Mixx is a social news and content aggregator with the goal of connecting users and publishers in relevant human circles.

 

Why did Mixx decide to add OpenID registration and login support?

 

Mixx supported OpenID login and registration from Day One. We included OpenID for two reasons. First, as a brand new product, we wanted to appeal to the early adopter crowd who are already aware of OpenID, its benefits, etc. Second, we strongly support open standards and believe OpenID has enormous potential to change (for the better) the way users engage online with new and existing services.

 

Did your team know how you would measure success?

 

Our objectives early on were to grow an audience. OpenID login and registration played a part in that, but we didn't set specific goals for measuring OpenID's success.  Since launching our second iteration of OpenID login and registration, we have more closely observed adoption of OpenID and third-party service-based registrations.

 

What results did you achieve after deploying OpenID?

 

Our initial implementation was very basic: users provided their OpenID URL at login or registration and were walked through the "typical" OpenID experience. This served knowledgeable users well enough, but wasn't as intuitive for less-savvy visitors. We observed that some users would insert any URL in the OpenID field, regardless of its validity as an OpenID.  This illustrated to us that the concept, as initially presented on Mixx, was sometimes confusing to our audience.

 

In September 2008, we re-launched our login and registration interface to push OpenID and third-party authentication to the fore. We still retained login and registration via email, but de-emphasized that option visually. The key part of our redesign was that we use non-technical language and visuals to lead people into using OpenID.  For example, we have large buttons with service provider icons and text that reads "Sign in with your AOL screenname" - terms that are familiar to users of that service. In the background, we're constructing AOL OpenID URLs and redirecting appropriately.

 

 

Results from this design change have, thus far, been great.  

 

•      We've seen a ten-fold increase in registrations via OpenID and third-party services.

•      We've also observed a 20% increase in registrations from direct and referrer traffic.

         

             Jason Garber, User Interface Architect

Beyond faster login, were there other potential benefits you were anticipating?

 

We partner with a number of large media publishers and have, almost across the board, heard the same request:  "We want our users to have single sign-on with Mixx."  Our support for OpenID is a critical first step in reaching this goal with regards to our partner relationships. The solution here is as simple as having our partners become OpenID providers and, from our end, designing an easy-to-use experience for their audience. Without a solution like OpenID, single sign-on would be much more difficult.

 

With our recent redesign, we allow Mixx users to associate multiple OpenIDs and third-party accounts with their Mixx account. This has proven to be a useful feature to our users and opens up doors for further integration with third-party services and cross-network interaction down the line.

 

Any surprises, maybe things you didn't expect?

 

From a development standpoint, we had trouble integrating with some OpenID providers. We eventually had to drop them from our login and registration screens while retaining AOL, Yahoo!, Facebook, and "pure" OpenID.

 

As mentioned above, we've seen users derive great value from the multiple account associations. The feature itself developed as a way to avoid some nasty programming snags but has, thankfully, resonated with our audience.

 

One near-term downside to OpenID registration is that not all OpenID providers allow users to pass their email address via simple registration (SREG).  So either we need to create the account without an email address or ask for it separately. This is a positive reflection on OpenID, in a way, in that the user has ultimate control over sharing of their personal information.  However, we believe as more OpenID providers support SREG, we'll be getting more email addresses directly via OpenID.

 

 

 

What advice would you give a company implementing OpenID?

 

The best advice we can give to new companies looking to implement OpenID is to design the experience to your audience. The masses, for lack of a better descriptor, aren't going to be as familiar with OpenID or URL-based authentication.  In fact, they often don't care. Your users will want an easy, familiar, comfortable experience regardless of the underlying technology.

 

Design (both in language and visuals) your registration and login process in terms that are familiar with your target audience.  It's not easy, and requires some design and development time, but the win here is increasing adoption and usage of your site or service.