How many passwords do you have? How many forms have you completed on the internet this year? How many memberships have you adhered to? EXACTLY! It is getting absolutely ridiculous. If you are like me you probably have a tonne of usernames, or logins and you don’t remember a bunch of passwords. That is why I came up with a bunch of reccomendations that I called the Top 10 to optimize form conversion. Obviously this will not solve all the problems out there regarding forms and memberships and bla bla bla. BUT! It might help a little.
It is normal that not every site has the same process since not every membership requires the same information from their subscribers. What I’m asking is for people to agree on 10 points and try to simplify our lives as internet users. All parties will benefit since less people will drop from the process and therefore more conversions should occur. The key is to remember that internet users are asked wayyyyyy too often to fill out a form and yours needs to be the most simple, the most efficient and the speediest form they encounter. That way everyone is happy!
Top 10 to optimize conversions
- The first step of the registration process (contact information) should be collected on the home page in order to reduce by one the number of following steps and convince the user that the process is shorter
- Ideally “one-step-registrations” are the most effective(minimize the negative effects of the conversion funnel) but not at the expense of the page length, i.e. Long never-ending pages are negatively perceived by users wanting to quickly complete a form
- A great solution to the “too-many-steps” dilemma is to allow the user to become a member once the contact information is gathered and send a confirmation email where they are asked to complete the following steps in order to officially register
- Popup registrations can be useful since the website never leaves the sight of the user and can convince the user that the registration process will be quick and simple
- Small sections on each sides of the form can continue to convince the users as they complete the registration; suggestions (usernames, group names), success stories, pictures, quick positive facts, good uses of the services
- A “completion indicator” allows the user to know how much time will be required to register – this can be applied to the percentage of profile completed at each login to incite users to add more to their profiles
- Help signs can replace long paragraphs of explanation and allow the user to request information when needed and to have a cleaner interface when help is not required
- If the registration requires the user to submit a username that cannot be already in use, provide a tool within the form that can verify the availability of the user before the user moves on to the next step to eliminate mistakes…BUT really…don’t ask for a username, simply use the email address because users already have too many usernames!!!
- Once the last step is completed in the registration process, send users back to the “purchasing or browsing” section of the site to minimize exit rates after completion
- Allow cookies to remember users during returning visits to reduce non-logged in visits from returning members and only ask for password identification if changes are made to profiles or if items are purchased
So those are my suggestions, try them out. Or simply test them with website optimizer and allow your current traffic to let you know what they prefer. That way you will be sure to optimize for your customers and increase your conversions. I hope that my Top 10 to optimize conversions can help you make the internet registration process a little better for everyone!
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