“The Value of Social Sign-‐on and the Registered User” Results from a Na;onal Online Survey and In-‐depth Interviews with Market Prospects
September 2, 2010
Conducted by: Commissioned by:
Execu;ve Summary
• Leading publishers and retailers place a high value on registered users but are working harder than ever to gather less informa;on. Why? Customers are not willing to recreate and manage an iden;ty and password on every site they visit.
• The most common tac;cs for driving registra;ons in this environment, from asking for minimal informa;on to running promo;ons, are not sufficient for companies who need both richer customer informa;on and lower acquisi;on costs to grow profitably.
• To solve the tradeoff between a streamlined registra;on process and crea;ng a rich user profile, the majority of respondents have implemented or plan to implement social sign-‐on, enabling people to register with an exis;ng social iden;ty.
• Business decision-‐makers see myriad benefits of social sign-‐on, including improved targe;ng, posi;ve buzz, increased loyalty and ul;mately increased revenue. The vast majority also believe these benefits are both important and achievable for their companies.
2
The Registered User
3
Registra;on Rates
4
Q: In a typical month, about what percentage of visitors to your website are “registered users”?
16%
33%
33%
18%
31% 28%
13% 10%
E-‐commerce Publishers
76-‐100%
51-‐75%
26-‐50%
1-‐25%
53% average
44% average
Registered Users as a % of Visitors
Legend: % of visitors who are registered users
On average, half of visitors to E-‐commerce sites are registered users. Penetra;on at Online Publishing sites is slightly lower.
Registra;on Rates
5
In in-‐depth interviews, these business decision-‐makers describe how hard they are working to drive registra;on. Respondents talk about a mul;tude of online and offline strategies.
They have also streamlined the registra;on process, and are capturing less data on registrants.
“[Registra+on has] increased because we have increased our footprint in different ways because we've done some great integra+ons…[describes TV shows, Facebook, TwiCer, and blog]…have definitely engaged more new people. We're also seeing a lot of [our video content] geHng picked up on a lot of different blogs, which is then leading more visitors back to our site, and the conversion rate is geHng higher on that.” (Retail)
“We partnered with [television program] to run a cover contest. In order to vote you have to register. You have entered and now what you do is we've made it really easy for you to go on Facebook and say ‘go vote for me.’ It is not revolu+onary but it is very effec+ve in terms of bringing people to the site, geHng more registra+on and, hopefully, building more [loyal] users. Facebook referrals have shot through the roof. I can't give you hard numbers but I can say that they are 1000 percent higher than they were before.” (Online Publisher)
“They've remained rela+vely the same. We have actually adapted our registers somewhat, because people used to be willing to do more, give you more informa+on, and now we're asking for less. We've tried to reduce the barrier as people become more wary about sharing informa+on, but if we hadn't done that our rates would have dropped precipitously I am sure.” (Online Publisher)
“We re-‐launched our site in April and once we re-‐launched it, the actual log-‐in process and sign-‐up process is much easier. It has had some [impact on registra+on rates]. We've seen -‐-‐ I can't remember the numbers right oVand but there was a slight bump. It wasn't significant. I think it is around a 2 or 3 percent.” (Travel)
Value of A Registered User
6
Value of Registered User vs. Unregistered User
Two-‐thirds of survey respondents feel that registered users are a lot more valuable than those who have not registered at their site. This is consistent across the two audiences.
Q13: How would you compare the value of registered users with those who have visited but not registered at your website?
26%
31%
18%
13%
21%
21%
19%
30%
7%
6%
9% E-‐Commerce
Publishers
10 9 8 5-‐7 0-‐4 DK/NA
A lot more valuable A lot less valuable
65%
65%
Neutral
Value Dimensions In open-‐ended discussions, decision-‐makers ar;culate several key ways that registered users
provide value to their organiza;on. These were validated by the quan;ta;ve survey findings.
Loyalty
• Engaged • Reliable • Can build a Rela;onship
• Sa;sfied • Frequency of visits
• Page views • Time spent on site
Word of Mouth
• Promote to network
• Variety of viral communica;ons
• User-‐generated comment: quan;ty and quality
Targe;ng
• Know who they are: preferences and behaviors
• Richer profile informa;on
• Target emails, promo;ons, coupons
• Follow-‐up ajer shopping
• Trends drive business decisions
Bokom-‐line
• Purchase more products, with greater frequency
• Alpha shoppers • Complete check-‐out process
• Spend more money
• Data to drive adver;sing revenue
Value: Loyalty
8
Majori;es agree that registered users are more loyal and engaged than the average visitor. Companies are able to build a rela;onship with this audience, crea;ng a reliable and sa;sfied base who visit the site more frequently and generate more page views.
