"I don't want to develop a relationship with these guys. I just want to buy something." That's what some of your customers are saying when you ask them to register or sign in, and some of them will walk away with their dollars if you frustrate them enough. UIE rounds up the most common mistakes they observe from watching users in testing sessions try to sign in to user accounts.

There are many great business advantages to having users create an account and log into the system. You know who is using your system, how often they visit, and what they do on the site. You can store information they might need later, such as their order history and their billing info for future purchases. And, you can offer them content and services reserved for only your best clientele.

Yet, in usability test after usability test, we see the registration and sign-in processes to be consistently problematic. It's the most common thing that scares users away from shopping on e-commerce sites. It generates the most calls to the customer-support call center

Here's the list of mistakes.

  1. Having a Sign-in In The First Place
  2. Requiring Sign-in Too Soon
  3. Not Stating the Benefits to Registering
  4. Hiding the Sign-In Button
  5. Not Making "Create New Account" or "Forgot Your Password" a Button or Link
  6. Not Providing Sign-in Opportunities at Key Locations
  7. Asking for Too Much Information When Registering
  8. Not Telling Users How You'll Use Their Information

Read the full article for scenarios illustrating these mistakes, and the better practices some companies employ to avoid them.

 

http://www.uie.com/articles/sign_in_process_reprint/