Sept. 13, 2024
Ever wonder how many fake accounts get created every day with fake contact information? In today's fast-paced world, verifying that phone numbers are real is more important than ever. But so many companies don't do it! If you don't have a proper verification system in place, you're just going to be dealing with more fraud and more miscommunication, and slowly chipping away at your customers' faith in you. I'll tell you why you should verify users' phone numbers, and show you how, with SMS verification, phone call verification, and other techniques. You'll see how these methods can help you make your app more secure, reduce fraudulent activity, and help your users get even more out of your app.
Phone number verification is the practice of confirming that a phone number is real, in service, and belongs to the person or entity that claims it. Phone verification can serve a number of different purposes, from improving security to ensuring the people using your app really are who they say they are.
The main reason to verify a phone number is to ensure that the phone number is real, in service, and that it belongs to the person or entity that claims it. This makes your product more secure, and it builds trust. With the threats that exist today, it's increasingly important to understand and utilize the tools that help us verify contact information. Many online services require phone numbers to ensure that users aren't signing up with fake or disposable identities, so by establishing a strong verification process, companies can mitigate the risk of fraud and abuse.
There are many different methods for verifying phone numbers, some common ways include sending SMS codes to the phone number, calling the phone number, and using more sophisticated user validation tools. SMS codes are very popular, a one-time code is sent to the phone and the user needs to enter it in the app to verify themselves, it's quick and direct, and ensures the user has access to the phone number, and is a powerful additional layer of security. Phone call verification operates similarly, where you call the phone number and prompt the person to verify who they are, or enter a code. Companies also leverage user validation tools, which analyze historical data and employ machine learning to strengthen the verification.
Technology is always evolving, and so are the methods we use to verify cell phones. A modern approach is to leverage dedicated APIs that enable high throughput phone number verification, while maintaining high accuracy. For instance, some services can inform you of whether a number is a landline, VOIP, or mobile phone, which makes the overall verification process a lot more effective.
In a world where phone numbers are synonymous with identity and communication access, phone number verification isn't a nice-to-have, it's a need-to-have to handle people's personal and professional information responsibly.
Verifying phone numbers is one of those simple things that can have a big impact, for both businesses and individual users. More and more things are happening online these days, so it's crucial to ensure that the contact information you have is correct, so people can interact safely and effectively. This is why you should verify phone numbers.
Verifying a phone number is one of the best ways to prevent fraud when someone is creating a new account or completing a transaction. Weak verification processes are a fraudster's dream because they make it much easier for someone with bad intentions to create a fake account and complete a transaction they shouldn't be able to complete. When you require people to verify their phone number, you make it much harder for someone who has bad intentions. In a typical verification flow, a code is sent to the phone number you provide, ensuring that the person creating the account or completing the transaction is the same person who has access to that phone number. This means that businesses are able to decrease risk and protect themselves, and ultimately that their real customers can trust them more.
And it's not just good for business -- it's also good for the individuals giving their phone number. In today's world, where identity theft and fraud seem to be getting more common, people are increasingly skeptical about who has access to their personal information, and when. By providing more verification, businesses are able to demonstrate to people that they are serious about protecting their personal information, and that they don't have to worry so much about other people making fraudulent charges or getting unauthorized access to their accounts.
Verifying phone numbers is important not only to prevent fraud—it's also an opportunity to improve the end user experience by ensuring you have the right data. When companies verify phone numbers, they can connect with their end users: for updates, for offers, or for important account information. Imagine, for example, a company that needs to alert its users to a change in service. They need up-to-date contact information to reach you.
But it's more than just a phone call. Verification also streamlines customer communications so companies can more easily assist you, or you can get what you need, more quickly. If a user's phone number is verified, companies can call you when you have an issue. This means companies can reach out to you before you have an issue, to prevent it, which strengthens their relationship with their entire user base, and ultimately increases satisfaction and loyalty.
Verifying phone numbers does more than that too. It turns out that all that data you're collecting can be used for more than just business intelligence and customer service. There's a darker side to eCommerce, and to taking payments from strangers in general. People can be difficult, and when you sell things to people who want to pay with funds they don't have, you can lose the money you've made and have to pay fees for the privilege of being robbed. When you have an up-to-date, verified phone number for your customer, you can provide the evidence you need to dispute the dispute. For instance, you can give your customer a call at their verified phone number to discuss a chargeback and hopefully prevent the whole thing from happening in the first place.
