Lazy Registration
Problem summary
The user wants to immediately use you and try your website without conducting a formal registration beforehand
Example
Usage
- Use when it is critical for your website to let the user browse around and interact with your website before actually registering an account
- Use when giving away the personal information required for a formal account registration is a big step for your users
- Use when you want to allow your users to try out your website (and in turn compare it to alternatives) before making the decision to register an account with your website
- Use when registering an account requires an exchange of money, why the user might want to “browse around” your product first in order to make a decision.
- Use when you don’t want to force your users to register at first – when you don’t want to put too much pressure on your users
- Use to make your users start entering data into your system right away. When they have already invested time in your system, the step to registering an account is smaller than if no time has been invested.
Solution
The light version of this pattern is the shopping cart of an e-commerce site, where the user can accumulate relevant products in a cart and then in turn register an account if he or she chooses to make a purchase.
In the heavier version of this pattern, an anonymous user account is immediately created for the user – full with an auto-generated database ID and a complimenting cookie with the account’s ID that will ensure that the user’s details and the information he or she has entered will be remembered upon the next visit. With appropriate intervals, inactive anonymous accounts are cleared from the database in order to not clutter it up.
As the user interacts with the system, data is accumulated to the account. While some data might not be shown to the user other kinds of data will. It is the latter kind of data that in turn will make the user register – the visible evidence that the user has invested energy into using the system. A smart way to gather such data is to expose holes of data that the user can populate.
Two such holes are the username and password: the two bits of information that will allow the user to log into his account from more than one computer.
Rationale
For this pattern to work, you need to provide the users with an incentive to give you the registration data you are looking for. You need to provide a worthwhile service to your users for them to give you their data back in return. You want to use classic Carrot and stick motivation – and just as important: communicate the benefit you are providing. If the registration data you are looking for with the user is sensitive, you must be able to assure your users that their data will be safe and secure.
Voted negative, for the simple reason that I believe (so no prove what so ever here) users are more likely to just toy around without really getting involved if you don’t demand them to really decide to take part in what ever you have for them. I think having to registrate to be able to do something can be annoying, but at te same time makes you feel more involved, what makes you remember, what makes you come back. I guess…
I completely agree with Jasper. I wouldnt implement a ‘try-before-you-buy’ type of account in any of my web sites. Most of my sites do not require an extensive registration process anyway, so it would be only a minute or so of the users time and that 1 minute may turn away a few potential members, but at the same time it presents those who go through with the process a bit more involvement and that makes them likely to return.
Absolutely positive on this one, I acutally saw very impressive numbers of the effect such a lazy registration can have.
I also voted negative. Account registration pattern describes an extremely easy way to register a user and requires only a few fields to fill, so, I would always force users to register instead of letting them to try.
There is a good and a bad from this type of registration.
Some people will feel cheated if they spent their time on something then prompted with a registration form to save their work. You may get a few more people to register because they have something to loose if they don’t.
On the other hand you will get more people to try out your web site because they can use it without having to create yet another account on another web site.
Check this article at A List Apart: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/signupforms
You guys are voting it down for business reasons. The actual pattern is sound in my opinion. You guys have to remove your bias for judging based on business reasons. This pattern meets the needs of what a “Lazy Registration” should be like!
Voted up!
A positive vote from me! Some services are perfect for this, like the calendar in the example, or any of the to do apps. Allowing the user to begin playing with a new application is an excellent way to pull him/her into the service. Also, what better way to explain the positive points of a service than by letting the user see the features?
I totally agree with JoseFajardo and Lindsey.
Even for business reasons I would you use it. It’s the virtual variant of try-before-you-buy. If the product / service is perfect for your users they will coe back. Not because the filled out some form.