One of the most common complaints we hear in e-commerce usability research is about registration. Shoppers have many reasons to dislike or dread site registration. They may not plan to return to the site again, making a one-time purchase or a gift purchase. They may dislike registration in general, frustrated with remembering usernames and passwords for all the sites they visit. Some shoppers don’t want a site to save personal information and assume that if they register for the site, the information will be saved. Many users associate registration with getting unwanted email, and for good reason, since many sites offer tiny preselected checkboxes to sign up for email newsletters.
Most of all, registrations involves extra steps, extra hassle, and extra potential for things going wrong (whether user errors or site errors) and stopping the user dead in the water. The higher the interaction cost, the fewer people will complete a process. This is true for any user interface steps, but in the case of e-commerce checkout there’s a particularly direct connection between user hassle and lost sales.
Registration sounds like a tedious, lengthy process unrelated to the task at hand: making a purchase. And some sites make registration a lengthy and tedious process, sometimes even presenting registration as a step separate from the checkout process.
This doesn’t need to be the case. When a user is making a purchase, typically all the information needed for registration is already being requested of the user. Sites normally ask for information needed for the transaction, including name, shipping, and billing information. In addition, sites commonly ask for an email address in order to email a receipt and update order status. The only aspect of registration that is not covered in a standard checkout transaction is a password.
How to Present Optional Registration
- Before users enter the checkout process, clearly state that registration will be an option. Some users do want to register and like to see assurance that they can if they’d like to. If the option to create a password will be presented after the purchase is complete, rather than during the checkout process, tell users so they know when to expect the option.
- Briefly highlight the benefits of registration from the users’ perspective and not the company’s perspective when asking users to register. Shoppers appreciate when sites emphasize aspects that would make the experience easier, such as order tracking or faster checkout. They sometimes complain about sites that stress “benefits” such as receiving email newsletters or becoming a member of the site.
Mention customer-focused benefits when users start the checkout process as well as when customers are asked to create optional passwords. A brief bulleted list tends to work well to highlight this information. This list should not be a sales pitch for the site, but a brief reminder to users about how registering benefits them.
- Mark password fields as optional, so it’s clear that users do not have to register for the site. Also make sure to state password requirements so users aren’t left guessing how to create a valid password.
Some sites do not mark the password fields as optional; instead they place the fields in a section of the page with the word “optional” in a heading. Users often skim web content, even when filling in forms, and may miss the optional designation if it is only displayed in the heading, rather than next to the field.
When the fields are not specifically marked, users can misinterpret it as a requirement for registration. If they were previously told that registration is optional or have pursued guest registration on the site, this inconsistency can break the user’s trust.
Simple and Optional
Rather than forcing users to register before checking out, provide the option to register within the checkout process by presenting optional fields for the user to enter a password. This puts users in control and allows them to decide if it is worthwhile to register or not. In our e-commerce research, we saw users who had previously complained about forced registration happily register for sites where registration was limited to the option of creating a password in the purchase process.
Forcing registration causes lost sales. Some users will leave the site, others will struggle with registration. It is common for sites that add guest checkout to immediately realize increased sales. It is a simple way to improve usability and encourage purchasing.
