Topic starter
20/08/2026 5:35 pm
TL;DR: Axel Springer used the privacy-first FedCM standard to remove login friction and saw a 15x increase in user registrations, according to Ory's analysis of the publisher's sign-in flow. The pattern matters because identity teams should treat authentication UX, privacy constraints, and federation design as linked governance decisions, not separate workstreams.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Ory: “From Friction to Flow: How FedCM Drove a 15x Surge in User Sign-ups for a Major Publisher”.
Key questions
Q: How should IAM teams evaluate sign-in friction in consumer identity journeys?
A: IAM teams should measure where authentication design interrupts registration, not just whether login is secure.
Q: Why can privacy-first authentication improve sign-up conversion?
A: Privacy-first authentication can improve conversion when it reduces unnecessary redirects and limits how much identity context is exposed during sign-in.
Q: What are the signs that a federated sign-in flow is failing in practice?
A: The most common signs are failed logins, repeated redirects, user drop-off at the login step, and inconsistent behavior across browsers.
Practitioner guidance
- Measure sign-in abandonment alongside assurance Track where users drop out of registration or login flows and tie those points back to authentication steps, redirects, and consent prompts.
- Review federation journeys for privacy friction Map which identity handoffs expose unnecessary user data or force repeated context switching, then simplify the journey where risk is not reduced by the extra step.
- Align CIAM metrics with business completion Add sign-up completion, login completion, and user drop-off to identity governance reporting so teams can evaluate whether controls support actual adoption.
Bottom line: FedCM demonstrates that authentication design can materially influence registration outcomes when login friction is reduced without weakening privacy expectations.
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20/08/2026 6:21 pm
FedCM turns sign-in friction into a governance issue, not a UX side note. The article shows that authentication design can materially change registration outcomes when users are forced through cumbersome federation flows. In consumer IAM, the control objective is no longer only secure access. It is also reducing abandonment caused by avoidable identity handoffs. Practitioners should treat login journey design as part of identity governance, not a separate front-end concern.
A few things that frame the scale:
- Only 20% have formal processes for offboarding and revoking API keys, and even fewer have procedures for rotating them, according to the Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
- 40 percent of financial and software companies have already deployed agentic AI systems, and deployments are expected to double by 2028.
A question worth separating out:
Q: Should organisations treat sign-up completion as an identity metric?
A: Yes. If sign-up completion is low, the organisation is losing users before identity assurance, fraud checks, and lifecycle controls can do their job. That makes completion a governance metric, not just a growth metric, because it reflects whether the authentication design is usable enough to support the business model.
👉 Read our full editorial: FedCM adoption shows how privacy-first sign-in can boost sign-ups