Authenticating Users: The Ultimate Guide on Trending Auth Flows

Improving the login or signup forms of a website or platform is a frequent and yet underrated task. While it may seem like a simple and quick fix, building or maintaining these flows imply security issues, UX, user enrichment, compatibility with different stacks, and so on and so forth.

Building forms and flows while considering all these issues is time consuming and it may drain your developers’ resources. This is why we have gathered different ways to improve your signup processes without losing time on coding — 6 trending auth flows that you can build with Arengu, that will help you save crucial coding time.

6 practices to improve your onboarding flow

This is the selection of the most sophisticated signup and auth flows in trend right now. They won’t hurt your user experience, they will help you save time, and yes — you can build them without code.

1. Dynamic forms

Did you know you can use the same form to log in or sign up users? Using a dynamic form helps you display different paths and fields depending on the email entered.

The form will adapt its behavior based on the form input and the user’s responses. Dynamic forms allow you to browse different paths, hide certain fields or steps, or automatically fill certain fields with pre-existing information.

• Improved user experience. Showing a personalized form path to users is a more user-friendly approach, since users can avoid answering unnecessary questions. The form navigation can be automatically adapted to each user, so you can reduce friction in your signup forms.
• Less human errors. Finding a form with pre-filled information allows users to simply correct that information, instead of writing it from scratch. This saves them a lot of effort and time, which translates into less friction and better conversion rates.

2. Passwordless flows

This is a type of auth form that doesn’t require users to enter a password in order to be authenticated. There are different types of passwordless flows: it can work by sending a code to the user via email or SMS, or with magic links.

This flow works with different types of authentication factors, other than passwords — one-time passwords, auth apps, tokens, etc. It can also rely on offline factors, like fingerprints, face recognition, etc.

• Avoid phishing and other frauds. People tend to use the same password for different pages, services or platforms, which translates into increasing password theft. Avoiding users to remember passwords is a user-friendly practice that can protect your users and your service from phishing attacks and other types of online fraud.
• Increased user experience. Setting a secure password has become complicated. Requirements regarding characters, numbers, or symbols make passwords more secure, but also harder to remember. A passwordless form allows users to forget about this setting a password, recovering it or update it from time to time.
• Scalable process. If your business tends to scale easily, it is likely that you need to update your users database or security procedures. If your platform doesn’t rely on passwords, you can scale it more easily with all the security measures for your users and your data.

🧐 Interested in knowing more about passwordless forms? Check out our guide on SMS verification in forms.

3. Progressive profiling

This data enrichment process gathers user’s data progressively, in order to polish each user’s profile with the right information. Plus, it avoids asking for all the info in one go, which lightens the experience for the user.

This type of form changes according to the information gathered, and only asks questions when this data can’t be gathered by other means, like third-party data enrichment tools. Plus, the form questions are displayed progressively, in determined time intervals that you can personalize, so you ask questions in the perfect moment.

• Improved user experience. Since users don’t need to fill in a lot of information at one go, they will perceive this is a quicker and easier way of filling a form. The submission rates will increase as a consequence of a better UX.
• Advantageous information. This data enrichment system allows you to collect information without annoying your users. If you run an inbound marketing campaign, you can also encourage users to complete their profile in exchange for benefits: discounts, raffles, etc.

4. Adaptive authentication in multiple factors

This is a multi-factor authentication flow that is based on a risk level. The flow chooses the factor depending on the user’s outline or dynamic.

This flow determines if the user should access certain information or execute a certain action, or if more information needs to be asked before granting this access. The user’s risk level is detected (you can determine it yourself), and different actions are triggered based on this figure.

• Top-notch security. This advanced multi-factor flow incorporates different types of authentication, that are displayed dynamically to different users. You can improve your user verification process and refine the solidity of your system.
• Improved user experience. UX and security don’t have to be at odds with each other. This adaptive flow allows higher security while keeping it user-friendly and frictionless.

5. Know-your-client (KYC) signup

Know-your-client or know-your-customers practices are verifying systems that check the users’ identities and risks, in order to build a trustworthy business relationship and avoid fraud.

With a KYC onboarding, you get crucial information about your customers’ identity. This process is usually carried out by the banking, insurance or financial industries, due to the importance of verifying clients’ identity to avoid fraud. Yet, you can implement it in any type of industry to implement a best-in-class security system.

• Top-notch security. KYC is one of the most secure systems in terms of user verification. You can get rid of fraudulent actions and obtain trustworthy information about users to build long-lasting relationships.
• Advantageous information. Knowing your clients will help you address them, build engaged relationships, and conclude sales operations that benefit both parts.
• Coordinated and controlled measure. KYC procedures are regulated by law in each country, in order to ensure security compliance and protect users’ rights in terms of data.

6. Payment subscription forms

Payment subscription forms are a type of transaction form that is executed periodically. Ecommerces can use this type of form to grant access to a certain platform or to deliver a certain service. Payments can be personalized: they can be optional or mandatory, or you can display a fixed or a dynamic pricing.

These payment forms are integrated with a payment system. In Arengu’s case, you will be using Stripe as a gateway platform within your form. You can configure all its detail in Arengu’s form editor.

• Personalized plans. The way you charge users can impact your conversion rates. At times, charging smaller and more frequent fees is more convenient than charger larger fees less often. Personalize your payment form in order to find the best solution both for you and your users.
• Profitable and engagement-friendly. If you’re thinking about monetizing your product or certain features of if, personalizing the payment forms is crucial for your engagement efforts. Customize the way users pay or are subscribed to, and improve engagement and retention.
• Advantageous information. Data is crucial to know the real people behind online users. With it, you can define your buyer personas and use this info to improve your product, the way you communicate with your customers, and so on.

🧐 Are you interested in knowing more about this? Take a look at our guide on how to build dynamic payments and start implementing it with Arengu.

Embed your forms easily, in any tech stack

One of the best aspects about building these forms and flows with Arengu, is you can edit, maintain, or test your forms in an easy way, without losing time in coding. With Arengu, you can embed your form wherever you need, regardless of the tech stack you use. Plus, you don’t need to deploy your pages when you need to make changes.

Arengu allows you to embed your forms with an SDK, in any framework you use: WordPress, PrestaShop, React, Gatsby, anything! Plus, you can also integrate it with any authentication service, as long as it is API-based.

Give it a try for free and let us know your opinion!