What an “RP” Wants Joseph
Smarr, Plaxo February 10, 2009

Hi, I’m Plaxo

and I’m a Relying Party.

I’m in an “open relationship”

with all of you.

Frankly, it hasn’t been easy.

Sometimes it’s been confusing.

And you’ve never met all
of my needs (for user data).

The result has not been
good

for users

our business

or yours.

(scrape. scrape.)

But recently, I’ve been spending
more time with...

Google

experimenting with a
new technique

that leverages more of the
Open Stack

Results of the Open Stack
“Two-Click Signup” Experiment Joseph Smarr, Plaxo February 10, 2009

Goal of the Experiment Prove
that Open Stack onramping could be strictly better for all parties • Better for the user • Better for the Provider • Better for the Relying Party

Hypotheses • A “Hybrid OpenID/OAuth”
approach could create a better user experience, with fewer round trips and reduced latency • Signup flows for Gmail invitees could be further optimized, because Plaxo knows it’s a Google user, likely in a signed-in state • Getting consent to access the user’s address book up front would increase import rates, which would drive multiple downstream benefits

Approach • Implement a “two-click
signup” flow completely optimized for Gmail invite case • Keep the technology hidden under the hood • Change as little of the post-sign-up flow as possible • Ship fast, monitor, iterate • Send 50% of English/U.S. Gmail invitees through the flow; other half are the “control” • Turn it off after 1,000 people go through (unless the results are rocking)

live demo

Results
(drum roll, please)

Results
but wait...

We’ve all been worried

about the round trip

from the RP to the
OP

and back to the RP

a.k.a

“The Chasm of Death”

so...

of the folks we sent
to Google

what percent do you think
came back?

92%

That means only
8%

8% were lost to the
chasm.

Of those that return
8%

8%
said “no” to consent

8% and go to regular
registration.

Which means
92%

of those returning
92%

92%
said “yes” to consent

92%
and have 2-click signup

92%
with automated import.

Synopsis So we get: •
Higher conversion rate • Higher import rate • More connections per user • No drop-off in return visits In other words, our business guys won’t let us turn it off!

Synopsis We proved that Open
Stack onramping can be strictly better for all parties • Better for the user: High success rate with no password anti-pattern • Better for the Provider: Happy users and no scraping • Better for the Relying Party: Higher conversion rate; greater connection density

How big could this be?

Today, 17% come from Gmail
Other than Gmail Google 17% 83%

And 73% come from the
Top 4! Other than Top 4 Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, AOL 27% 73%

Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, AOL Other
than Top 4 Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, AOL 27% 73%

All OpenID Providers! Other than
Top 4 Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, AOL 27% 73%

In other words... Other than
Top 4 Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, AOL 27% 73%

this could be huge! Other
than Top 4 Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, AOL 27% 73%

Let’s go!