Passwordless authentication company Descope Inc. today announced a range of new capabilities that are designed to help e-commerce and online retail companies provide secure, personalized and omnichannel authentication experiences to their customers.

The capabilities include support for Google One Tap, a comprehensive WordPress plugin, passkey support and user journey A/B testing that allows retail stores of all sizes to create secure and user-friendly authentication experiences.

Descope argues that authentication and customer identity management are important difference-makers in crowded e-commerce markets. Every app builder is seeking an ideal tradeoff between user and experience and security without exhausting engineering resources.

The mix, however, faces a challenge. Surveys have found that 47% of users have abandoned an online purchase within the last month because of accessibility issues, such as forgetting their password, highlighting how user friction has a real impact on the bottom line.

Descope’s capabilities help organizations create and customize their entire authentication and user journey using visual workflows. Customers can now use Descope software development kits to add native One Tap browser prompts from Google to their web and mobile applications, making it possible for returning users to sign in without needing to remember or enter any credentials.

With the new capabilities, online retailers can leverage One Tap to improve conversions, reduce the cognitive load on users and provide a unified authentication experience across web and mobile apps.

The new Descope WordPress plugin helps site owners harness the power of the Descope CIAM platform. With the plugin, customers can add any authentication method — social logins, magic links and passkeys — along with flexible multifactor authentication and single-sign-on across multiple sites or storefronts.

The new A/B testing functionality allows e-commerce businesses to experiment with different authentication methods, onboarding flows and security measures without altering their existing codebases. By splitting user traffic based on configurable conditions or at random, companies can optimize user journeys, enhance conversion rates and find the right balance between security and user experience.

On the passkey front, the new capabilities streamline the adoption of WebAuthn-based authentication, allowing businesses to implement passkeys in a matter of days rather than months. Descope’s platform supports passkey autofill for returning users and cross-device compatibility, and it provides fallback methods for devices that don’t support passkeys.

Descope is a venture capital-backed startup, having last raised a round of $53 million in February 2023. Investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, GGV Capital, TechAviv Founder Partners LP, Circa Capital Corp. and J Ventures.

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