Social login — Do users prefer Google, Twitter, or Facebook? Here is what we’ve learned on Cruip.com

When we started Cruip we weren’t sure if we wanted to offer traditional email/password signup, or social logins to authenticate our users! In the end, we opted for just social logins (via Google, Twitter, and Facebook), and 30,000 users later, this is what we learned:

Google, Twitter, or Facebook, what do users prefer?

According to our stats, users prefer Google (70.97%), followed by Facebook (19.69%), and then Twitter (9.32%) to sign in to Cruip. Here are the numbers:

• Total users: 33.999
• Login via Google: 24.136 (70.99%)
• Login via Facebook: 6.695 (19.69%)
• Login via Twitter: 3.168 (9.32%)

These numbers can be different if you have a different product and target, but overall, what we discovered is that users tend to not login with their favorite social networks, so that’s why Twitter ended up being as the less popular option on Cruip— our target (startups, founders, and developers) love Twitter and use it on a daily basis.

So, are Google and Facebook the best options for our users?

Certainly for the users, but not for us. Why? Unlike Twitter, Facebook isn’t very popular among our target, so they choose it as the “safest” option to sign in to Cruip. The result? Approx. 1 out of 10 users who sign in using Facebook has an absent or invalid email — basically, they haven’t used the social for years.

Users without email (numbers):

• Total: 897
• Google: 0 (0%)
• Twitter: 27 (0.85%)
• Facebook: 830 (12.39%)

On-boarding a user without an active email is useless, so Facebook is safe for our users, but a problem for us!

In the end, Google is the best option for both of us

Regardless of whether your app is offering Facebook, Twitter, or both, your users are going to sign in using the social they care less, so 30,000 users later, and looking back we would have used Google as the unique authentication option on Cruip!

Last, but not least, Google provides 100% accurate data, in comparison with Facebook and Twitter.

Final notes

• If your business is B2B a traditional email/password signup si absolutely mandatory over the social login options.

• The use of social logins can make the registration (or subscription) process faster, but you also lose control over a third party, so I would consider all the pros and cons before enabling it to my web app.

• One of the most common problems with social logins is that users/customers often forget which social login they’ve used to sign in! We’ve solved this issue using this little Trick!

I hope this post has given you some pointers if you’re considering to enable social logins to your app :) If you’re more questions or curiosity, please let me know by replying below!