How Single Sign-On (SSO) Enables Better Data Collection and Analysis

In today‘s digital world, data is one of the most valuable assets a company has. The more quality data you can collect on your customers and their interactions with your brand, the better you can understand their needs and optimize their experience.

However, collecting accurate data is easier said than done—especially when users have multiple, disparate accounts across your various apps and systems. The lack of a unified user identity makes it difficult to get a single, consistent view of each customer‘s activity.

That‘s where single sign-on comes in. While SSO is often thought of primarily as a security and convenience feature, it also has major benefits for data collection and analysis. By standardizing user authentication, SSO enables you to build more complete, reliable customer profiles to inform your business decisions.

In this post, we‘ll take a deep dive into what SSO is, how it works, and the key advantages it provides for wrangling your user data. We‘ll also compare some top SSO solutions and discuss how you can get started leveraging SSO for better data practices.

The Problem with Passwords for Data Collection

To understand how SSO improves data collection, it‘s helpful to first look at the issues with the traditional approach of standalone user logins with passwords.

When users have separate login credentials for each app or system they access, it creates data silos. Each app has its own database of user info, which may be incomplete or inconsistent across apps.

For example, say a user initially signs up for your email newsletter with their personal Gmail address. Later, they create an account on your ecommerce site using their work email. Then they log a support ticket with yet another email alias.

Without a way to reconcile these fractured identities, your customer data ends up scattered across different systems. Stitching the data together to get a single view of the customer journey is difficult and prone to errors.

Passwords also create a poor user experience that harms data collection. When faced with yet another account to register, many users will abandon the process, leaving you with no data at all. Others will enter incorrect info because they don‘t want to spend the time to fill out the registration form accurately.

In fact, the average online user has over 90 different accounts, each theoretically requiring a unique password. It‘s no wonder 59% of people reuse the same password across multiple sites. This practice may be convenient for users, but it‘s a nightmare for data quality and security.

How SSO Provides a Better Way

Single sign-on addresses these issues by enabling users to authenticate once and then access all their apps without having to log in again. It provides a more streamlined experience for users while giving companies greater control and visibility into user activity.

Here‘s a quick overview of how SSO works:

1. The user attempts to access an app and is redirected to the SSO login page.
2. The user enters their SSO credentials (typically a username and password).
3. The SSO service verifies the credentials against the central identity database.
4. The SSO service issues a token certifying the user‘s identity.
5. The user is redirected back to the app along with the token.
6. The app accepts the token as proof of authentication and grants the user access.

There are a few different technical standards for implementing SSO, including:

• SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language): An XML-based open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data. SAML is the most widely used SSO protocol.
• OAuth (Open Authorization): A protocol that allows users to grant third-party access to their resources without sharing login credentials. Often used in conjunction with OpenID Connect for authentication.
• Kerberos: A network authentication protocol used primarily in Windows environments. Uses "tickets" to prove identity and enable SSO across integrated apps.

The specifics of how SSO is set up will vary depending on the identity provider and protocols used, but the general concept is the same. Rather than each app handling authentication independently, SSO centralizes the process for more consistency and control.

The Data Benefits of SSO

So how exactly does this centralized approach to authentication improve data collection? Here are some of the key benefits SSO provides:

1. Unified User Profiles

With SSO, user identities are no longer fragmented across disconnected apps. Each user has a single, unified profile in the identity provider database.

This solves the data silo problem by providing a central repository for user info that all connected apps can reference. Any attributes collected in one app (e.g. name, email, company, job title, etc.) are available to all other apps in the SSO ecosystem.

You‘re able to progressively build richer customer profiles as users interact with your apps. This gives you a much more comprehensive view of each user‘s activity and characteristics, enabling deeper segmentation and personalization.

2. More Accurate Data

SSO also improves the accuracy of the user data you collect. With standalone user accounts, it‘s common for users to enter false, incomplete, or inconsistent info across different apps.

For example, a user might sign up for one service with their full name and work email, but register for another using a nickname and their personal email. Without SSO, it would be difficult to know that activity from these two different identities should be attributed to the same person.

