From Doubt to Dependence: How Flutterwave built trust with users while reducing fictitious sign-ups by 90%

Hero image

Flutterwave at a glance

Use case

Fraud prevention

Industry

Payments

Countries using smile

Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa

Image of smiling woman

Impact

90%
Reduction in fictitious sign-ups
10 min
End-to-end merchant onboarding time

Building trust within Africa's digital landscape

About Flutterwave

In the bustling landscape of Africa's digital revolution, Flutterwave stands as a pioneering force, reshaping the digital finance space to help business owners thrive. With a commitment to building trust and transparency, Flutterwave enables businesses and individuals to send and receive payments online seamlessly.

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Flutterwave emerged as a beacon of hope for over 40,000 businesses. When everything was shut down, Flutterwave's digital payments solution allowed small businesses to transact and make money despite staying at home. These businesses, grappling with the pandemic's aftermath, found a lifeline in Flutterwave's unwavering commitment.

With services that cater to a diverse range of markets, building trust is at the core of Flutterwave’s operation.

Image of the world

Navigating Skepticism in Africa's Digital Realm

Trust, the cornerstone of any transaction, can be scarce in Africa's digital terrain. Flutterwave recognised this prevailing scepticism, especially among individuals unfamiliar with the digital landscape as they took their businesses online for the first time during COVID-19.

They found that many users hesitated to embrace online payment processes due to concerns about security and reliability. Their user base, consisting primarily of small business owners, is diverse in demographics. However, both young and not-so-young users needed more exposure and education about online processes.

The team at Flutterwave realised that to unlock the full potential of digital transactions, they needed to quell these doubts and establish an unwavering foundation of trust.

Image of the world

From Skepticism to Trust: Partnering with Smile ID

To establish trust, Flutterwave turned to Smile ID to streamline the identity verification processes for their users and block fraud on their platform. Flutterwave implemented a Biometric KYC solution which requires a user to take a selfie and compare that picture to the official government photo.

With this solution, Flutterwave witnessed a significant reduction of up to 90% in fraudulent sign-ups. Additionally, the onboarding time for merchants decreased from a cumbersome 24 hours to a swift 10 to 15 minutes, enhancing the efficiency and speed of their services.

Smile ID can also run ultimate beneficial owner checks for the individuals behind these businesses. This deep level of due diligence helps Flutterwave build credibility and trust among its customers and protects them from nefarious actors.

These days, trust is the core of FlutterWave’s business strategy. In their customer communications and events with regulators, they can confidently showcase that they align with the best practices required of even the most robust financial institutions in the countries they serve.

Image of the world

Related videos

How Flutterwave uses Biometric KYC

Flutterwave speeds up onboarding from 24 h to 10 min

“So Smile ID has helped us verify different IDs in different markets. We find that the features they provide on their solution help make it easy to use just one provider to verify all of the IDs as opposed to using different providers, which is what we've done before now.”

Aramide AyinlaSenior Associate, Financial Crimes