One thing is for sure, ecommerce store owners want their users to buy their products. They will go to great lengths to find ways in which people can be convinced that a certain product is the one that will change their life for the better. This might include altering the product, changing an advertising campaign, re-designing their website and fiddling around with their pricing. But one thing many ecommerce sites are unwilling to change is their registration process.
There is no denying that having users register is a very helpful and valuable thing. For a user, registering usually means that they only have to put their details in once, they may be able to order other products more easily when they come back, be offered a discount for registering and more depending on the type of ecommerce store it is.
For ecommerce stores registering is of great benefit too. It allows them to get their user’s email addresses in order to include them in direct email marketing campaigns, gets users to commit to the store in some way that will possibly make them more likely to come back and in the case of ‘wish lists’ allows companies to offer customers deals on products they have already admitted they are interested in.
In spite of all these benefits, the fact is most customers are actually afraid of registering or at least so put off that they will immediately leave a site if this is what faces them. By forcing customers to register before they can make a purchase, websites seriously jeopardise many of their sales for something so unnecessary.
So why are they afraid of registering?
- Speed is of the essence online as people want to get in and get out in the fastest time possible. Websites know that the speed at which their pages load can dramatically affect how many people stay on their site. The same goes for ecommerce checkouts. People just don’t have time to register.
- With email and social networks and your online phone bill etc all needing to have a login and password, people just don’t want to have to create yet another login and password to remember. It is always easier to exit and find a shop that doesn’t require login.
- Also, as people offer more and more of their information up to the internet realms, they are becoming not more relaxed, but instead more wary of the security of their information. This means that you have to be incredibly good at convincing users of your security credentials as well as your business credibility and even payment service provider to get them to give you their details. Especially if you are asking to save their card details for speedy purchases and payment processing.
While you can try and be very convincing, at the end of the day there is no substitute for allowing your users to purchase without registering. This is the only sure-fire way of not putting them off just at the moment when you want them to hit that ‘Buy Now’ button. In fact a good compromise is to offer registration as an option after they have purchased.
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Tags: Ecommerce, online shopping
