Ask user in email to complete the profile -> Lower the login barrier

Question

I have a job platform where users can apply with one click to jobs.

To bring the user one funnel step further I want them to fill out the industries they are interested in (after that they can receive job recommendation mails).

The problem is the login hurdle. When I send this email I can see that most of them get stuck at the login. It can be that there is a problem itself with the login but I'm looking for more "innovative" approaches.

So what do you think if i send in the email also the "access_token" -> so when they click on the link they are automatically logged in. Is this a big security issue? What else can I do to lower the barrier?

The website: https://www.migranthire.com

Answer 1

I think there are a few options to look at, which may make use of both some UX practices and programming solutions.

You should investigate why the login is such as hurtle. Do you use a 3rd party authentication provider? Is it at single step sign on? Do you provide forgot username/password functionality? Depending on your sign on workflow, seeing an improvement in the "login barrier" might be as simple as providing the user with some of these options. I know from personal experience, if a site requires username and I don't remember, I will give up quickly, or just create just a new account. Unless there is something I really need in that account(email, iCloud, banking), there's a low probability I will try to gain access. This is even more true if gaining access is a difficult/cumbersome process.

I'm not sure if providing an access token is such a good idea. Unless you are using some well tested out of the box security framework, that provides this functionality(which I doubt any do), I would highly suggest you don't do this.

What might be a better option(but similar approach) is to provide a link to the login screen but populate it with the user login name. Use the link/token to fetch the user account name, but do not allow for direct access.

Answer 2

Providing an access token in an email is almost always a bad idea. Emails are rarely secure from end to end and most get flagged as junk by either the system or the user if they contain too many things that don't normally appear in emails. It's been my experience to figure out what is wrong with the login process. Also, most of the popular web browsers automatically store login information for people who like that, so it would be redundant for your site to do so. In the end, figure out why the login is difficult and fix that. Their user profile ( I am assuming some database is being used) can store which jobs they would like to view. Once logged in, your site can keep track of that user in session.