TrustedID Protects Customers From ID Theft With Real-Time SMS Alerts

TrustedID Protects Customers From ID Theft With Real-Time SMS Alerts

Identity-protection company, TrustedID, uses Twilio to notify customers of potential threats with SMS alerts.

TrustedID is an identity-protection company. Using both data mining algorithms and other monitoring techniques, TrustedID’s services help consumers protect their bank accounts, credit cards, social security numbers and medical health benefits against identity thieves. Since it began operations, TrustedID has been relying on email notifications and phone calls to alert its members when it detects activity that may affect their identity.

But when Lyn Chitow Oakes, TrustedID’s Chief Marketing Officer, wanted a way to deliver important information to TrustedID mobile customers in a fast, effective and timely manner, she turned to SMS alerts.

“Email is not always the most efficient mechanism and phone calls require significant human resources,” Chitow Oakes says. “But these alerts are critical and we wanted to ensure our customers could respond to them in real time.”

Why SMS Alerts Are Better Than Email

Unlike emails, which might not be seen for hours or even days, text messages (SMS) tend to be read within 5-8 minutes. They can also reach any mobile phone, regardless of the carrier or platform. By automating alerts with SMS, TrustedID could notify customers faster and more efficiently.

Chitow Oakes says she personally investigated over 15 providers of SMS alerts before deciding to go with Twilio.

“We looked at everyone – from massive SMS gateways to small mobile development shops,” she says, “Twilio just made the most sense.”

Chitow Oakes highlights a few reasons for choosing Twilio to integrate SMS alerts into TrustedID’s systems:

• She sought an established player in the marketplace and saw that Twilio had similar types of customers.
• She needed to get to market fast and knew that Twilio’s platform would integrate seamlessly with TrustedID’s existing email alert system.
• She wanted to avoid up-front risk and understood that Twilio’s pay-as-you-go pricing meant TrustedID’s costs would only scale with its usage.
• She didn’t want to pay through the nose and knew that, at $0.01/message with no other service fees, she wouldn’t.

Using Twilio, TrustedID’s team of in-house developers was able to prototype a solution in a matter of hours. Within days, the developers had SMS alerts integrated with TrustedID’s automated email notification system. The full production roll-out wasn’t far behind.

“Twilo’s technology was incredibly approachable and accessible,” Chitow Oakes says, “Our developers were able to integrate Twilio into our systems quickly, allowing us to deliver this new service to our customers within weeks rather than months.”