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14 Comments

Is an email sign-up option necessary these days?

These days I rarely bother to sign up for new accounts with an email/username when I can use a one-click option like Google or Github.

I'm currently building a product targeted at web developers. Do you think devs like an email sign-up option? What about you?

  1. 11

    I almost always use an email signup instead of signing in with Google.

    1. 1

      Good to know. Do you think you'd be turned-off by the lack of an email sign-up option?

      1. 4

        I'm less likely to try a product if it doesn't have an email sign-up.

        When some company I've never heard of wants to link to my Google account I have to take the time to verify what permissions they're wanting and decide if I trust them to have that access. I use a password manager for everything so for me it's less work just to create a new account.

        I have a feeling I'm in the minority with that viewpoint. Although, since you're targeting developers I'd expect you would get a handful of other people that will feel the same.

        1. 1

          Exactly this except for the checking permissions part; I just simply won’t sign up 9 times out of 10

          The only exception is if it’s something a close friend can personally recommend to me and I trust their opinion on the matter but most times I just look for an alternative that offers email sign up. Tbh, Sign In with Apple was something I feel like was made especially for me since it offers an oauth approach without me feeling like my data is falling into the wrong hands ha

        2. 1

          Makes sense! That's kinda what I was assuming. Devs can be persnickety about things (myself included).

  2. 4

    I didn't have one for an app and ended up adding it after a lot of people asked. Had around 46k users on the app and you'd be surprised how many still prefer email.

    It's preferable for a couple reasons:

    1. Using your work email
    2. Using a burner email or you're handling your own mail server
    3. You don't want to be locked into the Oauth provider you use. For instance, if you sign in using Facebook but then decide you want to delete Facebook you lose your logins unless companies migrate them.
    4. You don't want to be tracked by Facebook, Google, etc

    There's other reasons but if you can add it I would suggest doing so. Quick way to lose a user is not offering the right auth option.

    1. 1

      This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

  3. 3

    I personally always use email signup and if that's not option, I wouldn't use the product.

    If I were to release a new product today, I'd start by offering these two options:

    • Google
    • Email
  4. 1

    Ur assuming everyone has these services. Why limit? It's not that hard to add email signup to an app

  5. 1

    I always use email, I don't like having tonnes of services connected to my social accounts and there's huge trust issues.

    I don't know much about the Google implementation, but does it let you email your users? You'll be at a huge disadvantage if you can't.

  6. 1

    I try to avoid signing in to stuff with Google or other social media. Mostly prefer an email option. It's a question of trust...

  7. 1

    Generally speaking email is better and I would offer it.

    Having said that, if I sign up as a developer for something connected with my development work, I like to sign up with GitHub.

  8. 1

    I would think using email address from sign on is a bit of a backhanded way while giving email address upfront will give you more of a forthright permission to mail users about less than specifically technical information about the site, like "message recieved".

    So far from indie podcasts, growing your sphere of influence is one of most important things and having a collection of email of users who have used you product, even if it fails down the line -- or still live -- will let you engage people about other projects etc. scrubbing email provided by SSO is sketchy, for services I use a different email address that I don't really check that often.

  9. 1

    In a lot of cases I don't like either. If it's something I'm trying out (as a consumer) I'll use a burner email. If it's something I'm confident I'm going to use for a while then I'll use real email. I pretty much always avoid signing in with Google etc because I don't trust what data is being shared between the parties and for what purposes

  10. 1

    There's something real about email that social registration can't quite replicate. I wouldn't be turned off by the lack of an email-based sign up. But I'm always happy to see it.

  11. 1

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

  12. 1

    This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

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