What exactly is SSO?
Single Sign-On (SSO) is a user authentication process that permits a user to use one set of login credentials (e.g., name and password) to access multiple applications. Simply put, it is a centralized login system.
SSO solves a big problem: it makes it much easier to manage users across various applications and services. For instance, a company such as a telecom provider might have various platforms such as one for customer support, and another for services like entertainment, television programs, on demand television, etc. A SSO service will allow clients to access both platforms with the same credentials. It will thus save them the trouble of having to create yet another account (with a new name and one more password to remember —and likely forget).
Think you’ve never encountered this before? Actually, SSO procedure is more common than you think. Have you ever used your Gmail account to access YouTube or Google Analytics? Have you ever provided your Facebook credentials to gain access into another website? If yes, then you’ve experienced SSO technology.
Benefits of a SSO integration with Qualifio
You can connect your own authentication system to Qualifio. This integration means that when someone participates to one of your Qualifio campaigns (e.g. a contest, a poll, a personality test, or a simple quiz), they will be able to log in by simply providing the same user credentials they use to access your other platforms.
Here are 4 reasons why you should use your SSO with Qualifio:
1- An optimal user experience generates more participations
SSO provides a positive user experience, allowing users to log into multiple applications with a single ID and password. It’s really a matter of convenience to the users. I mean, we can all agree that repeatedly having to fill out forms is a boring, time-consuming thing to do. (And remember: a better user experience makes it easier to participate!)
Make it easy for users to sign in and share information on any device using a traditional username/password or existing third-party account. Single sign-on allows users to navigate seamlessly across global properties while tying all user data to a single verified identity.”
— Gigya, Why eCommerce Brands Need Customer Identity & Access Management
Let’s say you start using Qualifio to create interactive content and collect data, OK? You will publish a large amount of interactive, campaigns where participants could have to identify. Now, how will your participants identify? There are two possible situations, and we will illustrate both of them:
- Participant Amanda already has an account. She’s been a customer of yours for some time. She wants to take part in your latest contest, vote, prediction, etc. Because you connected your SSO to Qualifio, Amanda will be able to identify using your own authentication system, so the same credentials as she uses to log into, say, your website. This will save her the trouble to fill out a long form to validate her participation. Better yet, if she’s already logged into your website, she won’t even have to enter her contact information. (Or you could just ask her to complete one additional field so as to enrich her profile even more.)
- Participant Eric doesn’t have an account yet. Which takes us to point 2.
2- An increased number of profile creations
According to Gigya, using SSO could boost registration rates by up to 50%.
With a good activation and the intrinsic potential for virality of your Qualifio campaigns, you will likely attract a lot of new participants, such as Eric. Eric doesn’t have an account and is not part of your existing customers or prospects. The good thing is that Eric (along with other new participants) will need to create an account in order to participate… and interactive content and contests are a strong incentive to do so.
Plus, Eric won’t have to fill out a new form each time he wants to take part in one of your interactive campaigns —this bringing us back to point 1. That’s how you boost your profile creations.
3- Better quality data
Rome wasn’t built in a day. And a single Qualifio campaign will be of little interest if you’re looking to build a strong, consistent data collection and segmentation strategy. The idea is that campaign after campaign, you can collect relevant and interesting data that will be pushed in real time into your database.
For example, it’s also essential that there’s no duplicated profiles because of typos in names or email addresses. Using SSO will ensure you only have one account per user. It will also enrich the matching profile with fresh data collected through each interactive campaign.
4- What about social login?
Social login (or social sign-in) is another form of SSO. It makes use of an existing social media account to login or register a user into a third party website —once again, instead of creating a new login account specifically for that website.
It stands as a very good way to prevent password fatigue. This phenomenon is responsible for abandons on your website and other annoying things like people giving fake or incomplete personal information… which is most probably the complete opposite of what you’re trying to achieve. Websites such as Medium or Forbes use social login:
Although right now Qualifio only allows you to set up a Facebook Connect, SSO platforms such as Gigya or Janrain offer a wide range of other social logins.
Qualifio is integrated with the main SSO solutions available on the market such as Gigya and Janrain. We can also develop custom integrations with your in-house products. Visit our Custom Integrations page to get more information about this service.
