The internet is full of UI solutions that we have inherited from the past, but are still applied because “everybody else does it that way”. It’s time to reconsider, especially when it comes to registration forms!
The key thing to remember when it comes to designing registration forms is to remember that they are for the user and the smoother the process of completing the form the more your websites users will appreciate it and in turn it will help to reinforce your brand’s image.
Here are some tips to get the most out of your registration forms:
Don’t make the user fill out the same fields more than once
How annoying is it when you are filling out information on a form that you have already done on a previous step?! Nobody likes to waste time repeatedly filling in the same information, so if you can try not to repeat duplicate fields or at the very least keep them to a minimum.
Always highlight the required fields
From a UX view it’s better to have no optional field, if a piece of information is not required you shouldn’t waste the users’ time by putting the field on the form. However UX and the business world don’t always go hand in hand, it’s often crucial for business to “collect” extra customer data for marketing purposes.
From a UX view it’s better to have no optional field, if a piece of information is not required you shouldn’t waste the users’ time by putting the field on the form. However UX and the business world don’t always go hand in hand, it’s often crucial for business to “collect” extra customer data for marketing purposes.
Don’t make users confirm via email before using the service you offer
A lot of websites require users to confirm an account via an email after completing a registration form and before they can view a particular service or content.
Why does making a user confirm their account matter? It’s not as if it’s contributing in any way whatsoever to the service and content you are going to offer once they have confirmed via email. Would it not make more sense to let the user look around the website upon registration? If some features of your site require an email confirmation, hide that content and replace with a simple message telling the user to confirm their email.
It’s better to provide a limited service than no service.
Requiring a user to confirm an email results in them leaving your website, which might result in them not returning to your site.
Try and provide guidance without coming across as being too pushy
How many times have you seen on registration forms statements like this: “Your password must be longer than 6 characters, contain a capital letter, number and symbol”. This kind of statement isn’t that helpful to the user and it can sometime be a bit of a pain in the proverbial to come up with a password that matches all of the required criteria. Instead try and make use of placeholders like the below. This provides users with an example to follow.