Credit card checker puts sales at risk

E-commerce retailers risk losing 15 per cent of sales from the 3-D Secure credit card verification scheme being introduced by Mastercard and Visa unless usability problems are addressed.

Optimum.web, the usability division of RedEye, reckons this figure could rise to more than 27.5 per cent if the proposed card-checking systems are not implemented in a user-centric way on retailers' sites, the company says.

Optimum.web's findings follow usability testing conducted on a high-profile e-retail site, which had seen sales fall following the introduction of the card verification systems, and expert heuristic reviews of sites across a range of sectors including travel, dating and property.

The usability testing unearthed a range of usability issues on the e-commerce site, but most notably it found that 12.5 per cent of users would abandon an online purchase when presented with the first verification screen.

A further 25 per cent would not participate willingly until forced to do so, and a proportion of these would probably abandon a purchase at that time.

Following the success of 'chip and pin', Mastercard and Visa are encouraging retailers to adopt the 3-D scheme to reduce online fraud.

The verification screens are served up independent of the host site and this, says Keith Simpson, managing director of optimum.web, is the root of the problem: "Users are rarely warned before being served the 3-D Secure screens so there is a real problem that many view them as part of an elaborate phishing exercise.

"The design of the screens is generic with no links or association to the site from which the user is trying to make a purchase - it's no wonder that some users get scared and opt out".

In contrast, Simpson says that sites that implement 3-D Secure in a user-centric way will raise their trust rating and sell more by demonstrating concern for their customers' security.

Optimum-web has developed a 3-D Secure Implementation Model to help retailers make the transition successfully and profitably.

In tests this service has been seen to significantly decrease the risk of basket abandonment.

Consumers are taken through a usability-tested procedure which guides them through the whole verification process in order to reassure them about 3-D Secure so that they feel confident in taking their purchase through to completion.

3-D Secure is the protocol developed by Visa (branded Verified by Visa) and MasterCard (branded MasterCard SecureCode) to further secure 'cardholder absent' transactions over the internet by authenticating that the person making the e-commerce transaction is the authorised cardholder.

Both MasterCard and Visa are pushing merchants to sign up to the standard - the major incentive being that, if they do not sign up to 3-D Secure, they are liable for any fraudulent transactions, whereas the card issuers will be liable for transactions verified through 3-D Secure.

At the point of purchase the issuing bank approaches the customer and requests enrolment, the customer then creates a password and personal assurance message.

When signing up to 3-D Secure the merchant has to change the customer-facing website and they have no control over the contents/style of what the issuing bank displays to the customer within the inline frame.

Issuing banks must allow the cardholder to be able to opt out from 3-D Secure three times (tracked across multiple merchants).

If this occurs, the third merchant will lose the sale as the card issuer can potentially block all online shopping for an unwilling cardholder on participating merchant sites.

Incentive to enrol is low, since customers are currently protected if their card is used fraudulently online.

If they enrol in a payer authentication scheme, it is another password for them to remember, and it will be difficult to get the bank to take liability if their card is somehow used fraudulently through disclosure of their password (similar to shift in perceived liability with move from signature to chip and PIN for card present).

However, 3-D secure does have the potential to improve customer confidence in online shopping.

It should, though, be used as well as, not instead of, fraud screening.

Optimum.web is the usability division of RedEye.

Optimum-web provides a wide range of usability testing services.

It has a unique structure that balances leading-edge research in human-computer interaction (HCI) with extensive commercial experience in practical usability engineering for clients such as Nationwide Building Society, Microsoft, WHSmith, HSBC and QXL.

The company's methodologies include expert evaluations, user-based testing and competitive site surveys.

The company's work is designed to answer three key questions that everyone involved in the web needs to ask: 1 What are my site's strengths and weaknesses? How can my site be improved to better meet the needs of users? How does my site compare to its competitors?.

In addition to broad-based usability testing optimum.web offers specialist consultancy in accessibility, internationalisation, culture, information architecture, branding, semiotics and online reputation management.

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