Onboarding

The identity checks a new user goes through before they can use a product. The process typically includes submitting a document, taking a selfie, and waiting for a decision.

In a banking app, for example, onboarding is the stretch between tapping "open an account" and seeing the account ready to use.

A three-step flow: (1) collecting a new customer's identity data, (2) verifying it, and (3) deciding whether to approve, decline, or route the case for review.

The verification step can include several checks:

• Document verification, which confirms the ID is genuine.
• Face match and liveness detection, which tie the document to a live person.
• Data checks, which compare the details against bureau or government records.
• Screening, which checks the person against sanctions and other watchlists where regulation requires it.

Teams measure onboarding with a few standard metrics:

• Conversion rate is the share of people who start the flow and finish it.
• Drop-off shows the step where people abandon the flow.
• Pass rate is the share of genuine users who get through on the first try.
• Straight-through processing is the share of cases decided automatically with no human involved.

Onboarding sits next to terms that are easy to mix up:

• Identity verification (IDV) is the check inside onboarding that confirms who the person is.
• Know your customer (KYC) is the legal duty that onboarding flows often exist to satisfy.
• Product onboarding teaches new users how to use a product, which is a different meaning of the same word.

For more, see Speed in Identity Verification: Go Fast or Go Home