• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, February 18, 2013

According to a recently released report that Janrain commissioned to Blue Research, social login is understood, recognized and increasingly used by a majority of consumers. In addition, consumers better understand the value of sharing access to their social profiles when it results in a more personalized, relevant online experience.

While the majority of respondents said they are likely to leave a website or give false information when required to register, 66% of consumers surveyed say social sign-in, the ability to sign-in to a website using an existing online identity from providers like Facebook, Google and Twitter, is an attractive solution to the problem.

A few of the findings:

• 92% report having left a website when they’ve forgotten their username or password
• 87% of consumers are aware of social login, and more than half have tried it
• 98% of consumers report being mistargeted with ads, offers and promotions

Paul Abel, Ph.D., Managing Partner, Blue Research notes that "... the rapid growth of social media has dramatically impacted consumers' expectations of websites... consumers frustrated with the traditional online registration process... will favor brands that make it easy for them to be recognized... “

If creating a new account at a website becomes tedious, people tend to not enter all of the information requested (leave blank,) or intentionally enter incorrect information(to avoid targeted marketing) As a result, 8 in 10 frequently mistargeted consumers admit to giving faulty or incomplete information when creating new website accounts.

Traditional login requirements can drive customers away, says the report. Social login is considered a desirable alternative. 92% of consumers say they have left a website instead of resetting or recovering login information, while 1/3 say they leave ‘frequently’ when forgetting their user name or password.

The respondents report that they may not use, let alone remember, all of the different username and passwords created online. Over half report having more than 5 different usernames and/ or passwords for sites that require login.

Many websites are starting to do things to eliminate the need for users to set up a new account, create a user name and password, fill out the required information fields which they may have already done at other sites, and/or remember the user name(s) and password(s) they created, says the report. One of the ways to make this process easier is to provide people that visit a website the option to ‘login’ using one of the accounts they already have with a social network, email provider or online service provider, such as Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, LinkedIn or PayPal.

More than 2 in 3 who frequently leave sites due to forgotten login information say social login is an option that companies should offer that would be helpfulto eliminate account set-up and/or the need to remember login. 64% think SLI would be helpful; 36% do not.

Very few respondents had never been exposed to a website offering social login. Nearly 9 in 10 say they have come across a website with social login. And, 52% who have encountered SLI use the option at least occasionally. 65% of consumers agree they are more likely to return to a website that remembers them w/o a username or password.

78% of respondents have used social media to discover new websites, companies, products, services through posts, tweets and other ‘friend’ updates, and 72% say they have considered purchasing a new product or service from a positive comment/ message from their social network.

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