Marketers are no longer in the business of attracting customers; they're responsible for keeping them engaged. That shift has led to a new role in marketing — user authentication.
\nAuthentication is the process of confirming the identity of a user. In the digital world, it's used to verify that someone is who they say they are and that their information is accurate.
\nIt's an important responsibility because it helps marketers protect their brands from fraud and abuse. From phishing scams to fake reviews, there are many ways scammers try to game the system to steal money or reputations.
\nUser authentication is the process of verifying that a user is who they claim to be.
\nAuthentication is the most important security feature any application can have because it's the gateway through which users interact with your data. Without proper authentication, an attacker could impersonate your users and access sensitive information or perform unauthorised actions on their behalf.
\nMoreover, authentication is often confused with authorization, which determines whether a user has the right to perform an action on a resource. That's why it's best to think of authentication as \"proving you are who you say you are\" and authorisation as \"determining what actions can be performed.\"
\nThis distinction is important because some authentication mechanisms provide very strong guarantees about who can perform certain actions, while others only provide weaker guarantees about behaviour over time. For example, someone who knows your password may be able to access your account now but not later; however, someone who has been issued an RSA token or a biometric fingerprint reader will always be able to access your account until they lose possession of their device or their fingerprint changes significantly enough that their device no longer recognizes them.
\nAuthentication is important in marketing because it helps to ensure that only real users get access to your content and products. If you allow anonymous access to your website or application, then anyone could be a potential customer of your product. However, only those who have registered themselves with you can access your content and services if you use authentication.
\nAuthentication helps marketers in many ways:
\nUser authentication is the process of collecting information about a user's identity to verify that they are who they claim to be. By authenticating users, you can ensure that only authorized users have access to your website or platform. This helps protect your site from fraud, abuse, and other security issues that might arise if it were not securely protected.
\nA Good Read: 5 Ways to Improve Your Customer Verification Process
\nUser authentication allows marketers to better understand who their customers are and what they want. This can help improve the overall customer experience. For example, if you’re an online retailer, it would be helpful to know if a person has purchased from your site before or not so that you can tailor their experience accordingly.
\nWhen prospective customers see that you're taking steps to verify their identities before doing business with them, it sends a signal that you're serious about security and privacy — which can build trust among potential buyers who might otherwise be wary of providing personal information to an unknown entity online.
\nAuthentication tools can help boost conversion rates by reducing the number of duplicate account registrations and false positives. When a user enters their email address or phone number, they'll receive a confirmation code via text or email to verify that they're not registering multiple accounts with the same information. This helps reduce abandoned shopping carts and returns while also increasing conversions.
\nThe best part? You don't need to build any additional forms or create new pages on your site — you can just add a login box and ask people to log in before they give you their feedback. Using user authentication in this way is particularly useful if you're looking for feedback on something specific, like an upcoming product launch or a new feature that's not yet available publicly.
\nCustomer retention is one of the biggest challenges in the industry today. Customers are constantly being bombarded by new products, offers, and promotions. It’s difficult to keep them engaged and coming back to your brand.
\nUser authentication allows marketers to improve customer retention by offering them a more personalized experience. By leveraging user authentication, marketers can tailor their marketing efforts toward their existing customers.
\nBy identifying their users' preferences, marketers can create personalized content that resonates with them based on their previous actions on the site. For example, if someone has visited a certain page before and viewed a certain product, they will likely be interested in related products as well. With this information at hand, it's easier for brands to cater to individual needs by showing them relevant content and products over time that align with their interests.
\nBy improving content personalization and increasing customer satisfaction, marketers can generate more revenue through repeat purchases and referrals from happy customers!
\nAs the world becomes more connected, users have become increasingly more aware of their digital privacy. In fact, according to a recent study from Google and Ipsos, 70% of Americans are concerned about their online privacy.
\nMarketers need to strike a balance between user security and experience when it comes to user privacy. That means providing security services that won't frustrate customers who want to get the most out of their devices and applications.
