Social Sign On, the Path to Social Business Innovation

Since the advent of the Internet, communication has slowly but surely moved online. Every offline experience is now converted into an online, socially shared experience, that can have a huge impact on your brand.

Creating a meaningful experience,in the online space, has always been the most effective way to attract and retain customers. It is by creating the best impression of yourself within your consumers’ mind that your business can acquire, retain and gain new customers. Correctly identifying customers and their preferences has always benefited brands, whether they are online or offline.

Go back to a time when the high street was packed with organisations operating at a local scale: if you went into a small shop, the employee at the till already knew where you lived, your job, your size, your favourite colour. Based on this set of information you would receive a fast, bespoke, qualitative service.

Targeting A Bigger More Wider Audience

How then can an online international business, with a bigger set of more complex audiences, engage in meaningful dialogue? How can you increase your brand’s value and also improve revenues without the hurdle of surveys and focus groups?

At Evolok we have always encouraged our clients, whether they be publishers, broadcasters or e-commerce to adopt the Social Sign On feature.

Why?

Here is a wide range of reasons why your business might benefit from Social Sign On:

1. It is more immersive than the traditional ‘Log In’ method

Research has shown that password fatigue, a scenario when an anonymous visitor wants to register but due to a long and overly complicated process decides to leave the website, is a tremendous and avoidable loss of potential business. Imagine the increase in your profit margin if you managed to convert those visitors to a registered user in a fast, secure way whilst providing the best user experience.

The Value of Social Login. Solving the Engagement Gap - Insights from Consumer Research – Janrain and Blue Research

2. SSO is well known and preferred by your users

Research has shown that Social Sign On is a feature your visitors feel they are entitled to and actually expect you to provide them with.

The Value of Social Login. Solving the Engagement Gap - Insights from Consumer Research – Janrain and Blue Research

3. It is way faster

Signing on through a social network streamlines the registration process resulting in a much faster “user->subscriber” conversion than the traditional forms. This is due to the fact that the social network your customer chooses to use when logging in already has all the data you need to know about your user.

Facebook, for example, can provide you with a plethora of user information such as geo-location, gender, what type of movies your visitor likes, what type of magazine they read. Of course, the information you can collect can vary from one person to another based on what their privacy settings are and which social networks they use.

4. It creates a more personalised experience

We have all been talking about the social web, how it has changed the way businesses operate, the way it requires a supplier to think from a B2P (Business to People) perspective rather than the traditional B2C or B2B. (See rule 8 of the 80 rules of Social Marketing).

If people are at the very core of your business, undoubtedly the case for every existing supplier, then why not use the advantages offered by the social web to your benefit?

Upon successful registration, Social Log In Analytics gathers data about your new visitors. Based on the information they opt for you to receive from their social media profile, your marketing department can design more targeted marketing campaigns. The more effective your gamification, the more incentivising your propositions and the more inspiring your campaign, the more likely you are to convert your visitor into a lead.

This is the best time for your brand to create more personalised experiences with your customers. This in turn will elevate your brand awareness and also create an upsurge in revenues.

The Value of Social Login. Solving the Engagement Gap – Insights from Consumer Research – Janrain and Blue Research

If you have decided to adopt a Social Sign On feature on your website you might consider certain aspects:

• The location and the customs of your audience

Think well about what type of social log in buttons you will opt for.

For example if your business targets people from the corporate sector in Germany perhaps you might consider XING which is a similar network to LinkedIn.

• The demographic your business targets

Do you target business people at an international level?

Then you might opt for LinkedIn in Canada, the UK, or Brazil.

Last but not least, you should understand that Social Sign On can improve, but not completely alter the way your business operates unless it is part of a well planned business strategy.

We mention this because within the sales process, the SSO usually works as a cycle generator.

This cycle begins by converting your unknown visitor into a registered user via the SSO feature, after which its Social Login analytics gathers the relevant data for you to analyse. Once you have all this data, the next key decision you will have to make is the approach you take to leverage the data to design unique, personalised experiences, to engage and make your visitors fall in love with your brand, buy your

product, share and repeat the experience (when they reach the Ultimate Moment of Truth – UMOT – Brian Solis, Digital Analyst and Principal at Altimeter Group).

Author and digital analyst Brian Solis talked in one of his recent appearances in London about the importance of empathy for business, the key aim of which should be to connect with people. Put yourself into your consumer’s shoes: wouldn’t you want your favourite brand to provide you a seamless, secure and streamlined experience?

Social Sign On is the perfect way to help achieve your company’s objectives.