Ticketmaster Drops CAPTCHA

Ticketmaster has decided to drop CAPTCHA in an effort to make online ticket purchases easier. The move was an effort to improve customer satisfaction.

CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automatic Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart. The tool is used by websites to ensure that humans and not robots are completing forms. The application provides an empty box and two words or a phrase that is distorted. The user must type the words or phrase into the box correctly to proceed.

The CAPTCHA utility, created by scientists at Carnegie Mellon, is meant to provide additional security. As described on Google, it can be used with website registration and online purchases as well as a tool to deter spam or search engine bots.

Although CAPTCHA is a valuable utility, it is difficult for some users to read, leading to multiple failed attempts to proceed with filling out a form. This is not only frustrating for users, but it also takes time.

Websites, like Ticketmaster, that sell tickets to concerts and other live performances have seen a decline in customer satisfaction tied to the use of CAPTCHA. Ticketmaster will be using a new utility that increases ease of use while preserving security features.

Solve Media offers the same format, an empty box and a word, but the word is clearly printed. The utility uses several “digital cues” to determine if a user is real. For example, the utility may have the word “dyson” and you would be prompted to type in any word or words that would describe what “dyson” is associated with.

As reported by Huffington Post, Ticketmaster’s executive vice president of eCommerce Kip Levin has seen positive results with Solve Media’s product:

“That has already made the fan experience better, says Kip Levin, Ticketmaster’s executive vice president of eCommerce. The average time it takes to solve these puzzles has been halved from about 14 seconds to about 7 seconds, the company said. ‘Anecdotally, we’re starting to see an uptick in fan satisfaction,’ Levin said. ‘We’re happy with what we’ve seen from a security standpoint as well.'”

Ticketmaster has run several trials and is now in the process of completely removing CAPTCHA from its website and replacing it with the utility created by Solve Media.