As a user, registering for websites is no fun.
Being a computer, it’s only slightly less of a chore than filling out paper forms – it’s somewhere between waiting in line and boiling water on the spectrum of the world’s most boring activities.
Reading: How to create a website for online registration
But it’s part of doing business in the online world, and since most website visitors are pretty used to the process, they also get annoyed with UX and UI decisions that companies make around their registration process.
Why is this important? Because if you rub your site visitors in the wrong direction when they try to register for something on your site, you may end up losing a lead or customer as a result. According to Forrester Research, 11% of US adults abandoned an online purchase because they didn’t want to register online or the website asked for too much information. “To put this in context,” they say, “a retailer with $200 million in annual online revenue could be leaving another $22 million on the table simply because of the complexity of the registration step in their checkout process. “
More intriguingly, eMarketer reports that 88% of users intentionally left their website registration information blank or inserted incorrect information. Whether out of privacy concerns or frustration, online Buyers have higher standards than ever for a streamlined and easy registration process. If your business can’t do without online registration, let’s look at how you can make the process as tedious as possible for your website visitors.
12 ways to create a seamless website -Registration process for your visitors
1.) Build value on registration. Explain why a visitor should register with your website right at the start, as Mint.com does below. Notice how little text is used to describe the benefits – a big, clear headline with a few bullet points showing the value of registering on the site is all that’s needed to quickly explain to a visitor what registered users can do.
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<img src="https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hub/53/file-23130106-png/blog/images/mint_registration.png?width =467 Security is important, but when a new registrant chooses a password for your site, they’re likely to have a few variations they’re used to drawing from. Sure, a mix of characters and capital letters is a good idea, but keep your expectations reasonable. If your password requirements are too narrow—it must be less than 7 characters, use at least one number, one punctuation mark, one instance of capital letters, and none of the following—the options get pretty narrow. Align with Google, create strict requirements and show their progress with a visual “Password Strength”.
Even if you ask a user to confirm their password by retyping it, don’t do it. Don’t wait until the entire form is filled out to make sure it’s entered correctly both times. Let them know immediately before moving to another form field that their passwords don’t match.
7.) Make password recovery easy. Ever go to something from which you thought was a brand new site only to find out that not only has it appeared you’ve been there before, you’ve actually registered there? If you’ve tried registering again using the same email address, you know that unless you somehow remember the password you chose, it’s pretty much impossible to get to the next step. A Janrain study shows that 45% of consumers leave a website after forgetting their password or login credentials. I was definitely in this camp when a password reset option wasn’t clear and simple is. If your users can’t reach their end goal without signing up for your site, make it easy for them to reset their password so they don’t leave your site.
8.) Provide an opportunity to update the captcha. If your website requires registrants to use a captcha form to authenticate that they are actually living, breathing people, give them an opportunity to update the results returned.
If so If you’ve ever received an incomprehensible captcha, you know how pleasant it is not to have to struggle through trying to find those shaky, stretched and analyze distorted letters when there is likely a clearer option next in line.
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9.) Clearly identify and explain errors in form fields. Whether due to fumbling or incorrect interpretation of what a field requires, users will make mistakes when filling out registration forms on your site. If a field isn’t filled out correctly, don’t just tell them they made a mistake. Show them which field has the error and explain how to fill in the field correctly. Make it in bright colors so it stands out and they don’t have to re-read every form field they entered and look for mistakes. Some sites even auto-scroll to the erroneous field, making corrections even easier!
10.) Consider offering social sign-in. Social sign-in, aka as Social Authentication allows visitors to log in to your website using a social network such as Facebook or Twitter, or even an Apple ID or Google account. According to Marketing Pilgrim, 77% of online shoppers said they believe websites should offer social logins. This not only allows visitors to register for your website faster, but also allows you to collect more valid data about your registrants.
11.) Offer a checkout option for guests. Not everyone should have to complete the full registration process; offer the possibility to complete a purchase without registration. Yes, I know it’s more convenient to register now if they come back later to check order history, shipping information or account information. But maybe they are in a hurry. Or maybe they intend to be a one-time customer. After all, wouldn’t you rather see a transaction complete than collect more robust lead information?
12.) Let visitors choose how long they want to stay logged in. If your registrants tend to visit your site frequently—daily, or even multiple times a day—and give them a chance to stay logged in. This is a small added benefit that will make your site more user-friendly for your most engaged users who want to take advantage of this option.
When choosing a registration or shopping cart system, ask if these types of features are available to ensure you create the best possible user experience.And if you run an ecommerce website, you can even leverage HubSpot’s ecommerce integration for full closed-loop reporting and lead-nurturing benefits. And as you improve your registration process, be sure to approach it with a scientific methodology. See which changes will help improve your conversion rate and prevent form abandonment, and discard the changes that add no value or worsen the impact of the registration process.
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<img src=" https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hub/53/file-23151197-png/blog/images/social_sign_in.png?width=531
