you can easily integrate them into your company's digital onboarding process.

3 - Design an intuitive interface

The interface of the digital onboarding process plays a crucial role in the user experience.

Truora's interface is intuitive and easy to use, allowing you to guide your users through the process step by step and enable them to complete identity verification quickly and seamlessly.

4 - Personalize the verification process

It's essential to personalize the identity verification process to suit individual needs and preferences. Truora offers options that allow you to design the process according to specific requirements.

For example, in financial sectors where security is critical, it may be necessary to implement additional verification steps, such as scanning additional documents or biometric verification, to ensure user authenticity.

On the other hand, in e-commerce, a more streamlined verification process may be preferable to not hinder the user experience.

You can also address specific privacy and security concerns by allowing users to choose from different verification methods or adjust the level of information they want to share.

5 - Ensure security and compliance

Security and compliance are critical aspects of the digital onboarding process. Truora ensures this with robust security measures to protect your users' personal information and comply with current privacy and data protection regulations.

6 - Continuously test and optimize

Once you have implemented the digital onboarding process, it's important to conduct comprehensive testing to identify potential issues or areas for improvement. Continuously optimizing the process based on user feedback and identity verification market trends is essential.

7 - Adapt to changes

Last but not least, it's crucial to adapt the digital onboarding process to the changing needs and preferences of users.

This may involve incorporating new technologies and functionalities, as well as regularly updating the interface and process flow to ensure an optimal user experience.

Experience a simplified and secure digital onboarding

Digital onboarding has become a crucial point in the customer journey, and it's necessary to make the most of it to provide maximum security and quality of experience.

If you want to learn more about the topic, explore the use cases of KYC and AML with Truora's digital onboarding.