Riskified Hosts Inaugural MeetUp in New York City
We held our first NYC meetup! Sarah Sheldon of Rebecca Minkoff and Riskified's Sarah Roden shared their experiences and tips with growing a business and fighting fraud. Among them - collect as much data as you can, look for a solution that reviews orders holistically and adaptably, and keep an eye on growth, as fraudsters tend to follow.
On Thursday, July 20th, Riskfied New York held its first ever meetup. We invited current and prospective customers from the area to meet one another and network over drinks and hors d’œuvres. The event was headlined by a presentation from Sarah Sheldon, Rebecca Minkoff’s eCommerce Associate Director and Sarah Roden, Account Manager at Riskified. Sarah Sheldon covered Rebecca Minkoff’s corporate story, some of their techniques for omnichannel sales success, and lessons they learned in fighting fraud as they grew. Sarah Roden followed, providing some practical tips for distinguishing legitimate orders from fraudulent ones.
Here are some of the key topics and takeaways from the meetup:
Data is your friend
We got a peek into the omnichannel shopping experience Rebecca Minkoff offers customers. They can browse the collection through an interactive wall in brick-and-mortar stores, choose which items they’d like to try on, and even order a glass of champagne! Those items are brought into the fitting room as requested, and customers are able to update their choices on the fly. Data is fed back to the team, telling them how customers are interacting with each item. A high rate of trial without purchase may indicate an imprecise fit or that a detail doesn’t feel right. A high rate of purchase could show that the item should be made available in more colors. The benefits of data collection apply to fraud prevention as well. Collect as much data as possible and look for patterns, then apply what you learned for future orders.
Bending the rules
The crowd heard about the difficulty of staying on top of a rules-based system. Fraud is too complex and dynamic to adhere to a strict set of rules, and a data point that suggests fraud in one order may do the opposite in another. As merchants update rules to make exceptions for good customers they often open a path for fraudsters. Alternatively, rules that are adapted to keep fraud out (after a fraudulent chargeback is incurred) often shut out legitimate customers. The key to effective fraud prevention is to view orders holistically and determine if the story the order is telling is legitimate.
Growth can be a double-edged sword
It sounds like the lesson you might hear from a football coach, but success can make you a target. Fraudsters look for desirable products and vulnerable shops, and when they see a store increase its visibility, they’re likely to follow. Merchants should keep that in mind as they grow and give more thought to their fraud-prevention approach to stay ahead of the curve.
All good tips!
The drinks and conversation were still flowing well after the event was scheduled to end, so I’d say our inaugural meetup was a success!