reduction in fraud rate after switching
reduction in time spent verifying IDs internally
The challenge
Building a trusted platform is paramount for sharing economy marketplaces. 2nd Address’ hosts need to have confidence that the people staying in their homes are genuine, while business travelers want the assurance that the listings are legitimate.
Like most online platforms, they relied on identity information to build trust, taking people from 'unknown' to 'verified' on their platform. Obtaining a high level of confidence around identity was key.
2nd Address asked users to submit an identity document and selfie, to be verified in-house. But they found that their team could not process applications quickly enough as they experienced rapid growth. Internal teams were reviewing documents from a global customer base, and the team’s lack of technical expertise of various document types exposed them to delays, avoidable fraud, and a less-than-ideal customer experience.
The solution
To help them build the best booking experience for their users, 2nd Address partnered with Onfido to deliver identity verification during booking, powered by Onfido’s JS SDK.
They looked at five alternative providers before deciding on Onfido.
Jose Arocha, Director of Product at 2nd Address
The results
2nd Address was able to seamlessly slot Onfido into their online and mobile-friendly registration and booking experience with our SDK. And our team were there every step of the way to help them do so.
Thanks to Onfido’s Document Verification and Selfie checks, where users snap a picture of themselves to confirm that they are the owner of a legal document, 2nd Address were able to detect bad actors before they caused issues on the platform. So much so that their team saw a 35% reduction in fraud.
Partnering with Onfido also equipped the 2nd Address team to deal with a growing customer base across the globe. They were able to reduce the time they spent on international identity document verification by 80%. This process could take up to 24 hours before the integration.
All of this means that 2nd Address is able to build a robust process for establishing trust with both their hosts and their rental community, without compromising on their best-in-class UX.
About 2nd Address
San Francisco-based 2nd Address’ Corporate Housing platform is an alternative to hotels that enables business travelers to look for home rentals that extend beyond 30 days. They enable hosts to list their homes, boasting over 7,500 premium homes in 7 cities.