Q: Below are some reasons that organiza;ons have said registered users are valuable to their organiza;on. Please indicate if you agree or disagree with each.
Loyalty, Rela;onship, and Engagement % who agree with each statement
85%
82%
74%
74%
72%
68%
67%
Easier to engage and build a rela;onship
More loyal
Visit the site more frequently
Spend more ;me on the site
More reliable
Generate more page views
They are more sa;sfied
“A registered user is a much more loyal user and a prosely+zer for you, a grassroots recruiter. They are much more affiliated with the site and they do more work for you, so once you get somebody to register, presumably it is because you have given them something that they like and they come back and visit more.” (Online Publisher)
“We find registered users come to our site more o:en and they come back more frequently. The registered users stay on our site longer; they search through more pages, look at more informa+on; whereas non-‐registered users, while we don't know who they are, they may have booked. We know that they clicked through from some site to our site or whatever. We know that we have that visitor. We don't know anything about them.” (Travel)
“Registered users are typically members of our organiza+on, they are more likely to use our services compared to non-‐registered users. They are more familiar with the site, more familiar with our product, more familiar with our services.” (Electronics)
Value: Word of Mouth
9
That loyalty translates into posi;ve word of mouth for the brand. Three-‐quarters of the market agree that registered users are more likely to provide more/beker user-‐generated content, and promote the brand virally.
Q: Below are some reasons that organiza;ons have said registered users are valuable to their organiza;on. Please indicate if you agree or disagree with each.
Posi;ve Buzz, Viral, and Word-‐of-‐Mouth % who agree with each statement
74%
74%
More likely to generate comments/reviews
More likely to promote our company to social network
“I would say [registered users] are much more likely to share the brand with their friends. Much more likely to interact with the brand more than once…We obviously look to those people as the alpha shoppers, and they are the ones who will comment on a blog post, who will share something they've bought online, who consistently reference us. They will Tweet [about] us that they love the store, that sort of thing. So they are the ones that we feel are taking the brand message outside of our communica+ons into the social space.” (Retail)
“They are more likely to write a review, rather than just give it a star. They are also more likely to write more reviews over +me.” (Retail)
Value: Targe;ng
10
Large majori;es also point to their ability to target content and promo;ons to registrants, as well as follow-‐up with them ajer purchase.
Q: Below are some reasons that organiza;ons have said registered users are valuable to their organiza;on. Please indicate if you agree or disagree with each.
Targe;ng Communica;ons % who agree with each statement
85%
82%
80%
More profile informa;on about them to target more effec;vely
Easier to follow-‐up with them
Know who they are/they are authen;cated
“We have ac+vely started CRM our customer rela+on management tools and because of that we have been able to target -‐-‐ if you don't register, we can't. But what we can do with someone who is registered, we can then track them and send email messages for specials. So certainly there is an opportunity to get more relevant communica+on from us if you register or if you just come on our site and look for stuff, we have no way of really communica+ng to you.” (Travel)
“We profile our users by geographic region, by age group, by gender, and we can use it for targeted events mailing, or targeted marke+ng, and targeted adver+sing.” (Electronics)
“We get a lot more value from registered visitors because you can look at their behavior trending over +me, and that intelligence can help drive business decisions.” (Electronics)
Value: Bokom-‐line
11
Nine-‐in-‐ten say that registered users are more likely to purchase their products and services, and posi;vely impact they bokom line.
Q: Below are some reasons that organiza;ons have said registered users are valuable to their organiza;on. Please indicate if you agree or disagree with each.
