Building a successful identity verification (IDV) solution is as much about what you choose not to do as it is about what you decide to develop. With an always-changing array of customer needs, regulatory requirements, and technological advancements, prioritization becomes both an art and a science.
In this blog post, we’ll pull back the curtain and let you peek in on how we decide which features to develop next, ensuring that every decision aligns with our mission to deliver secure, seamless, and reliable identity verification solutions.
1. Listening to the voice of the customer
Our customers are our north star. Whether they are enterprises integrating our solutions or end users verifying their identities, their feedback shapes our priorities.
- Customer feedback loops: We actively collect input through support tickets, our Customer Success team, and direct conversations. Patterns in customer requests highlight immediate needs.
Example: When we noticed an increase in requests for US based companies needing to narrow down document acceptance by state, it became clear that we needed to build this functionality within the next release.
2. Data-driven decision-making
Great prioritization requires more than intuition—it demands actionable data.
- Usage analytics: Tracking feature adoption rates and performance metrics shows us what’s working and where gaps exist.
- Impact analysis: Every potential feature is evaluated based on its projected impact on metrics like fraud prevention rates, onboarding speed, and user satisfaction.
Example: By analyzing onboarding rates, we identified an opportunity to allow end users to do a mid-flow data check so that they can remediate any issues real time, leading to a noticeable increase in pass rates.
3. Balancing innovation & necessity
In a competitive field like identity verification, we balance immediate needs with forward-looking innovation.
- Regulatory compliance: Staying ahead of global regulations is non-negotiable. When new standards are introduced, compliance-related updates take priority.
- Future-proofing: We dedicate resources to exploring emerging technologies to ensure our platform remains cutting-edge.
Example: As deepfakes gained traction, we prioritized our research in this space, positioning our biometrics as a leader in the evolving digital identity space.
4. Collaboration across teams
Prioritization isn’t just a product decision—it’s a company-wide effort.
- Sales & marketing insights: What are prospects asking for? Understanding their pain points ensures we’re addressing market demand.
- Engineering feasibility: Collaborating with engineering helps us balance ambition with practicality, ensuring timelines are realistic.
Example: When sales highlighted demand for an API that integrates seamlessly with legacy systems, our engineers ensured the solution could be delivered without compromising scalability.
5. The prioritization framework
To bring structure to our decisions, we use a prioritization framework tailored to our platform’s goals.
- Scoring: Features are sometimes scored based on the RICE framework (Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort). However, we have tweaked this slightly to instead score based on Demand, Revenue, Vision, and Effort, giving us a clearer sense of ROI.
- Customer value vs. effort matrix: This helps us identify quick wins, long-term investments, and features to deprioritize.
Example: A feature scoring high in reach and impact but requiring minimal engineering effort often becomes a top priority.
6. Continuous reassessment
In a fast-paced industry, priorities can shift quickly. We revisit our roadmap regularly to adapt to new challenges and opportunities.
- Quarterly roadmap reviews: These ensure alignment with company objectives and external developments.
- Agile flexibility: Our iterative approach allows us to pivot quickly without derailing progress.
Always thinking about what’s next
Prioritization is about delivering maximum value, not just shipping features. It requires a balance of customer focus, data-driven insights, and cross-functional collaboration. In taking a thoughtful and adaptive approach, we ensure that every feature we develop brings us closer to our vision: enabling secure and seamless identity verification for all.
We’d love to hear from you. What features do you think are essential for the future of identity verification? Email us at moc.e1733764064srevd1733764064i@oll1733764064eh1733764064, or reach out to our team directly via the support portal.
About the post:
Images and videos are generative AI-created. Prompt: An overly complicated elaborate steampunk-style machine with tubing and gears and dials and gauge and electrodes that produces a single, perfect cup of coffee. A Latina scientist in a white lab coat and goggles looks on from the side. Humorous, surreal vibes. Tools: Midjourney, Luma.
About the author:
Emily Hendley is Senior Vice President of Enterprise Product Management for IDVerse. With over a decade and a half of experience in business analysis and product management, she has an extensive track record of delivering enterprise solutions that drive growth and enhance user experience, particularly in the onboarding space. Emily joined IDVerse in 2021.
