Design theory: Optimize and simplify website user registration process

Like OpenID, Facebook Connect has always been the dream and ambition of the world, but it is too far off. For a Web site that requires a user's registration to be used, how to CheatAttracting more users to register is a life-and-death matter. Even for browsing sites, it is also beneficial to have users register.

In addition to those with the nerds, most people, like you and me, are definitely going over and over and over and over again. Enter the username, password, duplicate password, sign up email, and confirm that the registered message is avoided. So, how to let most people willingly, or unknowingly complete the registration process, obviously has become a topic.

We are here to discuss only those sites that must be registered to use, to see how they optimize or simplify the registration process. For those who do not register can also be normal use of services, not discussed (through the change of strategy, the need to register the service to register, is also a topic, for future discussion).

Currently, there are several major solutions to optimizing/simplifying the registration process:

1. Get on the bus and buy tickets after

Amazon Class E-commerce site is a typical representative, the user checkout when the request to register.

Online image editing site Picnik is also in your image editing completed, want to save, prompts you: Must register first.

The so-called first car, after the ticket. First let the user with a good after the request, reluctant to undo the users, inevitable doomed.

2, God does not know, unnoticed

The home page of the genealogy website Geni a family tree directly, on the left is "your father", on the right is "your Mother", and then they come down with you--name, gender are empty you, forcing you all kinds of preface, silently the personal information confessed out.

Such a site does not simplify any process and must be registered before it can be used. But through the ingenious design, lets the user hang leisurely then completes the registration.

3, minimalism, and the password to die

A certain fact is that the more empty the user is required to fill out, the greater the chance that the user will give up halfway. Therefore, the registration process is of course the shorter the better. Some services omit duplicate passwords, and some services omit email addresses, but the most extreme cases are: The password is also cut off.

In some situations, we don't care about specific aspects of privacy. In fact, this time, as long as the user name to act as "xx things" mark is enough.

Instapaper is so, it is a "stay to read later" service. Its registration process has only one empty: User name. Instapaper will put you on the page that you chose to read later, all bound to the user name below. Yes, anyone can visit as "you", but who would be interested? If you feel this naked exposure in broad daylight, OK, go to setting to set a password, which is also supported.

4, the registration process is free of

Note: This is not just "support for anonymity".

An example is, use your email to posterous (bigger than Twitter, smaller than blog, call it blog) to send an email, your account is set up, the way to update the posterous is all by sending email--of course, each sender must be the same one.

Before, the chirp (its domain name why or. de end, why?) A similar idea was taken at some of the meetings: the phone sent a message to the crow, and your phone number became your username.

The Travel planning website TripIt is another good example. Take all the information about the trip, hotel/ticket/attractions, a brain sent to tripit by email, it is all collected, and then through semantic analysis for you to generate a magnificent travel reference books.

This move to minimalism to the extreme: the registration process is free, directly to start using it, used once is equivalent to registration.

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In the registration process this point, you are really lazy people have zen, the more lazy the more zen.

Friends, do you have any good examples? Come on, share.