When you have a single, verified identity for each user, you can be confident the associated data is more accurate and up-to-date. The SSO registration process tends to collect more complete user info than individual app sign-ups. And having a central user directory makes it easier to identify and merge duplicate accounts to clean your data.

3. Higher Registration and Conversion Rates

SSO doesn‘t just improve the quality of the data you collect—it also increases the quantity by reducing barriers to registration.

When users can register and log in with a couple clicks using an existing account (e.g. Google or Facebook), they‘re much more likely to complete the process. SSO removes the friction of filling out yet another profile form and managing another set of login credentials.

In a case study by Amazon, simply adding a "Login with Amazon" button increased new customer account registrations by 27%. While the actual lift will vary depending on your audience and use case, there‘s no question SSO helps drive more sign-ups and conversions.

More registrations means more user data you can leverage for analysis and remarketing. But SSO doesn‘t just increase the volume of sign-ups—it also increases the value of each registration.

Since SSO provides verified user identities with richer profile info, each new sign-up is more actionable from a data perspective. You have a real email and other attributes you can use to personalize the user experience and build lookalike audiences, rather than just an anonymous visitor.

4. Greater Security and Control

Of course, collecting lots of user data doesn‘t do you much good if that data is at risk. SSO helps improve the security of sensitive user info, even as you‘re collecting more of it.

With SSO, user access can be managed from a single location by an administrator. If an employee leaves the company or a customer requests their account be deleted, access can be revoked across all connected apps immediately.

Centralizing access management reduces the risk of unauthorized access through stale or stolen credentials. Enforcing password complexity requirements and multi-factor authentication (MFA) through your SSO provider is also easier than implementing these security measures in each individual app.

Better data security means fewer breaches, which in turn protects your brand reputation and user trust. Having certain security certifications like HIPAA or GDPR compliance can also give users more confidence to provide data through registration or behavioral tracking.

Choosing an SSO Solution for Data Collection

If you‘re convinced SSO can help you collect more and better user data, the next step is choosing the right solution for your needs. Here‘s a quick overview of some of the top SSO providers to consider:

• Okta: A popular SSO platform with a large pre-built integration network. Includes features like user provisioning, adaptive MFA, and advanced security reporting.
• Auth0: Developer-friendly identity platform with SDKs for easy SSO integration. Offers secure access for B2B, B2C, and B2E use cases with flexible deployment options.
• OneLogin: Focuses on ease of use with an intuitive admin dashboard. Has strong support for directory integration (AD, LDAP, etc.). Provides a secure SSO portal for users.
• Azure AD: Microsoft‘s cloud identity solution with tight integration with Office 365, Dynamics 365, and other MS products. Manages over 1.2 billion identities worldwide.
• Google Cloud Identity: Leverages Google‘s expertise in security and scale. Enables SSO for SAML and OIDC apps alongside native Google apps. Includes device and user lifecycle management.

Each of these solutions will reliably handle core SSO functions for better data management. The best fit for your tech stack will likely come down to factors like:

• Ease of implementation and integration with your existing apps
• Directory services and identity syncing capabilities
• Feature set for user management, authentication, and reporting
• Performance and reliability at your required scale
• Compliance certifications for your industry
• Pricing model and total cost of ownership

Once you‘ve selected an SSO solution, work with your IT and security teams to implement it in a phased rollout. Begin with your most critical and data-rich applications, then expand to other apps on your roadmap over time.

Start Leveraging SSO for Better Data Today

If data is the lifeblood of modern business, then identity is the heart that pumps it. Fragmented identities lead to fragmented data—but SSO is the key to unifying user data for better insights and experiences.

With SSO, you gain a complete, standardized view of user activity across touchpoints. Registration rates increase, data accuracy improves, and security is centrally managed.

While implementing SSO requires an upfront investment, the long-term benefits for user data and analytics are well worth it. Plus, you‘ll deliver a much more convenient experience for your customers and employees along the way.

Don‘t let identity silos hold back your data initiatives any longer. Explore your SSO options to start building a more integrated data ecosystem today.