I hate creating a new account whenever I want to make a purchase with another online retailer. When given the option, I almost invariably prefer to “complete the transaction as a guest.” Sure, my personal information (and yours too) is already packaged, bundled, and sold to marketing companies all over cyberspace, but I still enjoy feeling like I’m in control of my data as much as possible. I’ll always be a member of the old guard in that respect.

Other people don’t mind their data being everywhere (that is to say, they’re more accepting of this truth than I am), but they just don’t want to be hassled to create yet another account. The Web is plastered with social platforms that are trying to be the next big thing, retailers that want you to set up a unique login account, and banks and businesses that have differing requirements for your username and password. It takes time to set up each of those accounts, requires a lot of effort to remember and manage them all, and leaves users feeling more exposed with too many accounts to remember, update, secure, and someday maybe deactivate.

Hence some companies have started offering a log-in alternative. Rather than creating a separate account for each site, users can sign in with their, say, Facebook username and password (or Twitter, or whatever). This way, consumers feel they benefit by minimizing the accounts they have to manage, and companies gain direct access to all of the demographic data a customer has posted on his or her social account.

But the advantages to companies don’t stop here. According to online marketing company Monetate, retailers who allow shoppers to browse their sites via social login can boost page views and time on site by significant margins, and can even increase sales by up to 75%. Here’s an infographic breakdown of some of the benefits of the social login option:

Monetate Marketing Infographics