Microsoft Advertiser Identity Verification
I helped build the Advertiser Identity Verification program, which provides a more secure and trustworthy experience for Microsoft Advertising customers and Microsoft Bing users.
THE ASK
The product team wanted to roll out a new program that would require advertisers to complete a verification process. Providing transparency on all advertisers will empower Microsoft Bing users to make better decisions about what ads they engage with. It will also help protect Microsoft Advertising from "bad actors".
THE APPROACH
The advertiser identity verification (AIV) program verifies an advertiser’s business entity or an advertiser’s individual legal identity.
Advertisers who are required to complete advertiser identity verification will be notified and given 30 days to submit documentation. Once submitted, they’ll have an additional 30 days to complete any additional verification steps or their account will be paused. Multiple failed attempts to complete the program will result in indefinite pausing.
As part of a phased rollout, a group of advertisers would be selected to first engage with the program. We delivered the MVP experience in pilot in November 2020 to select small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers.
We wanted to introduce the idea of AIV in a nudging — but not alarming — message. This message appears in the user’s Notification Center under Warnings. We felt to place it under Recommendations would not be fully accurate since it’s a mandatory task. This message will eventually fall under Errors if the user fails to complete verification:
We prompt the user using a banner atop their Dashboard (above), a warning in their Notification Center (left), and as a tooltip in their Account Summary (below).
Even though it’s required, I wanted the user to feel positively about completing this flow — as if they were upgrading their account, or making it stand out from the crowd. So, I penned the CTA: “Become a verified advertiser”. I chose “To keep your ads running” as the benefit, as it was the most important (and encouraging) benefit to the user.
Once the user clicks the CTA, they’ll enter the AIV flow. We chunked the process out in five easily digestible steps.
Here’s the happy path:
WHY IT WORKS
We achieved an 85% task success rate of the non-fraud SMB customers that participated in the MVP AIV program.