Marketers across industries claim that their databases are littered with anonymous, inactive users who have visited your site and left a worthless contact record behind for you. Commerce sites, that typically require a shipping address and billing information to register an account, are no exception. A recent survey by Experian reveals that 75% of retailers say incomplete, outdated or false consumer contact info resides in their databases. These retailers indicate that 12% of their data in their customer database are incorrect.
We call these the "living dead" – site visitors who register once, never to return or, worse, give false information that leads you down a dead trail – and share techniques from national brands to overcome zombie attacks in our webinar: The Zombie User Apocalypse Has Overrun Your Database.
Why it happens
Consumers are anxious to shop, buy and move on in their web-surfing activities, ambivalent to retailer’s desires to build a rich profile of their site visitors and online customers with lengthy registration forms. While the browsing stage of online shopping is fun and full of discovery, the checkout process needs to be quick and easy to meet their needs or that shopping cart is left behind.
Our own research conducted with Blue Research in December, 2010 revealed that 76% of users have provided false information when asked to register. If the majority of your database is worthless to this degree, or you want to avoid an inactive community, the good news is that solutions exist to get you back on track.
Social Login Encourages Purchases
This is exactly the situation that calls for social login as a viable option to the standard registration process. In our study, 41% of users said they’d prefer using social login with an existing profile over creating a new account, or using a guest account. For your shopper, the key benefit to using an existing profile account is all about the ease and speed of the checkout process. For the retailer, social login leads to a reduction in shopping cart abandonment and rich profile data gathered that can be used to better target ads, personalize future visits, and encourage a higher ring.
Preference for Using Social Sign-In
High Value Shoppers
Of particular interest to retailers will be knowing that consumers who prefer social login are nearly twice as likely to make a purchase from a site that automatically recognizes them. Greeting return visitors, and encouraging sign in early upon arrival at your website increases the likeliness that a transaction will follow.
Higher Likelihood of Making a Purchase
Shopping On the Go
With the number of people using their mobile device to make purchases, checkout speed is even more critical on this platform. Using social login on your mobile site or app means that shoppers can easily sign-in, continue through the checkout process, and potentially spend more.
Social Login On The Go
Integrating functionality into your site that helps you identify your visitors and better market to customers doesn’t have to be a complex process. In our recent webinar, we shared examples of national brands that have implemented Janrain Engage’s Social Login features on their site to ease the registration process and convert anonymous site visitors into active known users with positive results. See the recorded webinar here to learn more about the 9 Tips to Revive Your Database.
