User onboarding via SMS
02/11/2022
numerunique improves the identification of a new user: it is now as simple as sending an SMS!
The easiest way to understand it is to try it: https://nun.tf/identification.php.
Previously, and it is still possible, you had to enter an email address, confirm it, enter a password, confirm it, and you could, in addition, enter your postal address. Moreover, but it is invisible to the user, it involves complex processing (and far from infallible) to ensure that the email address provided is indeed valid and corresponds to a legitimate user.
In fact, two spammers had even taken the opportunity to enter, instead of the postal address, a link to a site selling products such as those usually offered in spam. Otherwise, the procedure was obviously dissuasive, seeing the number of site visits that ended on the identification page.
The vast majority of automated browsing (by robots) of websites, and numerunique’s website is no exception, is a worrying reality. numerunique is intended for humans and refuses to impose the famous anti-robot “captchas” on them. User identification remains the best solution to favor useful exchanges and is also essential for any commercial relationship.
Using a mobile number as an identifier is relatively common. However, asking the user to send an SMS to declare their mobile number is more innovative. Note that if a new user accesses numerunique’s website from their mobile phone (probably the majority of cases), they simply need to click on the recipient number (numerunique’s virtual SMS reception number) to initiate sending the SMS for identification.
User onboarding is thus done almost in one click!
Using an SMS for this identification is also a very advantageous solution:
- it’s simple and straightforward,
- a mobile phone number is much more personal than an email address and just as unique,
- the automatic reply to an SMS implicitly verifies the validity of the mobile phone number used,
- the process of receiving the password by SMS is inherently two-factor identification,
- as a bonus, it allows more direct contact with the person who identifies themselves this way.
Comments or remarks about this system are welcome! And of course, you need to identify yourself to do so :-)