Leonard Botezatu
Age verification usually means uploading a document and hoping the merchant handles it carefully. Identity Attribute Verification replaces the document with a single yes or no answer, which is faster for the shopper and safer for everyone.
It's not often that you encounter a solution in the identity space that both elegantly and efficiently solves a complex challenge. I led the product design and end-user research for our new Identity Attribute Verification service in the Innovation team. The service is based on EMV 3DS. It exchanges and verifies extra identity attributes such as age and name. That extension helps meet rules that require specific attributes to be checked, for example for age-restricted purchases or content.
Why is it important?
The answer is straightforward, at least from a data privacy perspective. When you try to buy an age-restricted product online, like alcohol, you're often asked to verify your age. This usually involves scanning and uploading an identity document for verification. However, by doing this, you're sharing much more information than the merchant actually needs — confirming you're over 18 or 21 (not your date of birth nor your age).
The guiding principle of our Privacy by Design culture means using only the necessary data consumers have agreed to share in order to complete the verification.
Let's see how Mastercard's Identity Attribute Verification solution works in the following example, where the user purchases an age-restricted product.
The user experience
The most noticeable thing about the example is how consistent it is with a regular card-not-present checkout. After selecting Mastercard as the verification method, the experience is almost identical. There is no wallet or identity app to download, no video of yourself, and no document upload. You pay and verify your age with one tap.
Inconsistent identity verification confuses people. As a product designer, I see that confusion as a significant barrier to adoption. This inconsistency could also result in cart abandonment - one of the primary KPIs for merchants or service providers.
What do users say
We tested attribute verification on its own and alongside payments in France, Germany, Austria and the UK. Feedback was positive from the first design draft. Here are a couple of quotes:
"The age verification process using my payment card was very easy to complete."
"It was incredibly easy. Its much better than having to upload a picture of a ID card. Especially when the ID card must go through a software procedure of checking it is legit."
"Very easy! And fast."
Finally, user feedback was instrumental in shaping our solution. It helped us find areas for improvement and refine the design to meet user needs. That led to a polished "gold standard" for multiple use cases. The result is a consistent, seamless experience. To me this is #Priceless.
Read more here: Inside Mastercard's identity attribute verification | Mastercard Newsroom