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simon walker
simon walker 27 September 2017

10 Tips to Create a User-Friendly Website Registration & Checkout Form

Registering on an online form is quite the same as standing at the end of a line and waiting for your turn to come. They are bland text centric lag factories that force the user to abandon the page one way or the other. But since this process is an essential part of user registration on websites, it simply cannot be eliminated.

It also helps further connect with other operational and strategic factors associated with conversions and sales of the online store.

Why Registration Forms Are Important to Your Online Store?

Forms matter to your website as much as a pedal matter to a car. Even if you have the engine working, without the application of the pedal the car wont move. According to the latest statistics, nearly 88% of visitors consciously leave registration forms or fill irrelevant information due to the fast-evolving user trends. There are various reasons associated with this sudden rise in number, mainly because of slow loading speeds, bad UI, lengthy and unnecessary registration fields, text centric content and lack of directions. All this sums up to spell disaster for your conversions and revenues.

Since the entire ecommerce industry thrives on registration forms, ignoring them is like plunging an axe to your own leg. If you own an online store, you eventually will have to come into terms with UX oriented registration fields. There are certain easy ways a website can overcome its shortcomings and shrug off the rust and dirt of old age design. But to move into a more user-friendly experience where everything is mapped and placed to satisfy the user, you need to consider these 10 essential tips that will reform your website registration forms and put a welcome rug on your doorsteps.

1. Give a Warm Welcome On Your Registration Pages                                      

First off, you need to make sure that your visitor feels valued when they land on your registration pages. Starting blunt with form fields without greeting or explaining what the page is about will work as a conversion repellent instead. The modern user expects much more than that from a website asking personal information from them. To make sure your customer appreciates the experience, add a welcoming note on the top of the page accompanied by a brief description that tells why the customer should register to your website.

2. Show Hierarchy and Relevance On Your Registration Pages

Attributes such as shipping address, billing address, contact information and credit card information are the nightmare of ecommerce websites. Sites that deal with bigger variety of products and handle larger orders needs these essential details from the customers to dispatch their products. Most users will comply with these form fields since they are mandatory for completing the checkout process. However, it will only spell disaster if you make an entire maze of mystery out of them. Showing order is not something to be taken lightly. It not only helps the user in filling out information conveniently in the fields, but also reflects positively on your website. Users are accustomed in filling out information in a systematic flow and introducing a new order of your own will only disturb the balance.

3. Avoid Adding Too Many Fields

Adding fields is not an issue, but abusing them is. In the online world, no one is a fan of form fields and most certainly not when they are used incessantly spammed on registration pages. This is one of the primary reasons behind mid-form abandonment of potential customers.

To remove this discrepancy from your registration and checkout process, use form fields as less as possible. On other cases where data is required for marketing purposes, add fields and make them optional so the user is not compelled to fill them. Remember, making the user comfortable during the registration process is your main objective.

4. Segment the Lengthy Registration Process into Simple Steps

Websites that depend on their checkout pages to register customers don’t get very far in the conversion race. The customer is already frustrated with the countless steps involved to buy the product and making the registration process compulsory on the page will further push the customer to the brink of abandonment. Make your registration/membership stage as optional and instead, show it as pop up when the customer lands on your home page – win-win.

5. Make Your Users Feel and Secure

A user will only share his/her information if they feel safe and secure about the platform. To invite users to your registration pages, it is imperative that you establish trust with them first. To reassure them that their data will remain guarded, exhibit a privacy policy link along with third party verification badges such as VeriSign, the BBB, and TRUSTe, like Zappos. These badges vouch for the credibility and authenticity of the protection and enhance the trust factor.

6. Add Transparency

 If there is one thing the user hates about the ecommerce website’s hidden charges. It is no secret that many online stores use crooked methods to conceal additional charges to facilitate sale. It not only violates transparency ethics of ecommerce, but also kills repeat business for the website.

Show all your charges and deduction policies right off the bat when the customer starts interacting with the fields. Once everything is laid down fair and square, the customer will come appreciate the honesty and come back for repeat business.

7. Don’t Add Overkill Password Security Protocols

Once you have a customers registered to your website, the next goal is to maintain them. Customers are short breathed with very low level of tolerance for operational delays and illogical functionality. Make sure all your form features are up to mark and running with uncompromised speed.

Add Ajax loading to prevent page reloading of the entire page when the customer enters data into the field. Ajax loadings boosts the website speed which helps in customer retention and closing leads. You can also deploy accordion style to conserve space and produce a neat and organized view so the user does not get disoriented.

8. Provide Guest Checkout to Facilitate Customers

Guest checkout option is one of the most user savvy features any ecommerce website can offer. It allows the user to complete the checkout process without the compulsion of registering first. Any online shopper can enter their information in the mandatory fields without going through the entire registration process.

Guest checkout option is ideal for flash customers who are interested in buying a product only once from a website. Even though it is not how you want your leads to close, every sale made can help your website gain more ground in the competition.

9. Use Field Suggestion

You can add this feature from the backend to display an introductory text for users to help them understand the type of content required in the field. It is not uncommon between shoppers to enter wrong type of information in custom fields such as text fields, name, email ID attributes, etc. This not only frustrates the users on another level, but also blocks a potential lead from completion. If you don’t have this feature you can add it by using an extension like order attributes extension for Magento. Using this tool, you can add multiple type of custom fields to collect all the necessary information at once required for a successful order processing.

10. Social Sigh-In Option

Social media is the rising tide of internet with unlimited benefits in ecommerce. While already its common to feature social media buttons and widgets on home pages, it is time that you show them on your registration pages as well. Social authentication or social sign-ins are the perfect solution for users who cannot spare time to register separately or prefer logging-in with social media accounts to avoid creating too many IDs. A recent survey from Marketing Pilgrim has revealed that as much as 77% online shoppers prefer signing in from their social media accounts. While it is a simple and fast means of registration for the user, its also a prevention mechanism for your website against spamming accounts and abandonments.

Conclusion

User experience or UX is among the cardinal factors that influence customers into registering with websites without losing their cool. While many websites seek to increase their registrations and reduce cart abandonments, these 10 tips will prove the best means to secure long term customers for your online store.

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