The $300 million button
One retailer stopped forcing shoppers to register before paying, and the number of buyers jumped 45%.
Your customer is literally trying to give you money. You respond with: “Create an account first.” Bold strategy.
Jared Spool tells the story of a major e-commerce site whose checkout opened with a login form: log in or register. In usability tests, first-time buyers resented registering. One told the researchers, “I’m not here to enter into a relationship. I just want to buy something.” Repeat buyers fared no better, because they couldn’t remember which email or password they’d used. A database check later found 45% of all customers had multiple registrations, and about 160,000 people a day requested a password; 75% of them never tried to finish the purchase. The fix: designers replaced the Register button with Continue, plus a note that no account was needed. Buyers went up 45%, adding $15 million the first month and $300 million in the first year.
For SaaS, the same wall shows up as forced signup before a demo, a free tool or even pricing. Let people get the thing first, then offer an account when there’s something worth saving.
The example
- Instead of
- “Want to try our free invoice generator? Create an account first.”
- Try
- “Make your invoice now. Want to save it for later? Add your email at the end.”
Before you flush
Click through your product as a stranger, note every spot that demands an account before giving value, and move one signup later.