- Submits application
- Hours
- Requests ID by hand
- Gets an email
- Hours
- 33% drop
- Verifies on phone
- Up to a day
- Reviews again, then decides
- Applicant
- Compliance
- Hand-offs and waits
- Waiting
ID verification in onboarding
Most businesses opening a Rho account had to verify an owner’s identity. That check used to happen after signup, over email, one link at a time. Designed an in-flow verification step that moves it into signup itself, handing desktop applicants to their phone for a quick ID photo and selfie, so approvals could start with the check already done.
What's included
- Signup flow
- Desktop-to-mobile handoff
- Vendor switch
- Compliance review
Verified by hand, after the fact
Identity checks and a liveness selfie are key fraud-prevention steps at Rho, but they happened outside signup, by hand, after the application was already in.
A third of applicants asked to verify their identity never finish.
Verification starts after submission, in a separate flow reached by email. That detour is where applications stall.
Of applicants asked to verify their identity (about 70% of all applicants)
- Asked to verify identity100%
- Complete verification67%33% drop off
- Pass verification64%
Three decisions that made it work
Faster decisions for Rho, faster access for applicants.
Verify before review, not after
Put verification right after the owners step, so the result is waiting when the application reaches review.
Step 5 of 6
- Business details
- Business address
- Control person
- Beneficial owners
- Verify identityID photo and selfie, right after owners New step
- Business documents
Meet people on the device with a camera
Most people sign up at a desk, but a quick ID photo and selfie work best on a phone.
So desktop hands off to the phone, by QR code or text.
Ask one person, not everyone
One person verifies during signup: the applicant, when they’re a business owner (95% of the time).
- ACAlice ClarkVerifies
- BOBen OrtizOwnerNot asked
Verification, inside the flow
A new step after owners. Verify now or later; either way, the capture happens on a phone.
1Verify your identity
On desktop80% of signups
On mobile
Verify later
2QR code or text link
Opens in a new tab
Continues the application
3ID photo + selfie
4Verified
Verify your identity
We need to verify your identity. The process will take less than a minute to complete.
You will need the following:
An ID documentDriver’s license, passport, national ID card, etc.
Your smartphoneTo take a quick selfie.
Verify Later
Verify Now · 1 minute
1Now, or later
Verify now to continue into capture, or later to keep going with the application.
Let’s verify your identity
Open a secure link on your mobile device so that you can complete the verification process.
Scan the QR code
Follow the steps on your mobile device, once you’ve finished, this page will automatically refresh.
2Desktop hands off to the phone
Scan a QR code or get the link by text. On a phone, verification simply opens in a new tab.
3Photo ID and a quick selfie
A driver’s license, ID card or passport, framed by guides, then a passive selfie matched to it. No video, no gestures.
Verification complete
You’ve finished this step and can now continue your application.
Continue Application
4Verified, and back in signup
When the session completes, the application moves to verification complete and the applicant carries on.
Designing around compliance
Compliance needed a vendor it could trust and results where reviewers already work.
A new vendor, chosen for the flow
The existing vendor had been acquired by a competitor. In-flow verification moved to Socure once it cleared every requirement.
Socure
- Run liveness checks for usCertified passive liveness from a single selfie
- Accept the documents we already takeUS and Canadian licenses, IDs and passports, and passports internationally
- Work for owners outside the USWrapped in our existing verification SDK, already used abroad
- Be faster than what we hadTypically responds in under 1.5 seconds
- Read and score documentsOCR plus a risk score from multiple document checks
Socure results, right in the review tool
In the internal review tool, each owner row gains a Socure outcome, right next to the details reviewers already check.
NameRoleOwnershipSocure
Alice ClarkCEO60%Pass
Ben OrtizCFO40%Not asked
Early data made the case for removing “Verify later”
Within weeks of launch, session data showed that inside signup, the verify step wasn’t where people dropped off. That made it safe to remove “Verify later.”
90%Verify now
10%Later
~2% hit a problem verifying and finished later.
Approximate, recreated from 
LogRocket data.
We added 90 seconds to signup and removed 1–2 days from onboarding.
Moving identity verification into signup added a little time upfront, but removed the delays and handoffs that happened after submission.
Time from submission to a decision
~70%fewer manual follow-ups from Compliance
~2×the applications Compliance can review, with one review each
1 sessionfor applicants, from start to submit
+90 secadded to signup, the trade-off