RE: Registration pages: A hinderance?

From: Simon Lusted <simon_at_thatgame.com>
Date: Wed 04 Apr 2001 12:03:19 -0600

MIKE DRIEHOSRT <miked_at_lmgnet.com> WROTE:

>Does anyone have examples or opinions as to if users
>of B2B sites generally like or dislike being required
>to register, and what, if any impact registration has
>on site traffic?

Two conflicting concepts are at work here. One, is your
desire to extract 'value' for the service you provide
and two, the consumers conditioning to a 'free ride'.
Couple this with the fact that filling out forms is
cumbersome and mostly annoying I think inevitably you
will lose some people, but it doesn't have to be terrible.
IMHO you should.

* make sure there is value on both sides of the form,
dont expect people to take the time to register on a
promise, prove it will be worth their time.
* make sure you deliver said value, so this is as much
about managing expectations as it is about the service
on the other side.
* only ask for what you need (what is relevant). This
is a bug bear of mine, when i fill out forms i often
fill out certain fields with 'you dont need this' and
'nonofyourbizville'. It's annoying and prying. My data
has value and you only get so much of it before i start
to think, could what is on the another side of this form
be worth it? For most things i cant see why you_need_ to
know anything other than my name, email and permission to
mail me. I can see why you want to know, but not why you
need to know.

I'm sure there are heaps of other valid things to consider.
My opinion is that if you keep your prying to an absolute
minimum it will impact but you may meet a satisfactory
compromise between extracting value and traffic.

s

Simon Lusted, Marketing Director
www.thatgame.com
ThatGame Pty Ltd
Level 9 / 123 Queens St
Melbourne, Australia
PH: 61 (3) 9605 5028, FAX: 61 (3) 9605 5001



Received on Wed Apr 04 2001 - 13:03:19 CDT