RISK MANAGEMENT
Application Examples
Online Superstore Speeds up Verification
An online superstore was experiencing significant delays in processing its orders. Even with a team dedicated to manual review, the large volume of orders prevented the superstore from approving legitimate transactions quickly.
Its biggest problem was confirming orders from customers who submitted wireless phone numbers.
Agents were spending considerable time searching free Web sources, only to find these data sources were incomplete and unreliable. Unable to verify customer contact information such as name, address and phone number, the superstore was forced to put many orders on hold — including legitimate ones.
Orders were cancelled. Customers were frustrated.
Recognizing it needed a more efficient and reliable solution, the superstore enlisted TARGUSinfo for On-Demand VerificationSM services.
The online superstore needed a way to instantly approve good orders and identify only the ones that required further review.
TARGUSinfo automated that process by verifying the contact information and rating the quality of the data submitted by customers. Codes were used to classify good orders and those that were potentially risky.
"TARGUSinfo was able to verify contact information we couldn't find with other sources," says the company's e-commerce manager. "We're saving a tremendous amount of time by automatically approving the good orders — our review team never even sees them.
"Before implementing the TARGUSinfo solution, we were manually reviewing up to 15% of our transactions. That number has now decreased to 5%, which is much more manageable."
Online Electronics Company Tackles Wireless Verification
A top consumer electronics company was experiencing great difficulty verifying contact information for its online transactions. As a result, it was spending a tremendous amount of resources manually reviewing orders — and still canceling many that could not be verified.
Consumers were often submitting wireless or other hard-to-verify phone numbers with their contact information. Using some of the most common methods of verification, the company relied heavily on free Web sources such as White Pages and Directory Assistance.
The data frequently proved to be incomplete or inaccurate and verification efforts were consuming a lot of time and still coming up empty.
"We were forced to cancel many orders because we couldn't verify them and customers also canceled due to frustration with our security procedures," says the company's director of risk management.
The company turned to TARGUSinfo for On-Demand VerificationSM services.
Today, using the Manual Review Portal, the company instantly verifies the accuracy of a customer's name, address and phone number. In sub-second time, the company approves legitimate transactions that otherwise would have been held up in manual review.
With real-time access to the most current and complete contact information, including wireless and non-public data, the company has increased its transactions processed per hour by 54%.
In addition, the company has cut by 59% the orders had to cancel as a result of customer frustration or unverifiable information.
"Now our agents are able to spend time processing orders rather than researching those in question," the company's director of risk management says. "TARGUSinfo has helped us to increase our operational efficiency, approve more good orders and ultimately increase revenue."
