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.