Another really good reason to verify phone numbers is to prevent chargebacks or electronic payment disputes initiated by the cardholder, often resulting in financial loss for the business. With an accurate and verified phone number for your customer, you can lend the support you need to win the dispute. For instance, you can call your customer at their verified phone number to discuss an unrecognized charge, reducing the likelihood of disputes escalating.
Compliance is also a thing to think about. Compliance is a big deal in a lot of industries, especially when you're working with consumer data of any kind. Verifying phone numbers can be a helpful tool in maintaining compliance with data protection laws and other laws that require you to keep customer data private. With verified numbers, you can track every time you contact your clients, so that if you're ever audited or someone does due diligence on your company, you can easily prove that you're playing by the rules.
One of the lesser-known benefits of phone verification is the trust and integrity of communication it cultivates between businesses and their customers. And trust is everything in business. If customers know you're verifying their contact information, they'll know that you're also taking steps to secure their data. You care about their data. This keeps them happy and loyal to you.
Plus, loyal customers come from good, consistent, reliable communication. When you verify phone numbers, you can create personalized experiences that build trust and keep customers coming back. They appreciate being treated like people and not just 1s and 0s in a database. This not only gives you happy customers, but a leg up on the competition because customer loyalty can make or break you.
And we really can't stress this enough: verifying phone numbers is important. By actually verifying phone numbers, you can protect yourself from fraud, improve the user experience by actually reaching your users, avoid chargebacks, and keep trust with your customers. All things you'll need to compete as the digital world continues to evolve and grow.
Nowadays, SMS verification is essential for security and for making sure that the people using your app are really who they claim to be. You usually send a user a one-time code to their phone and they enter it back into your app to prove that they own the phone number they told you. It's an additional layer of security, especially when single-factor just isn't enough. Users verifying their phone number by entering a text confirmation code helps protect against and decrease the threat of unauthorized access.
SMS verification is super common, and it's popular for a reason.
You probably see it all the time. E-commerce or other online services using phone verification for security to help ensure that the person signing up for the service is really the person they say they are. It's common because it's easy and it just works, you get a message with a code in it, you enter the code, and that's it. This is especially important for things like transactions, where you need to make sure the person doing the paying is actually the account owner.
Pretty much every app uses SMS verification as a part of their user auth flow now. From e-commerce apps to banking apps, the ease and simplicity of text message verification make it a key way to build user trust and maintain security, all while making it simple for users to login, so users can more easily use their app, without the app getting in their way.
For successful SMS verification:
You'll want to make sure you're formatting the user's phone number accurately, and that they can really receive messages. Incorrectly formatted numbers are a top reason for undelivered messages, which can be a frustrating experience for the user. And we don't want that. So you'll want to make sure you have a super intuitive input that just says, enter your number like this. You'll also want to prefill the country code, and even show them an example pattern so they can enter it in accurately.
Also, while you're at it, implementing SMS verification you'll also need some backend support. Make sure your system can handle a high volume of SMS requests without getting slow. What kind of SMS can your backend handle? Can it scale to meet the number of requests you expect to process? Can it handle more over time? Because this might change, especially during peak usage (e.g. Black Friday, user onboarding, etc).
SMS verification is a nightmare. People don't get codes. This can be for any number of reasons -- the carrier is blocking things, the user typed the wrong number, etc. You should be able to handle that -- you should be able to resend codes, you should be able to do email confirmations, so your user isn't just sitting there with nothing to do if they can't receive text messages.
The second thing is different international carriers, and different SMS regulations. You really have to know local laws and carrier rules, because some countries are really restrictive in terms of what you can send. Which means your users in other countries outside North America, or Western Europe might just be out of luck! Clear instructions, and easy access to customer support are really important here.
Lengthy codes aren't desirable when it comes to sending SMS messages to verify users. When you send a user a one-time code, send them the whole "what to do next?" or "what to expect" part of the information as well. For example, instead of sending just the one-time code text, you can also send text that tells the user that they can ask for a new code if they didn't get the first one. Then the user doesn't have to wonder, and you have a happier user overall.
