Guiding Principles

We want to help you deliver experiences that provide a feeling of comfort and trust to your customers. These guidelines are built around 4 key principles that impact customer trust.

Control

Customers need to feel in control when buying online. Removing control and introducing guesswork erodes trust.

  • Clarify that the Issuer is asking the security questions.
  • Ensure key information is present during the security challenge.
  • Help users to complete key tasks, without removing independence.

Familiarity

Familiarity is the home of comfort. We want to unify the customer’s experience across platforms and devices.

  • Use well-known design patterns.
  • Ensure design, layout and zone ordering are consistent across all challenges and devices.
  • Ensure language and terminology is consistent across platforms (e.g. merchant, bank challenge screens, authentication apps).
  • Ensure transitions are seamless and behave as expected.

Efficiency

Help customers move through the security process efficiently, whilst still making them feel secure using appropriate friction.

  • Keep instructions concise, clear and informative.
  • Avoid complex processes and aim to use only one primary action per screen.
  • Use friction with care: too much or too little and users question what is happening.

Design quality

As design quality degrades, so too does trust. Design is subjective but trust increased with the use of a professional white background.

  • Merchants should minimise customisation.
  • Amateur-looking pages will heighten concerns, especially for lesser-known brands.
  • Minimise design quirks and inconsistencies.
  • Match user interface preferences by supporting automatic switching between Light mode and Dark mode.