Many sites now offer some sort of user registration as a means to provide additional (hopefully cool & useful) functionality to identified users, as well as a means to capture data about the user to sell them lots and lots of ’stuff’. Fair dos. We live in a commercial world and this is to be expected to some extent but users also now expect some sort of payback for becoming a member that doesn’t consist of buying more ’stuff’. It’s kinda like a give-and-take relationship.

So the user is happily browsing your site, experiencing all the content you’ve laid out for them, when they suddenly hit a barrier … ’sign up to [insert enticing functionality here]‘. This is the point where users do a quick, subconscious analysis of the site and company behind it to decide whether they want to make this ‘long-term committment’. I say long-term committment because to the users, this may be how it seems. They’ll expect that once they sign up, there’ll be the bliss of accessing great stuff but there’ll also be a range of direct / indirect annoyances along the way. These could be anything from being on the receiving end of email (or offline) marketing bombardments, having your details ’sold off’ to partners (despite what you say!), having your online activity tracked, having to come up with (and remembering!) yet another set of login details, etc. And to round it all off, users – from experience – may think of this signing up as an unreversible action in that you may be able delete your account but once marketers have your details, you’ll never get them to let them go! Certainly, unsuccessful experiences of ‘unsubscribing from mailshots has helped plant this thought in my head.

So. Back to the will-he / won’t-he user. When faced with having to register, users may consider a number of things about the site and company:

• Do I trust this company? Will they use my details in an unprofessional manner? This impression of trust, integrity and professionalism is gleaned from all interactions users have with your company – from Word of Mouth to TV advertisements, all the way through to their experience on your site. Do you ask for waaayyyy too much data? Do you make me sit there and fill out huge boring forms? Trust and credibility can be enhanced through the creative on the site as well as the content you give your users. Do you give them somewhere they can leave feedback? Is your real address on the site? Is there positive information about the type of company / people you are? Do you re-invest your money into environmental or community projects? Is your site updated – is there actually anyone there? Trust can be assumed though. For sites like Facebook, where all your friends may be using it, users may be less analytical about it due to an over-riding desire to ‘join in’ or not get ‘left behind’.
• How much do I want the content or functionality? This is a key question. Registration may be free (i.e. no monetary value) but users have to pay with their details. If you content is enticing enough, they will sign up. It’s important to emphasise what users will get by registering, before they register. Let users know how much convenience and value they will get in return for being a member.
• How long am I going to be here? Don’t make the form dauntingly long. There’s nothing worse than users deciding they want to join and then are crapping their pants over the amount of information they have to provide. It’s a website, don’t make it look like a tax form or an exam. Sometimes there really is a certain amount of data you need, so collect it in a nicer way. Visually enrich the form so it’s more engaging and attractive. Add cool functionality to make it more interactive. Add reassuring text where required and add on-demand supplementary information when requested. I also think it’s best to use standard login detail formats so users can re-use their usual login details. This might not be possible, so have a good password retrieval process.

That’s all I can think of right now. I need lunch.