Social media can be instrumental and detrimental to users. On the contrary, it is predominantly good for any ecommerce business. So, it is evident that it depends on who uses this tool and how it is used! I know it is hard to digest how social media can be bad to customers as it helps resolve issues, share opinions, discuss multiple topics, learn out-of-the-box ideas, etc. via them.
But, it has got other side which could be highly hazardous to “customer privacy.” The reason why took up this subject is because many out there in the space are yet to realize such potential dangers exist when incorporating their social data on online stores. I’d like to address the issues arising due to social details shared in online stores in this post which could help customers realize how their data can be misinterpreted. Well, I don’t want to force you wait any longer and here we are into the discussion!
Social login for customers
It is an extension exclusively designed for Magento and Joomla ecommerce websites to help customers fast login to the online cart for quick shopping. So, it is obvious that from business point-of-view this tool is a wonderful asset. But, how good it can be for customers? Well, of course, it saves their time and helps them complete the shopping in a quick span of time, which in turn saves quality time of the customers. Well, it is plain it’s advantageous to customers. How about the businesses exploiting the social login data for improving their businesses standards?
It is very possible and it is what most brands try to do! By registering in too many sites while purchasing products in the ecommerce stores, you would’ve dropped in your social details on their sites which they use to follow you up for their business endeavors. The data extracted from social medium like Facebook, Twitter can really help business to follow up wherever you go and could easily reach out your friends, relatives and others in the circle which could really influence the privacy of yours and others. While social login brings in 60% benefits to customers, adds 40% woes to them.
What exactly the companies do with the social login data to manipulate their businesses? Let’s discuss them in the below section.
Social login for business
Social login extensions are really a boon to ecommerce stores. Before these extensions hit the market, most companies were really clueless as their customers were leaving the cart in a flurry due to the long and difficult default registration process. The introduction of this extension has helped ecommerce owners to garner more customers as it shortened the process of logging in to any ecommerce website with absolute ease. Besides, this extension is easy to manage. The details collected from this extension are used by businesses to follow up their customers based on their hobbies, likes, personalities, interests, knowledge, etc. This could really propel and multiply their business prospects and sales as they possess a great deal of command over their customer interests and their requirements.
Tips to assure customer privacy
It depends on both the customers and ecommerce owners. The sites have to come up with some solid measures on what to share in the social media sites about their customers and what not to. Publishing information about a customer on social sites while promoting business which is nowhere related to the activities he/she performed on your ecommerce site could create bad reputation to your business as it may easily offend your customers. Also, try to make use of the social information garnered from the customers smartly to personalize their requirements and provide them with the same. This could be the right strategy to improve business standards without altering customer privacy. Customers on the other hand should be cautious enough to reveal their social data to websites. Furnishing a lot of personal details on multiple sites can easily lead to privacy issues. Also, if the site doesn’t bear the necessary security, then obviously you’ll be in danger of data theft. Hackers will be waiting to prey on your bank account numbers, credit card details, personal email ids, to break into your privacy. So, customers play it safe from your end too.
Conclusion
I hope the above discussion would be an eye-opener for many customers out there in the space as it could help them safeguard themselves from the potential data abuse by the businesses. So, next time when you plan to shop a product online, ensure the site is 100% genuine, branded, incorporates SSL certification, etc. and fill only mandatory social details of yours to retain your privacy unexplored. If both the customers and ecommerce sites realize the significance of social data, then social login extensions on the online stores could be a boon to both.
On the same topic: Getting Creative with Social Media
