17.11.2009Don’t make me register for checkout by Rob Smith
Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes
It’s one of the most common mistakes made by ecommerce builds and systems the world over. Forcing people to register for an account to buy.
“But we need to get their information to market to them!”
You’ll get it anyway with an order
“But how will we link up repeat purchases without an account registration”
If they don’t purchase to begin with, then there will be no repeats!
If you’ve done everything right on your ecommerce site – great copy, engaging media (images and video) and have a good price point, then the checkout is the all important last step. The checkout is that point where the customer has now decided and just needs to complete the transaction. It’s the boring part, the part that should go as fast as possible with as little barriers as possible because you have already done all the hard work!
I’m not saying that account information isn’t important for a good view of the customer, of course it is, but you, as the retailer, need to give choice.
Our Laura Ashley site, I believe, does this well. There are three choices. Login, register or just checkout. Registration includes the form they need to fill in, with the reasons to do so. So they know how much they need to fill in and why. Not just an obscure ‘Register’ link with no idea what to expect.
There is always a balance. Business needs are important, they can’t just be discounted for best practice. Compromise is the way forwards. Think like your customer first, and your business second.
So, please, help your customers out. Give them choice and make it easy.
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I disagree purely on the grounds that a checkout only option would result in me spending far more money online. Which I believe proves your point.
I’ll get me coat……
November 17th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Are there any disadvantages of having a just checkout option?
December 22nd, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Hi Luke – thanks for contributing. Yes if people just checkout, it’s harder to link up customer behaviour over a period of time. However on websites where they are likely to make repeat purchases (Amazon for example) there’s a high probability they may register anyway for advantages that you show, such as order tracking/easy repeat orders etc.
I can’t think of another disadvantage really although am open to suggestion.
Another way we’ve done it for a different site is to add just username and password fields into the ordering process, so they register easily while checking out – can work well too.
December 22nd, 2009 at 8:35 pm