Revenue/BoIom-‐line % who agree with each statement
90%
90%
85%
72%
More likely to purchase products/services
More likely to posi;vely impact bokom line
More likely to complete the check out process
Buy more/spend more money
“They are more likely to complete the check-‐out process, and then we can follow-‐up with them aber the transac+on.” (Retail)
“We can offer them more coupons and send other mailings. They get good deals, and a quality shopping experience. And if they are registered users and they abandon the shopping cart, we can actually email those abandoners.” (Retail)
“Because adver+sers are s+ll grading on page views and uniques. If you can raise the number of uniques and those number of page views then yes – they do have an impact on revenue. It is s+ll just a numbers game.” (Online Publisher)
Social Sign-‐on: Awareness, Implementa;on, Benefits
12
Awareness of Social Sign-‐on
Yes, heard of 92%
Have not heard of 6%
Not sure 2%
13
Ques;on wording: Have you heard of solu;ons that allow website visitors to sign in or register at a website using an exis;ng social iden;ty through Facebook, Twiker, Yahoo, Google, LinkedIn, or another provider? Example:
Social Sign-‐on Awareness
Nine-‐in-‐ten surveyed say they have heard of Social Sign-‐On.
E-‐commerce: 92% aware Online Publisher: 92% aware
Social Sign-‐On Implementa;on
14
Social Sign-‐On Implementa;on or Planned Implementa;on
Majori;es of survey respondents say that they are implemen;ng or planning to put a social registra;on solu;on in place in the future.
Direc;onally, it appears that online publishers are further ahead of online retailers on social registra;on.
Q: Please describe your company’s plans to implement a Social Sign-‐On solu;on.
18%
31%
18%
28%
21%
15%
11%
3%
31%
15% 8%
E-‐Commerce
Publishers
Fully implemented Implementa;on in progress Planned -‐ next 12 months Planned -‐ next 13-‐24 months Not planned Not sure
Fully implemented Not planned
n=39
n=61
Among those who say not planned (n=34) Interested: 41% Neutral: 41% Not interested: 18%
84%
80%
77%
75%
75%
74%
73%
73%
72%
69%
Increase engagement/rela;onship
Richer profile informa;on to target and customize
Easier to share informa;on and promote organiza;on to social
network
Link between org’s site and user’s social network
Impact my org’s bokom line
Increase registered visitors
Richer profile informa;on to share with adver;sers
Good for org's image -‐ forward thinking, customer-‐centric solu;on
Simplify registra;on process
Verifies/authen;cates user’s iden;ty/email address
Importance of Social Sign-‐on Benefits
15
Large majori;es see all of the poten;al benefits of Social Sign-‐on as important.
Q20: Below are some poten;al benefit…How important are each to your organiza;on when considering such a solu;on?
Importance % who view as important
“It seems to me that you get more informa+on about the person, based on what they've got on their profile or what they've got stored on their social media or their account. It is an easy way to sign up. It also I think gives a really nice -‐-‐ just kind of a forward thinking approach to how do you get people engaged and connec+ng with them at another level, that is more progressive, I guess is kind of the word.” (Travel)
“I look at this through my revenue lens and anything that gives me the chance to sell a membership or a product alongside this is helpful, or to create a las+ng rela+onship that can lead to one of those fulfillments, is going to be good.” (Online Publisher)
Customer-‐Centric: “One of the benefits of Social Sign-‐on to the organiza+on is that most customers are reluctant to manage their accounts online because of the hassle of registering them -‐-‐ the registra+on process takes too long. Now, if we can somehow minimize that process, they will be greatly benefited.” (Electronics)
Social Networking: “They say that the average person has 133 friends, so if you make it easier for one of those people to share something, you are poten+ally reaching another 133 people. So the reach is going to get bigger and so therefore you might have more user-‐generated content. I think it would definitely increase the quan+ty.” (Retail)
Simplify and Increase Registra;on: “You always want to lower the barrier to entry, so if somebody is already signed up, they are signed up. They don't have to give you any more informa+on. It is easier for them. The easier it is for them, the more likely they are to sign up.” (Online Publisher)
81%
78%
77%
74%
73%
72%
71%
70%
68%
65%
Richer profile informa;on to target and customize
Easier to share and promote organiza;on to social network
Increase engagement/rela;onship
Link between org’s site and user’s social network
Impact my org’s bokom line
Verifies/authen;cates user’s iden;ty/email address
Increase registered visitors
Richer profile informa;on to share with adver;sers
Simplify registra;on process
Good for org's image -‐ forward thinking, customer-‐centric solu;on
Likelihood Social Sign-‐on Benefits Will Be Achieved
16
Importantly, most respondents find the benefits to be believable and achievable with Social Sign-‐on implementa;on.
Social Sign-‐On Benefits % who say benefit will likely be achieved
Q: If you have or were to implement this kind of solu;on at your organiza;on’s website, how likely would each scenario be?