Email Is History
One of the most frustrating and unnecessarily annoying speed bumps of the Internet is the login "username."
One of the most frustrating and unnecessarily annoying speed bumps of the Internet is the login "username."
One of the most frustrating and unnecessarily annoying speed bumps of the Internet is the login “username.”
Typically a minimum of six characters but sometimes requiring as many as eight, the username is an antiquated concept that doesn’t help publishers, users, or anyone else. What’s the solution?
Publishers should ditch the oft-forgotten “username” and replace it with something that everyone can remember: one of the user’s email addresses.
There are four reasons why the email address makes for a superior login credential compared to a generic username.
This advice is especially pertinent to mobile app companies. Now that you don’t have UDID to depend on, what could be a better identity for login than an email address? Once an app publisher has collected the email address of its users, it can reach them cross-channel because, despite news to the contrary, many people still use desktop computers.
The benefits don’t accrue only for publishers. The user gets a lot of benefit from this approach. There is no string of letters and numbers that can be typed faster than someone can type their email address. I know I can type my email address faster than I can say it. Recovering passwords is much easier when they can be sent to an email address. And even if that address is old, at least you might remember it.
And resist using a “social” login if you can help yourself. Collect that email for yourself first and connect to the social platform next.
Email is history. History that we can all remember. Our personal history is associated with the email address, and it’s more durable than a cookie or username. End the username madness and start using the universal unique ID of the Internet, the email address.
Image on home page via Shutterstock.