Experian survey: Sixty percent of marketers are unsure of the cost of fraud to their organization

Balancing holiday marketing efforts with fraud prevention requires a coordinated approach

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Dec 17, 2014, 11:52 ET

COSTA MESA, Calif., Dec. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- 41st Parameter^®, a part of Experian, surveyed 250 marketers to understand the relationship between omnichannel retailing, fraud prevention and the holiday shopping season. The findings show that few marketers understand the full benefit of fraud-prevention systems on their activities as 60 percent of marketers were unsure of the cost of fraud to their organization. The survey also indicated that 40 percent of marketers said their organization had been targeted by hackers or cybercriminals.

Download the Holiday Marketing Fraud Survey: http://snip.ly/JoyF

With holiday shopping in full stride, 35 percent of businesses said they planned to increase their digital spend for the 2014 holiday season. Furthermore, Experian Marketing Services reported that during 2014, 80 percent of marketers planned on running cross-channel marketing campaigns. As marketers integrate more channels into their campaigns, new challenges emerge for fraud-risk managers who face continuous pressure to adopt new approaches. Here are three steps to help marketers and risk managers maintain a frictionless experience for customers:

Marketers should communicate their plans early to the fraud-risk team, especially if they are planning to target a new or unexpected audience. Making this part of the process will reduce the chances that risk management will stop or inhibit customers.
Ensure that marketers understand what the risk-management department is doing with respect to fraud detection. Chances are risk managers are waiting to tell you.
Marketers shouldn't assume that fraud won't affect their business and talk to their risk-management division to learn how much fraud truly costs their company. Then they can understand what they need to do to make sure that their marketing efforts are not thwarted.

"Marketers spend a great deal of time and money bringing in new customers and increasing sales, especially this time of year, and in too many cases, those efforts are negated in the name of fraud prevention," said David Britton, vice president of industry solutions, 41st Parameter. "Marketers can help an organization's bottom line by working with their fraud-risk department to prevent bad transactions from occurring while maintaining a seamless customer experience. Reducing fraud is important and protecting the customer experience is a necessity."

Few marketers understand the resulting impact of declined transactions because of suspected fraud and this is even more pronounced among small businesses, with 70 percent saying they were unsure of fraud's impact. Fifty percent of mid-sized business marketers and 67 percent of large-enterprise marketers were unsure of the impact of fraud as well.

An uncoordinated approach to new customer acquisition can result in lost revenue affecting the entire organization. For example, the industry average for card-not-present declines is 15 percent. However, one to three percent of those declined transactions turn out to be valid transactions, equating to $1.2 billion in lost revenue annually. Wrongfully declined transactions can be costly as the growth of cross-channel marketing increases and a push towards omnichannel retailing pressures marketers to find new customers.

"Many businesses loosen their fraud detection measures during high peak time because they don't have the tools to review potentially risky orders manually during the higher-volume holiday shopping period," said Britton. "Criminals look to capitalize on this and exploit these gaps in any way possible, taking an omnifraud approach to maximizing their chances of success. Striking the right balance between sales enablement and fraud prevention is the key to maximizing growth for any business at all times of the year."

Download Experian's fraud prevention report to learn more about how businesses can address these new marketing challenges.

About 41st Parameter
In a world where people are increasingly reliant on a variety of Internet-connected devices for everything from banking to shopping to entertainment and media, creating relevant customer experiences and preventing online fraud are constant business challenges. 41st Parameter, a part of Experian, is the global leader in device recognition and intelligence using patented technologies and years of expertise to identify devices without cookies, without compromising privacy and without impacting performance. FraudNet combines device intelligence with risk analysis to detect and prevent online fraud before it happens. AdTruth, the digital media division, gives marketers a better way to recognize and reach their most valuable audiences across all types of devices. The TrustInsight^® Network enables online merchants to increase sales by approving more trusted transactions. These privacy compliant solutions help keep the Internet more secure and relevant for everyone.

About Experian
We are the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to our clients around the world. We help businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. We also help people to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft. In 2014, we were named by Forbes Magazine as one of the "World's Most Innovative Companies."

We employ approximately 16,000 people in 39 countries and our corporate headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2014, was US$4.8 billion.

To find out more about our company, please visit http://www.experianplc.com or watch our documentary, "Inside Experian."

Experian and the Experian marks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Contact:
Matt Tatham
Experian Public Relations
1 212 380 2939
[email protected]

Lisa van der Pool
InkHouse Media + Marketing
1 781 966 4142
[email protected]

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SOURCE Experian