How to Build a Digital ID People Actually Want to Use: 5 Lessons From the Field

Digital identity programs succeed or fail based on one key factor: whether people actually use them. The technology can be flawless. The security can be exceptional. But if residents don't adopt it, none of that matters.

The most significant barrier to success for any digital identity program will not be technical feasibility but adoption. The industry's experience with mobile driver's licenses shows that uptake can be slow without clear incentives for both residents and verifiers.

The lessons below come from real-world deployments, programs that have issued millions of credentials and learned what drives adoption in practice.

Lesson 1: Anchor on Everyday Use Cases and Make Them Visible

The fastest path to adoption is relevance. Prioritize scenarios people already do: proof-of-age, traffic stops, airport screening, campus or health check-in, and benefits access.

When residents see their credentials accepted at TSA checkpoints, by a bartender checking age, during a routine traffic stop, at a pharmacy counter when picking up a prescription, or at a university or clinic check-in desk, digital ID stops feeling novel. 

Repeated exposure in familiar, low-friction moments builds trust and habit. Over time, people stop thinking of digital ID as an experiment or pilot and start recognizing it as everyday infrastructure they can rely on.

Lesson 2: Get Big Names on Board Early

Secure and publicize acceptance at TSA checkpoints and major employers/retailers recognized by consumers, such as Amazon, CVS, and others. TSA now lists participating states and checkpoints where digital IDs are accepted with CAT-2 readers; being on that list materially boosts perceived legitimacy and travel utility.

This creates a flywheel: visible acceptance drives resident enrollment, which in turn drives more verifier adoption, which leads to further enrollment. Foster adoption with verifiers by demonstrating how credential acceptance enhances and streamlines compliance, improves fraud prevention, and ultimately can lead to savings.

Don't stop at high-profile acceptance. Enlist relying parties through a formal partner program. Colorado runs a Partner Program and publishes participating businesses and law-enforcement agencies; it also provides a simple "how to verify" guide for front-line staff (visual checks plus tech options). States could launch partner programs with logos, window decals, training one-pagers, and a searchable directory, plus an RP sandbox and sample code.

Lesson 3: Reduce Friction for Everyone

Adoption stalls when any part of the ecosystem faces unnecessary barriers.

For verifiers: Offer a lightweight verifier certification, reference SDKs, and test suites so banks, hospitals, universities, and retailers can integrate quickly and confidently. The most significant barrier for relying parties is complexity or cost in implementation. If verifier solutions are hard or expensive to deploy, organizations, especially smaller businesses or local agencies, will be reluctant to participate.

For residents: Making digital ID easy to use safely is a key prerequisite to adoption. The more complicated it is to set up and use, the higher the risk of compromised credentials and a loss of trust. Design for the real world: with robust account recovery for lost devices, intuitive interfaces, and clear prompts when something requires attention.

Incentivize participation via rewards, not just mandates. Offer small integration grants or fee waivers for early verifiers; pre-certify point-of-sale and age-check vendors; and recognize partners in a public directory to drive foot traffic.

Lesson 4: Use Policy to Unlock Adoption

Technology alone won't drive adoption, policy clears the path.

Executive or administrative directives can authorize acceptance across state agencies, while clarifying that physical ID remains a fallback until digital ID is ubiquitous. States should pair statewide acceptance guidance with updates to ABC/bona-fide-ID rules so retailers can accept digital credentials legally.

Communicate clearly and often. Provide resident-facing guidance that digital ID complements, not replaces, physical ID during the transition, including plain-language FAQs. Use simple explainer pages and in-app education to demystify where credentials are accepted and why privacy protections are stronger online than showing a full physical card.

Design for accessibility and inclusion. States should ensure wallets/verifiers meet accessibility requirements from day one to broaden eligible users and avoid exclusion.

Lesson 5: Earn the Trust Dividend

Privacy protections aren't just ethical requirements, they're adoption accelerators.

A public education campaign highlighting these privacy-preserving attributes builds confidence and counters perceptions that the program represents increased government surveillance. When residents trust that their data stays under their control, they engage more willingly.

This is the trust dividend: by enforcing privacy through technology rather than policy alone, you reduce the friction of adoption. The system proves itself trustworthy through its design, which features no centralized data storage, no hidden tracking, and no phone-home behavior that allows issuers to monitor usage. Educate users regularly about security risks and how to use their credentials safely, promoting trust and transparency.

The Business Case

Streamlined digital service delivery decreases the costs of manual verification and paperwork processing, freeing resources for higher-value activities. Stronger identity assurance makes it easier for residents to securely access services they're entitled to, and measurably cuts fraud in benefits programs.

Private-sector reliance on government-backed credentials (particularly in finance, healthcare, and regulated industries) amplifies the return on investment by lowering compliance costs for businesses and reinforcing the government's role as a trustworthy anchor of digital trust.

But these benefits only materialize with adoption.

The Bottom Line

Digital identity in the U.S. is at a turning point. Wallets are maturing, verifiers are ready, and policymakers are acting. The question is no longer whether to build digital identity programs, but how to build ones that people actually want to use.

The answer starts with the resident: their daily transactions, their privacy concerns, their tolerance for complexity. Design for them first, and adoption follows.

If you're building a digital identity program and would like to discuss your adoption strategy, please get in touch. We've helped states navigate these challenges and would love to share what we've learned.

About SpruceID: SpruceID builds digital trust infrastructure for government. We help states and cities modernize identity, security, and service delivery — from digital wallets and SSO to fraud prevention and workflow optimization. Our standards-based technology and public-sector expertise ensure every project advances a more secure, interoperable, and citizen-centric digital future.