Chalmers Brown — September 22, 2017 — September 22, 2017
SugarandSkullDesigns / Pixabay
How many times have you heard about a new software platform that’s all the rage and you need to check it out? I mean really need to because you don’t want to be left out in the cold.
But, when go to signup, there are a million fields to fill out. I can handle the name, email, and address part. But, why do they really need to know my grandfathers’ middle name or the brand of food that my first dog ate? Okay. Fine. They can have that. But, now I have to deal with a captcha. Ugh. I’m over this.
This is known as a high-friction signup process. And, as you’ve guessed, it’s bad for platforms since it can prevent you from obtaining potential customers, clients, and subscribers. Have you ever watched the bounce rates? As if that wasn’t bad enough, this also decreases the value of your platform for anyone who has previously signed-up.
So if you are to have more conversions and keep new customers happy, here’s what you can do to lower your platform’s signup friction.
Don’t Bury Your Sign-Up Form
First things first, let your perspectives clearly see how easy it is for them to sign-up. This means placing your signup on your homepage. Why? Because if your sign-up form is on another screen page, you’re signaling to that visitor that your platform isn’t something that you want to proudly display. Remember, this is your pride and and joy. Don’t be afraid to show it off to the world.
In short, your sign-up should be the absolute first thing they visitors see.
Make Your Platform’s Signup Form Shorter
Obvious? Sure. But, this is really important, so it deserves special mention.
Analyzing 40,000 contact forms, Dan Zarrella, formerly of HubSpot, found that there was a 50% increase in conversions when the number of fields decreased from 4 to 3.
Expedia conducted their experiment and were able to rake-in an additional $ 12 million in revenue after eliminating a single question from its checkout form.
The main reason why people prefer shorter signups is because they only require a minimal amount of information — especially when it’s with a new and emerging platform that they’re not familiar with.
This means that when designing you signup form, only ask for the information that is essential right now. It will make your potential customers less anxious, which in turn should improve engagement and trust.
Focus on Value to Decrease Platform Signup Friction
Review the data that you’re asking for from a new signup user and then generate that into a list. Once you’ve done that, ask yourself if you didn’t have the following information, could you still deliver a positive experience for them?
If you don’t believe so, then keep your form the same. If yes, then you may want to eliminate that part of the form.
Here’s why this is important.
If you focus on the information that you honestly need, you’ll discover that everything else that you’re asking for is just an added perk. It’s like when you were a kid and got a Happy Meal. You really just wanted that toy. The McNuggets were just a bonus.
In short, if there is information that you can cut, then by all means, cut it. It’s not worth losing a sign-up opportunity because you want to know a second email address in case they change their primary address.
Use the Foot-In-The-Door Technique
As an online shopper, I get how having my email address, location, and even credit card information saved makes life easier. I can place an order quickly and painlessly. It’s awesome.
However, it’s also scary.
That’s why I only prefer to see this information on platforms that I trust and have had positive experiences with in the past.
Don’t expect new users to fork over a wealth of personal information during their initial visit. Instead of requiring a ton of info, ask for this info over time. Start by asking them a couple of less sensitive questions so that they can warm-up to you. As your relationship strengthens, you can ask for more personal info, later.
Oauth2 Signup
Don’t worry if the name doesn’t sound familiar. You probably encounter Oauth2 every day. It’s simply those buttons that allow you to“sign-in with Facebook,” Google, or any other major social network or email provider.
This decreases decision fatigue since it reduces the decision to one question: “Should I connect my other accounts?”
By placing social buttons prominently at the top of your forms for this reason will make visitors sign-up with thinking because they only have to click a button and they’re all set.
Keep in mind that you shouldn’t rely on Oauth2 for your entire sign-up strategy. Believe it or not, there are people who aren’t Facebook or Gmail users. And, not everyone wants to connect all of their accounts together.
But, it’s a promising solution that allows visitors to sign-up for your platform instantly, while not sharing a ton of personal information.
Conclusion
While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when increasing the amount of people to sign up for your platform, keeping it short, concise, and as frictionless as possible is the best place to start.
Additionally, frictionless signup forms not only increase conversions, they’re also less expensive. That’s just good for business all around.
We strategies have you used to make signing-up for a new platform easier?
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