Using simple language is also important in these messages. No detailed technical terms that only an expert would understand. A clear message will guide the user, and also makes your service more credible. It looks like you take security and user experience seriously. And keeping them short, in addition to everything else we've seen, reinforces the message that verification is a big deal -- which keeps your user engaged.
You should make sure your service is using your messages to give the user the information you want them to have! (Messages and code) Firebase Authentication
Phone verification is when you call someone and tell them a special code that they can type in somewhere to prove who they are. It can be a particularly useful choice if you don't want to rely on SMS (for whatever reason), like if your app is used in areas with bad cell phone coverage, or if your users are frequently changing phones. When you make a phone verification call, the user gets a call from you that tells them the code to type in. That means they can always get their verification codes, even if they can't receive SMS (for whatever reason).
Voice call verification is a very nice user experience, especially if your users are somewhere with poor cell phone coverage and can only do voice. And it solves issues like what happens if they don't receive or miss the SMS, or can't receive it because of some exclusion, etc. It's a real-time way to verify that you are you in a moment's notice, and it can be really useful if you need to know that this person is this person, for real, right now, so you can let them use something very sensitive, like banking, or some kind of secure application.
Of course, there are also some potential drawbacks. In order to do a voice verification call well, you need a well-designed phone prompt that will not waste the user's time, but which carefully guides them through the process of authenticating. And you'll also need to think about what the user's end might be able to do with its phone, since some users' phones will have settings that prevent your calls from connecting, or that mute the notification sounds, etc., and the user will not receive the call to verify. By working through some of these common issues, you can make your voice call verification a good way to verify that your users are who they are saying they are.
When a user misses a phone call they want to give them an alternative for verification -- they could miss a call for lots of reasons (they might be in a meeting or can't hear the phone ring). Allowing the user to verify through a different channel can improve the user experience and ensure verification is completed.
One way to do this is by sending a follow-up SMS with the same verification code you dialed the number. This way the user can still verify even if they missed the original call, and without unnecessary delay. You might also choose to give the user the option to call back and request a new call if they missed the requested call to begin with. The more ways you give users to verify their identity, the more ways you give them to use the method of their choice and demonstrate the added security of your verification process.
Voice call verification can be used to verify a user's identity, opening up new opportunities to boost the security of their accounts. Two-factor authentication, or 2FA, is where users have to authenticate themselves twice before they're allowed to access things like sensitive information. Usually, this is something they know (like a password) and something they have (like a phone).
By making phone call verification one of the factors in this process, you're adding an extra layer of security for your users. For example, after you type your password, the system might ask you to prove your identity with a phone call that tells you your code. This makes it more difficult for someone to gain unauthorized access to your account because they would need your password and have your number—both of which you're not likely to let them have at the same time.
Also, using voice call verification along with another authentication method to prove your identity adds an extra hoop for attackers to jump through if they're trying to brute force their way into your account. Plus, companies can accommodate how their users prefer to receive their 2FA codes, adding a security and convenience factor to it. Users feel secure and with a strong phone call verification in place companies can protect their data and give their users a great experience. Read more about verification methods.
Phone number verification is key in our world today -- for both businesses and individuals. Phone verification tools, specifically online phone verification tools, are used to verify phone numbers in minutes: whether a phone number is real, active, inactive, or potentially fraudulent -- allowing users to increase the trust and reliability of their communicative relationships.
If we break it down, one of the key things these tools verify is the type of phone number it is: landline, mobile, or Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP). That information is key for the person doing the verification -- for example, whether a number is a mobile or landline can totally change how a business or individual communicates with that person. Mobile numbers might be open to text message marketing; landlines might not be. On the other hand, VOIP numbers are often used for fraudulent activities, so by identifying them, businesses can protect themselves and their customers from fraud and put their resources into the areas that really need it.
Phone number validators help businesses ensure that they have a clean and accurate database of their customers' contact details. Accurate customer contact details are essential for operational efficiency and legal compliance in marketing initiatives. Businesses with accurate customer contact details will have lower bounce rates and higher campaign performance, which are key to mitigating the costs associated with fraud: chargebacks and fraudulent account build.
