Why Should I Register on Your Web Site?

I have seen a number of websites that would like to collect details of their visitors, simply asking people to register or sign up on their website. These links are usually text links put across the site. These websites believe that people who see this link will click on the link and register on their site. Let me ask you this if you were to walk into a shop and someone in the shop asked you to fill out a form would you spend the time to fill out the form? Would give away your personal details without knowing why they want it in the first place?

Then ask yourself the same question why would someone who visits your website and sees a register link or a sign up link click on the link and provide you with his or her personal details without knowing why you want it in the first place?

One example of our recent client who came to us with the similar problem. His website had been up for 3 months and was getting over 1500 visitors every day through various advertising campaigns but only 1 – 2 people would end up registering on his website. He was thoroughly frustrated as he was seeing thousands of dollars spent towards advertising the site to drive traffic to the website go waste as not enough people where registering on his website. He had prominently put up the registration link on the top navigation bar throughout the site so that it was clearly visible to every visitor no matter which page they entered the site from (his site has over 750 pages) yet only 1 or 2 people per day would register on his site.

We reviewed his website and realized that there was nowhere he was mentioning the benefits to the visitor for registering on his website. Not on a single page where the link for "Register" mentioned on the site have any information what the user would get by registering on the website or what the site was offering him or her in return for registering on the site. Although the placement of the link was correct on the site the question was not answered as to why someone should register on the site.

What we did was to a put a banner on every page, which mentioned that anyone who registered on the site would be entitled free invitation for the next show organized by the client. This banner was linked to the registration page and was placed right below the link for registration on the navigation bar on the top. In this way we insured that anyone who saw the link to register on the site also saw the benefit of registering on the site. As an added caution we also linked the banner to the registration page as some visitors have a tendency to click on the banner.

What happened next made the client jump in joy. As soon as the banner was made live throughout his website the number of registrations on his site jumped by 400%. He was now getting the registrations he wanted.

Which goes to prove that if you answer the question of the visitor "Why should I register on your website?" with a proper message giving the benefit he could derive by doing so, you are sure that the user would register. Coming back to the example of a shop where you walked in and someone came up to you and asked you fill up a form so that you can be entered into a contest to win a brand new car, would you fill up the form?

As with the registration link one must also take care for other links on the site and make sure that it tells the visitor what he or she can expect from clicking on that link and what he or she is going to get. The visitor always wants to know what to expect and feels comfortable knowing this and can therefore gradually navigate through your website.

Another important point to mention on registration pages is to inform the user that you shall not be giving out their personal details to any other website (as long as you really not giving out the same to your partner companies). Like you and me every visitor hates spam and would not like to receive the same. Hence it goes a long way if you reassure the user that his or her details will not be shared with any other partner sites and that he or she will only receive information that you would be sending him or her about your company.

Resources

Marketing Software

ViewletBundle (ViewletBuilder Pro and ViewletCam)

Net Prospector Professional 

OfficeReady Professional 3.0 - 25 User License

MULTI USER PKG-DEVELOPING A MARKETING PLAN:SCANS 2000

Dynamic MailCommunicator (Pro)

EmailUnlimited 6.0 Professional Edition 

 

Marketing Hardware

MAGICARD AVALON 100 ID CARD PRINTER BY ULTRA ELECTRONICS

Books

Marketing Basics

Rand McNally 2006 Commercial Atlas & Marketing Guide

Consumer Atlas & Marketing Guide 2005

International Marketing Forecasts: 2005 / 2006

European Marketing & Data Statistics 2006 

International Marketing Forecasts: 2004/2005

European Marketing Information Sourcebook

Latin American Marketing Information Sourcebook

China Marketing Data and Statistics

 

Industry Directories  

World Directory of Marketing Information Sources

World Cosmetics & Toiletries Marketing Directory 2005

World Food Marketing Directory

World Drinks Marketing Directory 

Pharmaceutical Marketing: A Practical Guide  

Direct Marketing Market Place 2007: The Networking Source of the Direct Marketing Industry

 

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