28 Jun Sign-Up Forms – Just became uncomplicated :)
You arrive eager to dive in and start engaging and what’s the first thing that greets you? A Form.
You are required to give us your email address, input not one, but two passwords, tell us your name, another username, your location, verify this captcha strange word, agree to our terms of service, and finally, you will get what’s behind the form.
For all we know, there is no bigger turn-off than a complicated, inaccessible form when you have devoted enough time to be interested in a product or service. We can do better.
At the start, remember, each site has its own purpose and needs when it comes to forms, so before incorporating these new ideas, keep your audience and site genre, in mind. Nevertheless, every-sign up form is meant to get users to complete it successfully and sent it the faster way.
Sign-Up Forms – What to Consider
A form can be an anything from a sign-up form, to a login form, to a contact form, and more. But the underlying logic is to make sure that these forms are convenient and easy to use, and of course keep the interest of your customers intact.
Here are a few non-conventional and innovative techniques which will help you make your forms simpler and more efficient to use –
Ask for a username after users sign up
Through the process of gradual engagement, without an explicit registration form, you can fork the information required from your visitors. Instead of hassling them with coming up with a unique username that can often take time of trial and error in the signup process, consider asking for it afterwards.
The fewer fields your visitors have to fill out, the more of them will actually complete the submission process. This way you won’t lose sign ups from frustrated users. You’ll also prevent users from creating random and forgettable usernames, just so it passes the form requirements.
Auto-fill with Context and Assistance
If your form needs the user’s personal address, city, state, or country name, it can be made more usable through the use of context and field assistance. Consider auto-filling the city and state-fields based on the user’s ZIP code. This approach is better than choosing from a drop down list, as it doesn’t waste user’s time and energy manually selecting their city or state.
Synchronize payment information and shipping information
Most of the time, the payment information and shipping information are the same. If a user is buying a product, it makes sense to let them auto-fill one from the other. This could include introducing a link ‘same as shipping information’, which when clicked would repeat the shipping data in the payment text-fields.
Let users type their passwords only once
Often the password is asked to be typed in two different text-fields, and is masked. Although forms mask passwords for security reasons, it also has its downsides. Users can’t see what they are typing in, which makes it difficult for them to judge where they have made an error. A simpler and more efficient way is to let users see the password they have typed (letting them type only once) and instead mark a checkbox for accuracy. This option would reduce the number of text-fields and decrease the work users have to do to sign up.
Using these simple and innovative techniques will make your forms efficient and un-complicated, so that users can sign up quickly and start enjoying your content.