This week, Sparkcentral announced that domain name registrar DreamHost has deployed Sparkcentral’s Secure Authentication service, to verify and connect customer identities on social media.
On their blog, Sparkcentral pointed out that with the increasing number of consumers using social media platforms and messaging apps to engage with brands for customer service, a large chunk of personally identifiable information (PII) is being shared online, putting customers at risk of identity theft or fraud. A 2013 study by Visa found 7% of consumers have shared a social security number on social networks, while a 2014 Javelin Strategy & Research report found over 30% of social network users have posted their birthdate, 47% have shared their email address and another 12% have shared their phone number publicly while engaging online.
Davy Kestens, CEO, Sparkcentral said :
A major concern brands have when attempting to offer full-resolution service on social (media) is collecting, verifying and protecting the customer information that is needed to address support issues.
This often results in brands deflecting customers to other channels like email, phone or chat.
Concerns around customer data are real, but they do not need to be a roadblock to securely resolving customer issues over social media.
Sparkcentral says that DreamHost’s customer care agents serve more than 400,000 customers and 1.5 million sites. Using Secure Authentication, the hosting company can now collect PII, such as account numbers and email addresses, from customers on social channels without forcing customers to switch to other support channels or share PII publicly to get issues resolved.