Why and How to Use Social Login to Win Customers

Social login — the ability to use social network profiles from Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and others for online registration in a few clicks — is gaining momentum despite some public relations and implementation hiccups. If you aren't on the bandwagon, now is the time to hitch up.

According to the 2014 Consumer Research study on Social Login and Personalization by Blue Research commissioned by customer profile data management company Janrain, 88 percent of internet users polled have encountered social login and 51 percent of those are already using it.

Facebook, the leading social login provider, says there were over 10 billion social logins in 2013. These figures aren't lost on Wall Street. The New York Times recently reported consumer identity management company Gigya raised $35 million to forge ahead with its operations helping users register and set up profiles on corporate sites.

Yet despite the apparent widespread consumer acceptance — indeed expectation — to log in using social media credentials, and the resulting data gold mine available to merchants, Forrester Research's recent Social Login Brief says social login lags behind other social tactics.

Companies are still uncertain about which social tactics will bear the most fruit, and therefore appear to be parceling out resources slowly. However, as part of a deeper customer relationship approach, social login not only has some significant upsides, but research suggests may actually cost slow-to-adopt merchants failing to use the personal data being readily shared by consumers as expectations for personalized shopping experiences rise.

Blue Research's report shows that 96 percent of consumers report receiving mistargeted marketing communications, and 71 percent have received an offer that "clearly shows they don't know who I am." Of those, 94 percent take punitive action against such ill-executed campaigns such as unsubscribing from emails. Ten percent even said they would "never visit a site again."

But beyond avoiding punishment from annoyed consumers, merchants employing social logins have the potential to drive significant brand engagement. Social login makes it simple for merchants to get permission to access rich demographic and psychographic data for better understanding customers. This type of data enables personal, customer-driven commerce.

To maximize the effectiveness of social login, merchants should consider the following factors:

1. Know which logins matter to your audience. Given that 71 percent of U.S. adults online use Facebook, according to Pew Research's Internet Project, most merchants considering social login should plan to implement Facebook Login. Facebook announced several changes to improve the user experience during its April 2014 F8 Developers Conference, specifically to address some criticisms regarding privacy.

Google Sign In is a strong contender due to its stable of unifying services — e.g., Gmail, Google+, YouTube, Android and Play — under a single Google identity. However, depending on your audience, you should also consider adding logins from other social networks, from Twitter to LinkedIn. Consumers prefer to use different social profiles for different purposes, whether it's interacting with friends and family or forwarding professional objectives. Offering them a choice is paramount.

Careful study of analytics and an assessment of which social networks have the largest audience of brand followers can help merchants assess which logins to use. The key is to offer the right mix for the audience without presenting an overwhelming array of options.

2. Integrate fully. Too many merchants who use social login go on to ask shoppers to set up a separate account password for their e-commerce site. The aim of using social login should be to smooth the path to purchase, not erect more barriers.

Women's clothier Title Nine's social login allows the creation of a Title Nine account with one click and access to create and share wishlists, address book, order history and more.
Of course, merchants should strive to establish their own direct relationship with customers, but they should implement a phased approach that encourages existing social login users to deepen their relationship, rather than forcing the issue up front.

Whole Foods allows the creation of a Whole Foods account via a simple name/email confirmation after clicking for social login. At that point, all account tools such as dietary preferences, recipes and shopping lists are available. These kinds of tools allow users to further refine their identities and preferences while providing marketers with a constellation of information particular to their businesses for customized content and offers.

3. Dig in to the data. Use social login for more than just fast registration. Retailers should work closely with their IT teams to take full advantage of the deep social graph data available for the asking through social login — data such as user interests, activities and friends. There are significant opportunities to create deep customer relationships through data analysis.

Forrester reported an effort by Interscope Records that correlated data about user preferences and those of their friends to help the brand serve a more personalized experience to registered site visitors by providing them with artists and genre suggestions that match both their own social profiles and the similar profiles of other fans.

In addition to serving up content on your own site tailored to each user based on their preferences, use social login data to deliver shareable, actionable and value-added content like blog posts, tweets and Pinterest pin boards with relevance.

4. Develop true social shopping opportunities. Merchants should make it worthwhile for shoppers to connect via social login by doing more than pre-populating a few checkout fields. Easily shareable wish lists are a good starting point. For example, Marc Jacobs lets logged-in users post to Pinterest and Facebook or email their Love List from within its site.

Help shoppers share everywhere. Let shoppers share and use their wish lists wherever they choose, integrating functionality and access to users of social media via social login. In addition to allowing shoppers to email their wish lists to friends, add social sharing links so that lists can be posted to Facebook and Twitter; include a "print" button so shoppers can physically hand their lists over.

Merchants should develop shopping experiences that draw on consumers’ social profiles to bring their network of friends and personal preferences into play. Apparel merchant Charlotte Russe enables social login users to view a real-time stream of what items are being liked and commented on. Shoppers can filter the stream to view only their friends’ picks and control whether their own selections are shared.

Ken Burke is the founder and executive chairman of MarketLive, an on-demand e-commerce platform and solutions provider. Ken can be reached at ken@marketlive.com.