3 WAYS ONLINE ANONYMITY HURTS BUSINESSES AND CONSUMERS

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1 3 WAYS ONLINE ANONYMITY HURTS BUSINESSES AND CONSUMERS A WHITE PAPER BY GIGYA

2 Traditionally, the notion of online identity is that it must be protected and safeguarded by the individual it belongs to. As users Internet habits evolve, however, we re seeing a greater shift in online sharing: consumers are posting personal photographs, life event updates, and more across their social channels. This move towards a more connected, open social web reflects how consumers and businesses should interact in a landscape that encourages and facilities the sharing of users information in a safe, valuable way. While the Internet of the past preaches complete anonymity as the Holy Grail of online etiquette, modern businesses and consumers understand the importance of authentic online relationships and how user data facilitates these interactions. Anonymity Leads to Negative ROI This white paper will go over three ways user anonymity can negatively affect ROI for businesses and lead to poor customer experiences. Specifically, we elaborate on how user anonymity poorly impacts businesses in the following ways: 1. Lost opportunities to engage consumers at the first touch point 2. Wasted spend on non-targeted marketing and advertising efforts 3. Loss of online accountability among users We ll also provide tips on how businesses can circumvent poor user experiences by leveraging their customers existing online identities in a responsible, mutually beneficial way.r outlines how brands can grow deeper, authentic relationships with

3 Anonymity Results in Lost Opportunities With so many people sharing their personal information on social networks, businesses can capitalize on these opportunities by leveraging their users data points in ways that add value to both parties. For example, an e-commerce business looking to reduce cart abandonment rates can send tailored reminders to customers who didn t complete the path to purchase prompting them to finalize their purchase. By failing to capture valuable, actionable user data, businesses forgo opportunities to connect with and engage customers at an individual level. In other words, these anonymous visitors continue to stay anonymous and businesses are left in the dark trying to market to an unknown audience. Example Use Case Kate Spade Makes Shopping a No-Brainer Fashion design house Kate Spade incentivizes purchasing with personalized s powered by social data.

4 To nudge users to complete the path to purchase, Kate Spade sends a personalized containing a discount code to customers who ve abandoned their shopping carts. Because this customer is signed in to the site, Kate Spade is able to connect her shopping cart to her address, facilitating a personal, effective communication channel that encourages purchases and nurtures customer loyalty. How Businesses Should Respond Businesses should consider implementing a seamless, easy way to collect and manage their users information in a permission-based manner. Social Login technology enables this process by allowing users to register and sign in to your website through their existing social profiles. By eliminating the pain points of site registration such as having to fill out tedious forms and remember new login credentials, social login aids in demand generation efforts as it breaks down the roadblocks to consumer data, allowing businesses to start building authentic relationships with their consumers quickly and easily.

5 Anonymity is Wasted Dollars We ve all been there: your 13-year-old niece borrows your computer for a day and uses it to casually browse her favorite women s clothing sites. For the next several weeks, you re bombarded with ads tailored to her interests that have absolutely nothing to do with you. Not only is this irritating, but it s also a poor use of money and resources on the business s side. Traditional retargeting techniques are the equivalent of playing a drawn-out guessing game: the only supposed knowledge you really have about the user stems from what you re able to piece together from his or her browsing history. This is hardly a holistic picture of the user, as it completely leaves out important facets such as the person s background, social graph, likes, and more. The 2 C s of Data Storage 1. Cloud Storage for Elasticity and Scalability With the total volume of big data across the globe already in the zettabytes, the need for efficient, dynamic storage systems is greater than ever before. When it comes to storing big data, traditional IT infrastructures lack the elasticity and scalability of cloud storage systems. In other words, cloud storage models allow easy access to data by multiple users and are equipped to handle massive amounts of data. 2. Centralized Storage for Unification Businesses with more than one web property (i.e. a website and mobile app), or multiple locations for collecting user data, can allow stored data to be accessed easily by keeping it in a centralized location. Unifying data this way makes it easier to scale marketing efforts and reach the right users at the right time.

6 Anonymity Eliminates Online Accountability There s something about the anonymity of many online forums that unleashes users inhibitions in some of the ugliest ways. The concern is, indeed, real and pressing: major publisher Popular Science announced that it was turning off its commenting feature entirely in an effort to ward off comment spammers and prohibit users from leaving irrelevant, inappropriate remarks on articles. In a less drastic move, Google also took measures to improve the quality and relevancy of comments across the YouTube network by leveraging Google+ as a moderation tool to surface content based on users Google+ social graphs, comment up-votes, and commenter reputation. When it comes down to it, online anonymity creates a blanket of security for comment trolls to wreak havoc on online content, which can lead to hurtful, damaging comments. This makes for a negative user experience and results in additional moderation costs for companies. How Businesses Should Respond Similar to Google s move to leverage its Google+ network to improve the quality and relevancy of its comments, businesses should create a way for users to quickly and easily authentic their online identities before leaving comments. This wards off spambots while holding commenters accountable to the content they publish by authenticating their real identities.

7 Example Use Case Dallas Morning News Fosters a Social Reader Base Fashion With over 400,000 daily subscribers, Dallas Morning News (dallasnews.com) possesses one of the 20 largest paid circulations in the United States. In the past, the media company used a traditional open commenting system that allowed for more user anonymity, and, in many cases, made it easy for spambots to leave irrelevant comments on its online articles. Such instances of comment spam led to negative user experiences and a significant drop in commenting from real users. Thus, the company turned to Gigya to provide a full social integration suite with six different social login and commenting options, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Google, and Windows Live. By requiring users to log in socially before commenting, Dallas Morning News adds a layer of authenticity to the site experience, converting what would otherwise be anonymous users into known customers. Results: Rise in Commenting Activity, Reduction in Comment Spam After making it easier for users to authenticate their social identities on Dallasnews.com and making the commenting process less anonymous, Dallas Morning News saw its commenting activity rise after just the first four months of implementing Gigya s Social Login and Comments, with over half of subscribers logging in socially to leave comments. What s more, Social Login automatically filters out spam bots, increasing the quality of comments and improving the overall user experience on Dallasnews.com.

8 The Fall of Mass Marketing As consumers continue moving toward a more social digital experience, it s important for businesses wanting to retain a loyal customer base to remain a step ahead of its users. This means swapping mass marketing techniques for tailored messages that speak to users on an individual level. Businesses that successfully carry this out can expect to see real ROI on their marketing campaigns and user experience. About Gigya Gigya provides clients with the rich data, intelligence, and tools needed to reach consumers with the right messages, on the right platforms at the right time. Gigya drives user acquisition and engagement for 700 enterprises and reaches 1.5 billion unique users per month, ensuring that today s businesses stay relevant in the age of the connected consumer. Our technology helps marketers understand their customers more deeply and boost ROI. Here s how: We provide consumer management technology like Social Login so you can start collecting user data quickly and easily We offer a user-friendly, web-based dashboard so marketers can easily access, manage, and take action on their user data We make it easy to understand and act on social media insights