Alberta Wallet adoption is a trust and conversion problem

The question behind this piece

Digital identity programs often lead with capabilities, integrations, and security. Citizens experience something else: whether they trust the system, whether enrollment is easy, and whether using it saves time. How do leaders increase trust and adoption by connecting UX, privacy and security controls, product governance, and measurable conversion economics?

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Why this matters now

Trust has become more fragile. People are more aware of breaches, fraud, and opaque data practices. Even strong controls do not translate into confidence if the program cannot explain, in plain language, what data is used, how consent works, and what recourse exists when something goes wrong.

Expectations for convenience have also moved. Citizens want fewer repeated forms, faster verification, and clearer status. They are also less patient with confusing enrollment flows, unclear eligibility, and “download it now” messaging that never turns into a first win.

Identity is also under rising attack pressure. Impersonation techniques continue to improve, and account takeover methods keep evolving. Digital identity needs strong controls and visible trust signals. Adoption stalls when people fear misuse, and service teams push back when support burden rises.

Digital identity adoption is won in the first three minutes of enrollment.

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Our perspective

Treat Alberta Wallet like a conversion funnel with a trust layer, not like a technology asset. Manage it like a product: define the value proposition, remove friction, measure funnel performance, and iterate within explicit risk controls.

Start with the value exchange. Citizens adopt identity when it unlocks something tangible: faster access to a service, fewer forms, clearer status, or simpler renewals. Pick the top three journeys where wallet-based identity creates immediate benefit, then design prompts and messaging around those journeys. Do not lead with the wallet. Lead with the time saved and the hassle removed.

Next, redesign the enrollment, verification, and recovery journeys. Most identity programs lose adoption in predictable places: unclear eligibility, steps that feel invasive without explanation, document capture failures, slow recovery, and no immediate “first win” after setup. Fix this with plain-language steps, clear fallbacks, and a path to a human when verification fails. Instrument these failure states, and manage time-to-resolution like a core service metric.

Make privacy and security controls visible and understandable. “We are secure” is not a trust strategy.

Build trust signals into the experience:

• Explain what data is stored, and what is not.
• Use purpose-based consent prompts, not legalistic statements.
• Provide an activity log that shows when credentials were used.
• Offer simple controls to revoke access and report suspicious activity.
• Publish a clear incident response promise that citizens can understand.

Then install product governance that keeps trust intact as the ecosystem grows. Without governance, every integration becomes a one-off, patterns drift, and risk multiplies.

At minimum, define:

• A named product owner with authority over roadmap tradeoffs.
• A privacy and risk review gate for new data uses and integrations.
• A release cadence with monitoring, rollback plans, and decision logs.
• A citizen feedback loop tied to backlog prioritisation and measurable outcomes.

Manage adoption as an economics problem. If leaders cannot see the funnel, they cannot improve it.

Track a small set of metrics weekly. Focus on a handful that leaders can act on, and use them to drive weekly fixes, not quarterly reporting:

• Awareness-to-start rate
• Completion rate and time-to-complete
• Step-level drop-offs and top reasons
• First use within seven days
• Repeat use by journey
• Support contacts per 1,000 users
• Cost per successful activation versus avoided verification cost

Finally, standardise the partner experience. Citizens do not care which ministry or program they are interacting with. If every service implements the wallet differently, trust erodes and support costs climb. Standardise login and consent patterns, credential presentation, error handling, and service desk scripts. Build a small pattern library, enforce it, and update it as learnings accumulate.

Trust is a product feature, and adoption is a weekly leadership metric.

What we offer:

A 60-day pilot with Alberta Wallet adoption sprint. We work with a small cross-functional team (program, product, service, privacy, security, and delivery) to lift adoption in two to three priority journeys while strengthening trust and operational control.

What you get:

A decision-grade funnel map with baseline metrics and top drop-off drivers, redesigned enrollment, verification, recovery, and “first win” journey flows (prototype-ready), and a trust signal blueprint covering consent language, activity visibility, recourse, and incident posture. You also get a governance pack that defines product ownership, review gates, release cadence, and the metrics cadence leaders will run, plus a partner pattern library for consistent integrations across services. The sprint closes with a weekly adoption review routine with clear owners, actions, and thresholds.

What it enables:

Leaders can see where adoption breaks, fix the highest-impact friction, and scale usage without compromising privacy, security, or service operations.

If you are responsible for Alberta Wallet adoption, we should start with your highest-value journeys and the funnel metrics that will move first. Contact Strathen Group to set up an initial working session.