Comments on: Should You Require Registration for Web Content?

By: Mac McIntosh

Mac McIntosh — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:54:24 +0000

Howard,
You are spot on with your recommenations.

Requiring registration does reduce the number of people who take an action, but if your objective is to generate leads, registration is essential. The trick is to only ask enough of the right questions to avoid more prospects bailing out during registration.

- Mac McIntosh

By: Rick

Rick — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:41:42 +0000

That would be a good test. Thanks.

By: Howard Sewell

Howard Sewell — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:10:11 +0000

Rick, I don’t know the precise answer to your question, but here’s another, possibly related data point: when we’ve tested requiring (at the client’s insistence) mailing address as part of contact information (name, title, company, e-mail, phone), it decreases conversion rate by 50 percent (that is, doubles abandon rate.) So based on that, if you were to require address AND 3-4 qualifying questions, your abandon rate would be even higher. This sort of issue is the ideal application for A/B landing page testing.

By: Rick

Rick — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:52:06 +0000

What’s the expected white paper registration page abandon rate where name, address, job title and a 3 or 4 check-off type business qualifying questions are asked? I’ve seen references to 90% — is that the conventional expectation in the industry?

By: Gerold Braun

Gerold Braun — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:56:00 +0000

Beneath the minimum data (you are absolutely right with it), one can ask a qualifing question which can be skipped of course. I’ve done it on a registration form for several months now and of the 15-20 registrations a month almost everyone answers the question. It’s a multiple choice question under the headline: Quick, tell me where you stand.
1: There is fire on the roof
2: We have acknowledged a problem ..
3: I’m just taking first steps / exploring
4: ..
5: ..

Those who mark 1 or 2 are defenitely sales qualified