\n\n","frontmatter":{"date":"July 29, 2022","updated_date":null,"description":"Authentication is the most important security feature any application can have because it's the gateway through which users interact with your data. This blog explains how marketers can leverage user authentication.","title":"Authentication Has Gone Mainstream: Are Marketers Ready to Take the Responsibility?","tags":null,"pinned":null,"coverImage":{"childImageSharp":{"fluid":{"aspectRatio":1.7094017094017093,"src":"/static/a3c98cbf34311a97198a605d6fc32266/33aa5/auth-marketers.jpg","srcSet":"/static/a3c98cbf34311a97198a605d6fc32266/f836f/auth-marketers.jpg 200w,\n/static/a3c98cbf34311a97198a605d6fc32266/2244e/auth-marketers.jpg 400w,\n/static/a3c98cbf34311a97198a605d6fc32266/33aa5/auth-marketers.jpg 768w","sizes":"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px"}}},"author":{"id":"Navanita Devi","github":null,"avatar":null}}}},{"node":{"excerpt":"Introduction When we think of customer-centric marketing, we tend to imagine a brand with a website that’s easy to navigate and use, or a…","fields":{"slug":"/growth/lead-era-customer-centric-marketing/"},"html":"When we think of customer-centric marketing, we tend to imagine a brand with a website that’s easy to navigate and use, or a mobile app that is responsive and intuitive, or in-store displays that are informative and engaging.
\nBut what if there were an even more important aspect to consider? What if the way a company treats its customers on social media was as important as any other aspect of customer experience?
\nToday, retailers need to look beyond just the one aspect of their customer experience. They also need to think about:
\nThat's why customer-centric marketing is so important in this time of uncertainty—and why retailers should be focusing on it now.
\nIn this blog post, we'll dive into how retailers can truly make their customers happy by advocating customer-centric marketing.
\nWhen it comes to customer-centric marketing, you should always be thinking about how your brand fits into your customers' lives—and not just at the point of sale. Here are some tips to help you out!
\nYou need to start thinking about your customer's needs from a new perspective. For example, take into account how they want to be treated and what their goals are. Next, you need to figure out how to help them achieve those goals through your marketing campaigns.
\nThe rise of customer performance indicators (CPIs) is a game-changer for traditional marketing. While traditional KPIs are merely an indicator of whether a company is succeeding or failing, CPIs take a more holistic approach to understanding what customers want from their companies.
\nMoreso, CPIs help understand how customers use their products or services and make real-time adjustments based on those insights. They also allow companies to figure out the impact of their marketing efforts and make strategic decisions about how best to spend their limited resources.
\nOne of the most important things you can do to become customer-centric is invest in infrastructure that will help you serve your customers better.
\nThe sign-up process is often the starting point for a seamless customer onboarding experience, and it's an area where businesses often fall short. Here's what you can do to make the process as seamless as possible. The key to customer-centric marketing is to optimize every customer touchpoint. Optimizing means making sure that the customers' experience with your business is as easy and pleasurable as possible. It doesn't mean that you have to be perfect at everything all the time. But it does mean that you need to think about how every single bit of your business affects the customer experience. So, here's what you can do: A customer-centric approach to marketing means that businesses are no longer focused on the products and services themselves, but instead prefer to understand the needs and wants of their customers. And that’s exactly what you need to do to lead this era of customer-centric marketing. A never-ending registration form is the least favorite thing that you would like to see when you land on a website for the first time. The same goes for your potential customers! Users don’t prefer sharing their personal information in the first interaction, which is why most of them switch in a couple of seconds —leading to poor lead quality. Though customer information is the fuel to keep a business up and running, enterprises need to understand that they must find a better way to collect valuable information without annoying the users. Here’s where the critical role of progressive profiling comes into play! Progressive profiling ensures valuable information about a user is gradually collected over time so that it doesn’t create friction while a user lands on a platform, which enhances the overall quality and number of leads. Let’s understand in detail what role progressive profiling play in improving overall lead quality and quantity. Progressive profiling is the method of collecting personal information about the client step-by-step. It helps the digital marketing team to streamline the lead nurturing process by gathering increasingly specific client data. The best thing about progressive profiling is that the same question won't repeat twice. For example, if the lead has already provided their email address, name, and phone number, they won't be asked for it again. Instead, when the lead arrives on the landing page for the second time, they will be asked different questions like their company name, home address, and much more. In this way, digital marketing teams obtain several data points about a lead without annoying or overwhelming them with long forms in the first interaction itself. Hence, if a business strives for quality leads, it must incorporate the true potential of progressive profiling that eventually helps generate quality leads. In the modern digital business landscape, when competition is neck-to-neck, businesses leveraging technology to the fullest would be able to meet customers' demands. And if customers are bombarded with registration forms when they land on your website/app, you’ll surely lose your potential customers. Progressive profiling is undeniably the best way to nurture and improve the quality of leads, which helps businesses enhance their overall growth and revenues. Cost per acquisition (CPA) is what businesses need today. Whether an e-commerce platform or a service-based company, everyone is hunting for ways to reduce their CPA. Companies are always ready to invest in marketing and advertisement that brings quality leads. However, not every marketing campaign is fruitful enough to generate leads that further derive more conversions. The essential marketing requirement is to know your customers and learn about their preferences. Every marketing tactic is useless without understanding these fundamental aspects. So does it mean marketers need to ask the same questions about user preferences and demands each time a user lands on their platform? Unfortunately, yes! And that too, through long registration forms that may end up causing customer fatigue/ registration fatigue. Here’s where the critical role of identity management comes into play! With a reliable customer identity and access management (CIAM) system, marketers need not worry about collecting valuable customer insights; CIAM does it all without burning a pocket! Let’s understand how an identity management system for CPA reduction can help businesses thrive and succeed in the long run. In industry, digital identity management primarily refers to how a customer’s personal information is safely collected, stored, and accessed. Identity management offers endless possibilities to marketers since they can utilize valuable insights collected from user behavior and preferences. This data is stored within a CIAM and can be used for multiple purposes. Customer identity and access management (CIAM) is taking over the customer login experience. There’s more at stake than just registration and authentication. CIAM simplifies every business task that deals with your customers individually, including those that haven’t registered on your site yet. With a single data hub for all identities, CIAM seamlessly links authentication, customer management, sales, marketing, business intelligence, and services. Companies that provide an excellent digital experience should also focus on offering customers personalizing services. To accomplish this, businesses need to build a 360-degree view of the customer profile based on interactions with the company. And CIAM does it all! And with heaps of insightful information about users, businesses can deliver personalized experiences and product/service suggestions, which minimizes cost per acquisition. CIAM offers a complete unified view of each customer. And you can leverage the data in the marketing and promotion of your business. Connecting the data gathered from your services and websites gives you a complete overview of each customer. You'll have access to real-world data in startling detail with a complete picture of everything a customer has done since the first time they visited your site. You can use this data to monitor customer journeys across multiple apps and services, create marketing personas that reflect your customers, design new products or special offers, and direct your customers towards choices that will benefit both of you. When you understand your customers more deeply, you can reach them more quickly and serve them better. All of this adds up to more revenue and a lower acquisition and retention cost. Hence, identity management for CPA reduction becomes the need of the hour. Many businesses quickly collect an array of customer data during the registration process. If you don’t take the time to consider if/why/how you’ll use all of this data— or determine the right time to collect this information—you’ll run into any issues. Collecting unnecessary data wastes resources and increases the risk of identity theft. Plus, gathering too much data also causes customers to abandon registration, slow the process, and feel intrusive. With a reliable CIAM, businesses can leverage the true potential of progressive profiling. The modern digital business landscape ensures a rich consumer experience that keeps customers loyal. However, that’s not the only way to earn trust; the critical role of digital trust in adequate security can’t be overlooked. Statistics reveal that around 1,387,615 identity theft complaints were filed in the United States in 2020. And these numbers are rising exponentially every year. Businesses must reinforce their overall information security infrastructure, ensuring that crucial business information and customer details are secure. Whether we discuss securing access control or rethinking privacy policies, businesses skipping a small step in protecting customer information could lead to losses worth millions of dollars and reputational damages. Apart from this, cybercriminals are hunting for customer identities that can be impersonated to steal sensitive business information, which can be further exploited for financial benefits. Undoubtedly, investing in secure experiences isn’t a luxury anymore; it’s necessary for businesses offering online services through a website or a mobile application. Let’s uncover aspects of digital trust and where businesses need to invest to earn digital trust in 2022 and beyond. Today, the competition in every niche is neck-to-neck. And customers have endless options to choose from. Hence, businesses must ensure they aren’t losing a single potential customer because of poor information security hygiene. Besides, global data privacy and security regulations are becoming more stringent. If an organization isn’t complying with privacy and security regulations, including the GDPR and the CCPA, it’ll have to face penalties and reputational damages. Also, if a business faces any kind of data breach or customer identity theft, they’ll lose trust in their clients and potential clients. And this isn’t good from a business growth perspective. In a nutshell, any loophole in managing customer information can adversely impact customer loyalty, brand equity, and financial performance. Hence, it is essential to ensure digital trust in customers/users sharing their details. Earning digital trust isn’t a piece of cake. Businesses should understand that their customers always expect a great user experience coupled with the assurance of robust security to their personal information. Here are some information security best practices that can be incorporated into a business to build trust in customers and potential customers. Multi-factor authentication (or MFA) is a multi-layered security system that verifies the identity of users for login or other transactions. The user account will remain secure by leveraging multiple authentication layers, even if one element is damaged or disabled. Codes generated by smartphone apps, answers to personal security questions, codes sent to an email address, fingerprints, etc., are a few examples of multi-factor authentication implemented in day-to-day scenarios. On the other hand, multi-factor authentication is considered one of the most efficient ways of providing improved security in recent times. The multiple layers ensure that users demanding access are who they claim to be. Even if cyber criminals steal one credential, they'll be forced to verify identities in another way. With the world heading toward more criminal sensitivities, using multi-factor authentication as part of your consumer identity and access management (CIAM) platform helps you build and maintain solid consumer trust. Introducing Single Sign-On (SSO) to your customers can offer greater security and improved usability, which are two of the many critical benefits of SSO. No one likes remembering credentials. Many use the same username and password, irrespective of the application. They exert a lot of pressure on the memory. This is where the Single Sign-On technology comes into focus and works like a breeze. Single Sign-On (SSO) is a method of authentication that allows websites to use other trustworthy sites to verify users. Single sign-on enables users to log in to any independent application with a single ID and password. SSO is an essential feature of an Identity and Access Management (IAM) platform for controlling access. Verifying user identity is vital when it comes to knowing which permissions a user will have. The LoginRadius Identity platform is one example of managing access that combines user identity management solutions with SSO solutions. Risk-based authentication is a non-static authentication system that considers the profile(IP address, Browser, physical Location, and so on) of a consumer requesting access to the system to determine the risk profile associated with that action. The risk-based implementation allows your application to challenge the consumer for additional credentials only when the risk level is appropriate. It is a method of applying various levels of stringency to authentication processes based on the likelihood that access to a given system could result in compromise. As the level of risk increases, the authentication process becomes more complicated and restrictive. Over the past couple of years, cloud computing has evolved leaps and bounds and has offered endless business opportunities to organizations striving for digital transformation. And when we talk about business marketing, businesses leverage the cloud to gather data from different sources and connect them to get valuable insights that further help make winning marketing strategies. However, cloud computing offers more than just helping marketers plan and execute effective marketing campaigns. Whether we talk about scalability, performance, or security, cloud computing is the one-stop solution for all your business needs. Let’s look at some advantages of adopting cloud computing and why enterprises should consider relying on cloud computing to thrive overall business success. Scalability is one of the most important aspects of cloud computing. Online platforms handling millions of users per second are always ready to handle additional millions of users just because they have deployed their platforms on cloud servers. Auto-scalable cloud infrastructures help brands scale up to millions of users per second, which isn’t possible in the conventional in-house data servers with limited scalability. Hence, businesses that collect user information on online platforms or large amounts of user information should consider relying on the cloud to experience the next level of scalability. Cloud servers are made to support massive sign-ins and sudden, dramatic surges of user actions (during a major sports game or popular TV voting system). The LoginRadius Identity Platform was designed with service provider-class scale in mind. The distributed CIAM network has regularly experienced peak transaction volumes of over 150,000 logins per second and typically handles 10,000 requests per second with less than 500 milliseconds latency. With cloud security, a third-party vendor is responsible for maintaining the system, not you. This vendor is the one spending their money and time on upgrading, integrating, and optimizing the system. The biggest problem with on-premise systems is that they require timely maintenance, increasing overall IT costs annually. However, in the case of the cloud, enterprises need not worry about timely maintenance. Apart from this, the vendor keeps the technology up-to-date, freeing you to focus on growing your business. Any enterprise that stores customer data must comply with global privacy regulations. These regulations govern how you seek customer consent to use their data and what you do with that data. The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California’s CCPA are examples of this legislation. With cloud security, your third-party vendor is responsible for compliance and has the expertise to do so. With the changing digital landscape, businesses relying on on-premise infrastructure wouldn’t be able to meet the pace of their competitors already depending on the cloud. Hence, to ensure they stay ahead of the curve, businesses should put their best efforts into adopting the cloud since it’s secure, scalable, cost-efficient, and maintenance-free. In today's digital world, the demand for robust identity proofing solutions is greater than ever. As businesses strive to protect their systems from increasing cyber threats while maintaining a seamless customer experience, orchestration has emerged as a powerful tool. By integrating comprehensive identity proofing solutions through orchestration, companies can enhance security, improve compliance, and deliver a smoother user experience. Let’s understand the aspects of comprehensive identity-proofing solutions. With the rise of digital interactions, businesses face significant challenges in verifying the identities of users, customers, and employees. Cybercrime is rising, and organizations must protect sensitive information and prevent unauthorized access. This has made identity proofing an essential component of modern business operations. Traditional identity verification methods, such as passwords and security questions, are no longer sufficient to combat sophisticated attacks. Businesses must adopt more advanced techniques that leverage biometric data, machine learning, and real-time analysis to ensure accurate and reliable identity verification. Orchestration in identity proofing involves integrating various verification tools and processes into a single, cohesive platform. This approach allows businesses to automate and streamline identity verification tasks, making them more efficient and effective. By utilizing orchestration, companies can: Comprehensive identity proofing solutions offer advanced security features that help businesses protect their digital assets and user data. By leveraging multiple verification methods, organizations can create a robust defense against identity theft and fraud. Orchestration allows these security measures to be applied consistently and automatically, reducing the risk of human error. Businesses must navigate a complex landscape of data protection and privacy regulations, such as GDPR, CCPA, and PSD2. Comprehensive identity proofing solutions help companies stay compliant by integrating regulatory checks into their workflows. Orchestration ensures that these checks are performed consistently and accurately, minimizing the risk of non-compliance and associated penalties. A streamlined and efficient identity verification process is crucial for providing a positive customer experience. With orchestration, businesses can reduce the time and effort required for users to prove their identities, leading to higher satisfaction and loyalty. Automated processes also minimize the risk of false positives, ensuring unnecessary security hurdles do not inconvenience legitimate users.\n
\n4. Optimize every possible customer touchpoint.
\n\n
\nIn Conclusion
\nIntroduction
\nWhat is Progressive Profiling?
\nTo Sum Up
\nIntroduction
\nWhat is Identity Management? How Does it Help in Reducing CPA?
\nA Unified View of Every Customer
\nCollect What’s Needed
\nIntroduction
\nWhy Does Digital Trust Matter Now More than Ever Before?
\nHow Can Businesses Earn Digital Trust?
\n#1. Multi-factor authentication
\n#2. Single sign-on (SSO)
\n#3. Risk-Based Authentication (RBA)
\nIntroduction
\n#1. High scalability
\n#4. Maintenance-free infrastructure
\n#5. Compliance management
\nFinal Thoughts
\nIntroduction
\nThe Growing Need for Identity Proofing
\nWhat is Orchestration in Identity Proofing?
\n\n
\nBenefits of Comprehensive Identity Proofing Solutions
\n1. Enhanced Security
\n2. Regulatory Compliance
\n3. Improved Customer Experience
\n