Verifying phone numbers is really important because it means better data in the first place, and it helps to reduce fraud. A comprehensive service will verify the status of a number, letting you know if it's an active line, which carrier it belongs to, and whether it's at risk. Businesses get to depend on the latest technology to protect their data and stay connected with their customers. You can trust a reputable service to deliver stronger security for your customer interactions and less risk overall.
In addition, a lot of verification services offer real-time data retrieval and other layers of security, like email verification and proxy detection, so you can verify users on any channel. A good verification service will help you protect your business from fraud, keep your customer interactions safe, and keep your data safe.
If you're a business and you have a ton of phone numbers, there are also lots of online tools you can use to verify phone numbers in bulk. This is really convenient if you have a list of numbers that you need verified all in one go (like for a marketing campaign, if you're onboarding a ton of new users, etc), so you don't have to do each one individually.
Bulk verification typically works something like this: you plug all of the phone numbers into the validator, you click to run a syntax check, and then you'll receive the results. The results will provide you with a ton of information (like whether the number is valid or invalid, carrier details, typing details, a risk score for how safe that number is, etc). Bulk verification supports over 150 countries and will save you time, and it will ensure that your customer management system is filled with accurate information, which will help you be more successful with engagement.
If you take advantage of phone validation tools frequently, you can rest assured that you're only ever reaching out to real people, and you're also minimizing any risk of bad data (i.e. you won't accidentally text a landline or a fake number). Regularly checking your data will help you work smarter, and keep your users happy.
Phone number verification is kind of a must-have for businesses. It's good for security and user trust. It's good for fraud prevention.
Basically, you're checking that phone numbers are real and in use. It's especially useful because the internet is a scary place and you can't be too sure that anything or anyone is who they say they are. You pay a service to confirm that you are in fact a real human, usually with SMS and phone calls.
Now that businesses have access to online verification tools, they can easily verify phone numbers and ensure that they always have an up-to-date phone number for their users who they need to reach and not get in trouble.
That's how you safeguard your business. That's how you earn trust and loyalty from your users. So it only makes sense to include it into any best practices framework for responsible data management in the digital age.
Phone number verification is the process of verifying and confirming a user's phone number is real and valid. We do this because it increases security, reduces fraud, and helps users trust you. By knowing a phone number belongs to a real and active user, you can trust that transactions are more secure, communications are more effective, and fraud is ultimately reduced.
Phone number verification is usually implemented through sending an SMS code, doing a voice call confirmation, or employing other advanced user validation tools. With SMS codes, you send a unique code to the user's phone; with phone call confirmations, you have the user acknowledge a code via a voice prompt. User validation tools in addition to these can use historical data and algorithms to further reinforce verification.
SMS verification provides an added layer of security by asking users to enter a one-time code sent by text message to prove they're who they say they are. This way, you can help make sure the person signing in to your service really is the account owner and reduce the risk of unauthorized logins or fake accounts.
Users can find themselves in situations where they don't receive verification codes because of carrier restrictions, or they may enter the wrong number. In these cases, service providers can offer code resending, or alternate methods of verification (like email confirmation) that will allow users to access their account.
Phone call verification is a reliable alternative to SMS verification -- especially in areas with poor network coverage, or when your users can't receive text messages. We'll call the user's phone and communicate a verification code using voice prompts. So whether or not SMS is reliable, you've got a backup.
Phone number validation tools let you verify a phone number to confirm it's real and that it works. It'll also tell you if a phone number is active, inactive, or another status like potentially fraudulent. So businesses can keep clean customer contact info databases, not waste money on communications, stay legal, and not get scammed.
When selecting a phone verification service, look for reliability in things like data accuracy, efficient algorithms, carrier partnerships to verify phone status, etc. A good service will offer you real-time data and possibly even extra layers of verification like email validation and proxy detection.
Bulk phone number checking tools allow you to check large lists of numbers all at once, so you can verify a lot of data quickly and with minimal hassle. Just upload all the phone numbers you have, and validate them in one go, instead of having to do them individually. It's a major time-saver that allows businesses to validate customer details in bulk, reduce communication bounces, and sharpen their campaigns.
verify cell phone number in action with a user checking their phone
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