In any industry, you must know your customer or audience. Knowing the identity and age of the person, you are selling to can help you serve your customers better.
If your industry is online, you might face difficulties verifying your customers’ age. Since it is online, it can be easier for people to upload fake age verification proof, such as fake IDs and supporting documents. It is now a challenge for online industries on how they could perform age verification in their industry.
What Is the Importance of Age Verification in Online Industries?
Some of the online industries that can benefit from online age verification are the following:
- Websites that offer the purchase of game applications and their different accessories
- E-commerce sites that sell the following: vape, tobacco, cigarettes, and alcohol
- Webpages that offer dating opportunities to its customers
The importance of an age verification system is that it can help regulate the audience and the customers the business receives.
For example, you are selling liquor and cigarettes. It is, without a doubt, only be sold to customers who are eighteen years old and above. The age verification system’s role is to ensure that only authorized customers can purchase from the shop.
It can also be the same with websites offering customers dating opportunities. The customers can be assured that the people they are interacting with are of legal age, and minors are not allowed to enter and create a profile on such websites. Simply put, it can provide a smooth experience to the customers, which is brought about by the technology created by identity verification companies.
Aside from keeping minors away from their products, it can also help the business comply with law regulations such as the PACT Act, as the law only allows the sale of liquor and cigarette to people of legal age.
Lastly, verifying the age of your customers can help you gain the trust of your customers as you are ensuring them that your business is safe and does not tolerate the sale of its products to minors.
What Are Some Online Age Verification Techniques That Can Help Online Industries?
Since you are now familiar with online industries and age verification systems, here are some techniques that can help your business perform online age verification
Optimize Face Analysis
Face analysis uses algorithms to analyze the person’s facial features. The facial features can help the age verification estimate the user’s age before they are given access to the website they want to enter.
Go to the User’s Mutuals
This method is also called social vouching. In this case, the people around you can vouch for your age. An example would be the business asking for at least 3 people who can prove your age, and those people will be notified that they have chosen to vouch for you and the business whether you are of legal age or not.
Age Verification Done Through Document Checking
One way to do this is through credit bureaus. These institutions have your records. These records can include financial information, your name, age, and address. If you submit this upon registration to a website, they can check with the bureau whether your information is correct and you are at the right age to access the website.
Require Customers to Upload Their IDs
This is one of the easiest ways to do age verification. You just need to ask your customers to upload their IDs. Once they upload their IDs, the system can calculate the user’s age as the ID provides their date of birth.
There is also another way to do this technique. Some businesses require the user to take a selfie with their ID. This ensures that the person in the ID and the selfie are the same. This serves as an extra verification.
Have Customers Undergo Two Factor Authentication
There are instances that minors use their parents’ or any legal person’s account to purchase things online. You can have customers undergo two-factor authentication to avoid the transaction going through, especially if it’s not authorized.
This is done by sending a unique to the mobile number or the email used by the account owner. The code is sent before they are given access to the website.
This can help because minors cannot access the website easily if they only know the accounts’ passwords. They would need to have possession of the email or phone used.
Let Users Answer Unique Questions
If a minor gets access to their guardian’s profile, you can have your users answer questions for which they are the only ones who know the answer.
This can be done when the transaction is about to be done. You can have a question pop up before they can proceed with the checkout payment. If the minor does not know the answer, they will not be able to get through.
Some of the questions may be:
- What is your mother’s maiden name?
- Where did you go to high school?
- What was your elementary school section?
Takeaway
Online age verification in businesses is important, especially if there is only a prescribed age to which they can sell to. Age verification systems can help them ensure the age and regulate the customers their website is getting.
Age verification systems can be done in various techniques. Whether it be through the uploading of ID or a face analysis check, checking the age of your customers will surely help your business in the long run as it can help you comply with the law and gain the trust of your customers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Is It Important for Online Industries to Have Age Verification Systems?
Businesses need to have age verification systems it helps keep minors away from their products. It can also help the business comply with the law and build the trust of its customers.
What Techniques Are Used to Verify the Age of Customers?
Some of the techniques to verify a customer’s age are:
- Face analysis
- Social vouching
- Uploading of ID
- Document checking
- Two-factor authentication
- Knowledge-based questions
Is My Data in Age Verification Systems Secure?
Yes, your data is safe because age verification systems are encrypted, so it cannot be easily accessible to people outside and attackers.
