Report: Businesses Challenged to Close the Consumer Biometric Perception vs. Use Gap

The ongoing digital shift has made it easier for consumers to shop, access entertainment and manage a range of day-to-day activities — often via a single login point.

While this “one click for everything” experience has become a standard feature on leading browsers and many large websites, striking the necessary balance between seamless login experiences and secure user authentication has seemed elusive until recently.

Biometric authentication methods, including facial recognition and fingerprint analysis, combine the ease of single-touch login experiences with a highly secure user verification process — and they are becoming increasingly popular among consumers, according to PYMNTS research. Many consumers said they think this method is more secure than traditional login options.

In Authenticating Identities In The Digital Economy, a PYMNTS and Mitek collaboration, we examine how consumers’ attitudes toward login experiences now include a willingness to use biometric-based authentication solutions to maintain security and convenience. The report is based on census-balanced surveys of 2,255 U.S. consumers conducted between Oct. 14 and Oct. 20 as well as an analysis of other economic data.

More key findings from the report include:

Seventy-three percent of digital account users reported that being able to choose their preferred authentication method would increase their trust with a service provider. PYMNTS researchers found that consumers’ preferences for authentication methods may vary and that being able to choose the method that matched their priorities at the moment was essential to fostering their trust in their digital account provider.

Generation Z and millennial users reported the least interest in using manual authentication on both mobile apps (12% for Generation Z and 19% for millennials) and web browsers (25% for both).

Younger consumers are digital natives and show greater interest in modern methods of user authentication over password-based options.

Slightly more than half of mobile app users (51%) and browser users (52%) stated that ease of use was the most important reason they preferred fingerprint scans. Consumers also cited ease of use at a similar rate (49%) for facial scans.

To learn more about why consumers are considering biometric authentication as an option download the report.