There are a lot of pros and cons of Facebook or Google Sign-In for your sites. Should you encourage visitors to use consolidated sign-ins for your websites?…
… good question… many people love having their customers use Google or Facebook sign-in for its simplification of the registration process, but the flip-side is that there are concerns too. Let’s take a quick look at the pros and cons.
Pros
* Faster Registration – Most people will automatically sign in without giving it much thought when they see the option to sign in using one of their social media accounts.
* Added Value – Usually sign-ins come with the functionality of shareability, commenting and more, which is an added value for you and your consumer.
* Less to Remember – Your users will have one less sign-in to remember, and you’ll have one less piece of technology to master the use of.
* Collect More Visitor Data – You can collect a wide variety of consumer data to help you better market to your audience.
* People Have Familiarity with Social Interaction – Consumers are already familiar with social sign-ins and aren’t usually afraid of them.
* Works on Mobile – It’s imperative today that all aspects of your web site work equaly as efficiently on mobile devices, and social sign-ins already do.
Cons
* Some Consumers Don’t Like It – While many consumers will have trust for social media sign-ins, some don’t like it as they feel like it’s an invasion of their privacy. For example, if your site is controversial in some ways, they may not want their friends knowing they use it.
* Can Provide False Visitor Data – Not everyone is honest about who they are on social media; therefore some of your data that you collect may be inaccurate. The fact is that this can be true of any type of sign-in though.
* Technology Changes Fast – Control of your leads is lost… If the social media goes out of business or somehow changes the ability for you to use this feature, it can be difficult to ask all your users to change how they do things.
* Loss of Control – Whenever you use a third party feature, you’re losing some measure of control over your property.
* Security Problem Flow-on – If the social media is having a security problem, then you’ll have one too.
* Email Address Issues – You may not be able to access their email address, and they may be reluctant to sign up for a newsletter after having signed on with social media.
There are two considerations to ponder… You’ll have to determine for yourself what works best for your goals and needs for your website. If you want full control and ownership, you probably need to have an individual sign-in method, but if you want ease for your customer you may choose social media sign-ins.
It’s up to you!
Trevor Tillotson
PS: Here’s the system I use to get educated about and apply Social Media in my online business… Click to learn more…