The right mindset for getting people to sign-up
Written on September 17, 2008 – 8:03 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
“If there is one problem that plagues all web applications, it’s the problem of getting people to sign-up.” If a Web 2.0 Expo NYC seminar is introduced with such a sentence, a blogger should know its place. Maybe he thinks other things are more interesting, like hanging around with start-ups. But when he reads about a problem the whole entrepreneurial part of his readership faces, he knows what to do. Go to the seminar, listen to user interface designer Joshua Porter how to fix it, and write about it on your blog.
It’s not (all) about filling in forms
Porter kicked off with discussing some sign-up forms and shared some lessons on how to improve them. Like explaining why people should fill in specific text-fields and resisting the temptation of gaining info that’s only relevant for advertisers. He also addressed a problem you might recognize: the captcha’s which keep becoming increasingly difficult. Porter: “In a few months, it will be a square box with just colors and you’ll have to make the letters up”.
But then Porter quickly switched to the REAL problem. As it’s not about the simplicity of signing up, because - Porter quoted the inventor of the mouse - “if ease of use were the only requirement, we would all be riding tricycles.”.
Are people motivated enough to care?
The real problem is best explained as a hurdle between “interested” and “signing up”. Porter: “You need to convince people your start-up is worth their time, energy, and change of their behavior”. That requires another way of thinking. Porter addressed an article by John T. Goodville, which states that people tend to overvalue the software they’re currently using, software makers tend to overvalue the software they offer. “Why would I use a better calendar tool if I’m already happy with iCal?”, Porter said. People tend to love stuff they already own more.
Three types of visitors
Therefore, start-ups should adopt another mindset, namely the good old “what’s in it for the customer”. If you want people to sign up, design your page for three different visitor types:
- I know I want to sign-up - You don’t have to convince these visitors anymore, so focus on usability
- I want to make sure this is for me - Offer these visitors a very simple explanation of your tool
- I’m skeptical - Watch out for this one, he or she will need more and deeper information
Strategies to design the perfect sign-up page
Porter continued with elaborating on three strategies that will help you to design the best sign-up page possible.
1. Immediate engagement!
Show visitors the experience before they sign up. Fine examples of this are Geni and Netvibes. Signing up on Geni equals filling in the first branch of your family tree and when visiting Netvibes for the first time, you can immediately start building your start page. Want to save it for later? Sign up please.
2. Provide levels of description
To address the needs of the tree different types of visitors, build a start page that contains different levels of information. Like Freshbooks did on their “almost perfect” welcoming page.
- Short description
- Bam! Sign up instantly
- A somehwat more elaborate description
- Dig in even deeper
3. Leverage social influence
Show your first-time visitors that other people love you. So put up some testimonials and press reviews and, when possible, show a graph of user activity. If it works for other people, the service might also work for themselves.
Basecamp has around 90 testimonials on their site, some of which are depicted on the frontpage. Porter: “After reading the fifteenth testimonial it’s really hard to get away with not being positive about it”.
Jaiku shows a cool graph of their users all around the world. When you visit this page for the first time, you instantly get an idea of how active the community is:
Twitter has a cool way of showing press reviews. They depict them as if they were written as tweets:
Do it Dr. Phil style
The inspiration for Porter’s presentation came from his book Designing for the Social Web. So you might want to buy that if you liked this post.
I hope you like that post!
Do you have a start-up that we should write about? Contact us! Thanks for visiting and hope you come back again!
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The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show of, the future of the Web. (
By Patricia Mayo on Sep 17, 2008
Another really great rule of thumb is if there are a lot of other services like yours (ie Freshbooks has a lot of competition) then it’s best to focus mainly on features since a lot of people will be shopping around and already be familiar with the kind of service they provide.
Of course, that’s applicable on a broad-stroke. Point out what sets you apart from the crowd, if there is a crowd.
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By Witold Rugowski on Sep 17, 2008
I would say, that FreshBooks welcome page is a bit too much. But FreshBooks have very good press on freelance sites (I’m freelancer myself) so maybe they have users mostly from group 1 and 3. For those decided a lot of text is no obstacle, for those who want to know more about service - all is in place.
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By Fresh Rayanne on Sep 18, 2008
Hey Ernst-Jan,
Thanks for using us as an example of how to attract different types of audiences! Speaking to that and to you, Witgold, we do, in fact, have customers from all walks of life. So, we’re really into looking for ways to be a great fit for anyone looking to send invoices or track time. But, it’s hard to be all things to everyone. Don’t I know it! : )
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By Fresh Rayanne on Sep 18, 2008
By the by, the message that appears after readers post a comment says, “Posting comment, please wait a comment.” I’m guessing that’s not what you meant, but I still like it! ; )
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By Bob Boynton on Sep 18, 2008
After learning what the site is supposed to do for me I want to learn how to ‘do it’ before I sign up. The most straightforward way to do that, which is not mentioned, is looking at help/FAQ. Sites should have those available from the ‘front page’ so visitors can figure out if the details will let them do what they want to do.
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he did mention instruction videos, but I didn’t. He praised the Apple videos showing how you should type on an iPhone
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