How can I verify that members are creating accounts with their own email address?

Verint Community 12 introduces an email verification workflow to reduce spam accounts and ensure that users own the email address they register with.

How do I set up email verification?

Email verification can be toggled site-wide with a setting: Membership > Membership Options > Require User Email Verification.

If this setting is off, no verification process will occur. If the setting is on, verification will occur in the appropriate scenarios (see below).

Note: If your site is using the "Email" Account Activation method (i.e., new users enter an email address and their initial password is sent to that address), no additional verification will be enacted on new user account creation, since the user already must have access to the email to finish logging in. Verification still applies to existing users updating emails.

Who is subject to email verification?

The following scenarios require email address to be verified:

• Any new user who is creating their own account is subject to email verification.
  • New users will be prevented from using the site and APIs until they have verified at least one email address.
• Any existing user who is changing one of their email addresses (either account/private email or profile/public email) within Community will be subject to verification for that email address.
  • Existing user accounts will continue to display and use the old email address until the new one is verified.

The following scenarios are exceptions to the above:

• User accounts created or updated directly by an administrator user (one with the Manage Membership permission) are not subject to verification.
  • Adminstrator users updating their own account email(s) still require verification.
• Accounts created or updated via external integration (such as OAuth or SSO) are not subject to verification within Community. External systems are expected to handle their own verification in these cases.
  • However, updates made to these accounts' emails from within Community are subject to verification.

What does the verification process look like?

The process is slightly different for new and existing users.

New User Verification Process

1. The initial logon/account creation screen is the same as before.
2. Once the user submits the registration form, they are redirected to a landing page instructing them on how to verify their email.
   
3. At the same time, an email is sent to them with a link to follow that will verify their account.
   
4. When the user navigates to that link, they are verified and redirected to log in again. Once logged in, they can navigate the site as normal.
   
5. If a newly registered user does not verify their email for a configurable amount of time (matching the Abuse Expunge window setting, default: 30 days), the account is deleted.

Existing User Verification Process

1. A user changes their email address via the User Settings page.
2. When a user updates their email address, the change does not take effect immediately. Instead, a note is added to the settings page indicating that the change is pending verification.
   
3. At the same time, an email is sent to the new email address for verification (see above for example).
4. An additional email is also sent to the existing address notifying of the change, in case it was not the user themselves that made the change.
   
5. When the user follows the link in the verification email, the change is finalized.