4 ms·

Agree with all your points, but I actually really like the idea of having the signup form only ask for e-mail. Do the confirmation song and dance, and then ask

Agree with all your points, but I actually really like the idea of having the signup form only ask for e-mail. Do the confirmation song and dance, and then ask for the rest of the users details (name, password, etc).

koliber 10y ago
Absolutely! If done right, the workflow you suggest takes a lot of friction out of the registration process. You can do even better! You can just let a user start using your application without even providing an email address. Keep track of the user via a cookie at first. Present them with opportunities to provide an email address (and other info) if they wish to return in the future. Once they do, associate the account with the email address. After that, continue asking for more information on a need-to-know basis.
- nodesocket 10y ago
  > You can do even better! You can just let a user start using your application without even providing an email address. Keep track of a user via a cookie. This is not better from a business 101 perspective. You've just traded the ability to communicate with some of your users without requiring their e-mail.
  - ldjb 10y ago
    It depends on the business/service. In some cases it's a good idea to give the user a taster of what they can do with the service before making them sign up. You know what I do when I come across a service that forces me to sign up before I can see if it's any good? I hit the back button.
    - koliber 10y ago
      You are not the only one! The taster can be in the form of a descriptive home page, landing page, or article. It could also be in the form of a completely friction-less trial that does not ask for any user info. The latter are rare. It's up to the user to decide if they should invest their time in trying out the product based on whatever taster the website offers.
  - duaneb 10y ago
    It works for google.
WorldMaker 10y ago
Or go full passwordless (passworldless.net) and just use email without a password.

koliber 10y ago

Absolutely! If done right, the workflow you suggest takes a lot of friction out of the registration process. You can do even better! You can just let a user start using your application without even providing an email address. Keep track of the user via a cookie at first. Present them with opportunities to provide an email address (and other info) if they wish to return in the future. Once they do, associate the account with the email address. After that, continue asking for more information on a need-to-know basis.

nodesocket 10y ago
> You can do even better! You can just let a user start using your application without even providing an email address. Keep track of a user via a cookie. This is not better from a business 101 perspective. You've just traded the ability to communicate with some of your users without requiring their e-mail.
- ldjb 10y ago
  It depends on the business/service. In some cases it's a good idea to give the user a taster of what they can do with the service before making them sign up. You know what I do when I come across a service that forces me to sign up before I can see if it's any good? I hit the back button.
  - koliber 10y ago
    You are not the only one! The taster can be in the form of a descriptive home page, landing page, or article. It could also be in the form of a completely friction-less trial that does not ask for any user info. The latter are rare. It's up to the user to decide if they should invest their time in trying out the product based on whatever taster the website offers.
- duaneb 10y ago
  It works for google.

WorldMaker 10y ago

Or go full passwordless (passworldless.net) and just use email without a password.