Imagine being led to an app, or a signup form on a website, that asks for so many details that even you can tell that majority are irrelevant. Sometimes it even frustrates the user which would lead to bounce rates as word spreads fast. You can’t force the details out of users now can you? But there’s something that you can do about it from your end – perhaps remove the unnecessary ones from the list and make the overall process simple for user.
User signup journey is an important part of the overall web design. Since it is the first instance where users are onto becoming our customers and are providing information accordingly, therefore, it better be good. If you make it a pain for the user, the transition from a mere visitor to becoming a customer will be a lost cause.
Making this first user experience can be really tricky because there are so many aspects that need to be taken into account. Not everyone can do that, yet there are some who manage to see onboarding holistically as part of the web design and development and hence they are successful in creating an experience that is smooth. Sometimes it’s their brains and other times it’s a top-notch web design Toronto company that they must have hired for themselves. So what are those factors that makes the signup journey so easy and user-friendly? Take a look.
Do you need their email?
So one thing is for sure, you don’t need to ask the users everything during the signup process. Apps like Slack and Hay Day require basic information in order to access them. But do all the apps require an email? Nope. But when those that does require an email verification, they take it seriously to the extent that they may block user access at a point if verification isn’t completed.
Think of an app that asks you to create an account by providing an email and password. Next, you are to validate the email that you’ve mentioned. What follows afterwards is even more annoying. On clicking the link in that email sent by app for the account activation, you’re taken to a page that asks you to create a new password. Can you think of various apps doing that to you? I thought so. This makes it clear that at least think about it, do you really need that email and verification and all that only makes for a bad user onboarding journey? Thinking now would save you a lot of customers!
Is setting up a profile necessary?
So user profiles are important to access the apps, fine, but does every app make it as cheerful and easy? The answer is plain ‘No’. To start with, being asked for a phone number could sometimes turn away the user for any company barely ever calls, given the fact that they could always get in touch digitally. So why put that option in profile creation? What a waste of time and that visitor you can lose!
However, there are apps and websites that would ask for your phone number. Banks, online dating sites and several other are examples of those that require a lot of detail from the users in order to gain access. But then these make sense, right? And because they make sense to the users as well, they would fill it out correctly. Give them something that is obviously wasting their precious time and you have successfully turned them away.
Do you have a walk through?
While this is just an advice but it works quite well. Giving a short walk through could help, especially in the matter of a complicated product, or when there are so many details required. Sometimes the users are impatient and then a complex product is already an obstacle, so a well-thought walk through could help you in taming such users. Then there are those users who may hesitate in interacting directly. Help them out by posting FAQs.
There is another way to further this question, just to be clear: Are you informing them of the next steps? Take an example of university admission forms. There are tons and tons of pages to filled. Best strategy is to break them into pages, obviously, but too many pages without any guideline could tire the user. If you could place a small map where the last field of each form ends, kind of like “You are Here”, that would be great. Adding page numbers (For e.g. Page 1 of 8) are also a good idea. This way you are helping them to keep a check on their activity.
Remember, users today are a lot smarter than they ever were. They are aware of how most things work and if not, Google is the answer to all their problems. Not to forget that you have competition racing against you. One mistake and your competitor will steal away your to-be customer. So, watch out for those user onboarding questions, think about them and answer them in accordance with the nature of your business to make your user signup journey easy!