IDlayr helps Indian social media platform cut cost and improve UX

ShareChat is India’s largest homegrown social media platform, backed by investors that include Google, SnapChat and Twitter. It has over 200 million active monthly users for its ShareChat app, in which there are over 2.5 billion content shares every month.

ShareChat’s USP is local language social engagement and it supports 15 different languages across India. Its users are typically people who reside in the smaller cities across India, many of whom are not experienced with technology and use their phone as their only way to access the online world. 

Their location, typically in smaller tier 3 and 4 cities, means that a high-speed internet connection can be less reliable than other parts of the country. With a customer base of over 200 million people and growing, it’s imperative to ShareChat that its app users get as good an experience as possible, despite the country’s current infrastructure constraints. Along with speed, user empathy is one of ShareChat’s four core values.

As soon as ShareChat switched its identity verification approach from using SMS OTP to a number verification through IDlayr Verify, it immediately achieved a 12% cost reduction.

Managing the challenges of growth

Like many companies, ShareChat was using an SMS OTP (One-Time Password) to verify its users. This presented three challenges for this fast-growing brand; first and foremost, the need to keep the operational costs down as the user base grows, since every SMS sent has a cost to the business. Secondly, due its users’ location, SMS OTPs would often simply not reach the user on time. 

When the SMS OTP was received, many users, who are not tech savvy, found it difficult to use it to verify themselves – moving in and out of the app just to prove their identity was causing user fatigue, leading to customer drop-offs. Another implication of its users’ lack of tech literacy was the sharing of their SMS OTP for help in getting verified, which left them vulnerable to account takeovers (ATOs).  

When ShareChat decided to look for a solution to address these challenges, they trialled a number of the best solutions on the market. IDlayr was the chosen provider for three reasons; firstly, its class-leading mobile identity verification technology was able to solve ShareChat’s challenges in the best way; secondly, because of IDlayr’s experience of the situation that ShareChat was in, and thirdly, because of the unexpected level of support and accountability IDlayr offered. 

Making innovation count

To solve ShareChat’s challenges, the product chosen was IDlayr Verify which uses Silent Network Authentication (SNA) to verify a user’s identity instantly and invisibly. Through SNA, ShareChat can verify the user’s mobile phone number directly with the network operator over an encrypted connection to prove that the user and the phone they’re using is definitely theirs. 

This combination of cutting-edge, world-class technology and commitment to an unrivalled level of support ensured a successful go-live after a six-week pilot. A fast time-to-market is always important to ShareChat (speed is a core company value) but there was no room for unwanted surprises given that authenticating users is a critical business need for the company. 

One of the success factors for a fast go-live therefore, was being able to quickly integrate IDlayr’s innovative technology into the ShareChat app. This was made easier because of the level of technical detail and ease of access that IDlayr was able to provide to ShareChat’s engineering team.  

Delivering a mobile identity verification edge

For ShareChat the integration of IDlayr Verify into the app has meant a much simpler user verification process, no need for SMS and no chance of an account takeover since there is no information that can be intercepted or lost. ShareChat has effectively been able to turn their users’ phone number into their digital identity, and in doing so it has not only made the app easier to use, but improved security, reduced costs and protected its user’s privacy.

As soon as ShareChat switched its identity verification approach from using SMS OTP to a number verification through IDlayr Verify, it immediately achieved a 12% cost reduction. Furthermore, since users no longer needed to come out of the app to verify themselves, and due to the app’s latency gains, the improved customer experience resulted in a higher number of successful verifications, increasing customer retention by 4%.

As a result of the clear benefits brought by integrating IDlayr Verify into its primary app, ShareChat is now looking to do the same with its new short-video app, Moj, which now also boasts 200 million users.

The speed, success and support of IDlayr’s identity verification solution was made possible because, unlike many other providers, IDlayr focuses specially and solely on providing an identity verification solution as its core offering. This singular focus has given it, and ShareChat, an undeniable competitive edge.

To find how IDlayr’s identity verification solution can benefit your organisation, book a demo here: