Enrich CX with a passwordless future

Jan 11, 2024

CX Thought Leadership

As the digital landscape shifts towards a cookieless world and the need increases for better security for customer data, Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) and Chief Digital Officers (CDOs) are presented with a unique challenge and opportunity. This blog explores two visionary paths between progressive profiling during the login experience and passwordless security, showcasing how these strategies not only navigate the challenges of a cookieless world to collect more first-party data but also reduce friction for customers during the login experience.

Passwordless future: Enhance customer experience and boost conversions

In the quest for a more superior customer experience, passwordless security takes centre stage. Traditional password systems often lead to abandoned carts, hesitations in signing up for digital properties, and dissatisfaction among users. Adopting a passwordless approach transforms the customer journey, increasing sign-ups and reducing friction and abandoned carts.

By eliminating the need for complex passwords and going passwordless, organizations can create a seamless and more secure authentication process. This not only increases sign-ups and reduces abandoned carts but also contributes to higher Net Promoter Scores (NPS) and enhanced customer engagement. Passwordless security becomes a catalyst for increased security posture and a streamlined customer experience.

The reason why security should be a huge concern for marketers and digital experience teams is simple: They are “battling the bots.” And cybersecurity is everyone's concern. Today, bots make up a significant percentage of website traffic, while accounting for 1 in 7 account registration and 1 in 4 login attempts. Today’s cybercriminals are leveraging automated attacks to create fake accounts at scale, or take over legitimate accounts for profit.

When marketing and digital cannot decipher who their real customers are across systems of record (CRM and CDP), analytics are contaminated, marketing dollars are wasted, compliance issues compound and conversions suffer.

Progressive profiling: Shift to first-, and zero-party data-driven marketing strategies

In the absence of traditional cookies, progressive profiling emerges as a game-changer for CMOs that are looking to build a rich repository of first-party data. Instead of relying on third-party cookies, organizations can seamlessly collect valuable customer information over time, creating a personalized marketing experience from high-value to first-time customers.

While progressive profiling is not a new strategy, it has not been employed during the login experience with CIAM (Customer Identity Access and Management) solutions. In immature organizations, CIAM tools operate alone. To go even deeper, the power of CIAM is realized by integrating with CDP (Customer Data Platform) or CRM solutions, as an example. Advantages of this integration can be seen through richer data collected over time, knowing that a customer is real and not a bot, removing data silos and significantly improving security posture.

Essentially a modern CIAM platform orchestrates, enriches, and connects the data to and from these systems (or any third-party system related to your customers) across tech stacks including CDPs, DMPs, CRM, fraud prevention systems, and more.

Far too often, marketers try to collect too much data up front in the sign-up form when they should collect the bare minimum to reduce abandoned sign-ups or carts. To highlight the point, Emplifi found out that 86 per cent of customers will leave a brand as a result of poor customer experience. As well, according to Gartner, customer experience management is top of mind for most CMOs.

Using a cloud-based solution to manage the login experience and asking a few questions each time a customer logs in will allow the use of pattern interruptions to collect data progressively without being disruptive. This enables marketers to understand customer preferences, behaviours, and engagement patterns, enabling the creation of detailed personalization profiles across your tech stack. This not only circumvents the limitations of cookie-based tracking but also lays the foundation for highly targeted and effective marketing campaigns. Best of all, it makes it easier for customers to engage with companies, and marketing teams get access to richer data that is verified as real and not a bot.

Revenue growth and customer satisfaction: The dual impact

The marriage of progressive profiling and passwordless security all managed with a customer identity-first security strategy yields a dual impact of revenue growth and increased customer satisfaction. Leveraging progressive profiling during the login experience will provide marketing teams with valuable data and insights to target customers with precision. This, coupled with the seamless experience afforded by passwordless security, results in increased conversions, fewer abandoned carts and sign-ups, reduced friction and elevated customer satisfaction.

Navigating the cookieless landscape with identity-led security and confidence

In the evolving landscape of digital marketing, CMOs and CDOs face unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Data is the lifeblood of marketing. Progressive profiling and passwordless security strategies emerge as key pillars in navigating the cookieless world, while ensuring that customer data is safe and secure using cybersecurity practices that also reduce friction for customers during the login experience.

As CMOs and CDOs embrace these strategies, it can pave the way for revenue growth, increased customer satisfaction, and a personalized approach that resonates with high-value customers. In the absence of cookies, progressive profiling and passwordless security become the foundation upon which marketing success is built, driving a new era of customer-centric strategies in the digital realm.

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