Do you ask visitors to register?
Our website owners and prospects often ask if they should use a "guest book" where visitors must register before they gain access to websites. Our recommendation has always been that they not do that. The reason? It will drive visitors away.Think about it. Internet people want their anonymity. By asking them to register, they lose that.
RIS Media reported that a recent survey by Entrepreneur magazine verified that. They found that over 70% of consumers say they are unlikely to purchase from or return to a site after encountering a registration pages that block access to promised content.
There is another side to this argument that should be mentioned. Many still believe that a registration page is valid because:
- a website is not where visitors will actually transact business, but only come for information
- information is a commodity and there is no implied loyalty on the part of the visitor, therefore once they leave they may never return anyway
- some information, particularly resulting from property searches, are important to the visitor therefore they should "have" to identify themselves and may be willing to do so for this information
- If there few visitors, then it may be better to give them access to the information on the hopes that they will take advantage of one of the "compelling offers" on the site and identify themselves at that time
- If there are many visitors, then it may be well worth the risks to have them register before granting them access to the mounds of valuable information on the site. You will lose some visitors. But the visitors that you do get will be much more serious and more likely to become prospects.
In most cases you should resist the urge to have visitors "register" before entering the site. It may be better to have them "register" before granting them access to the property search capabilities.
posted by Shig Nishio @ 12/12/2005 02:35:00 PM
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