Getting Customers to Singup
Between 2019 and 2021 I launched Aztro Marketplace, a platform dedicated to helping design-driven brands from around the world connect with retailers and interior decorators in the United States. Having three different types of customers gathered into one platform made us have to have adaptive elements that will address different user needs, the sigh up form was one of them.
Metrics-driven Design
When creating a sign-up form, there were several important metrics we considered. These metrics help us ensure that the form is user-friendly, effective, and provides valuable information to the organization. Here are some of the most important metrics we tracked.
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Conversion Rate: Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete the sign-up form compared to the total number of visitors who see the form.
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Completion Time: Completion time measures the average amount of time it takes for a user to complete the sign-up form. If the completion time is too long, users may abandon the form and not complete the sign-up process.
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Error Rate: The error rate measures the number of errors users encounter while completing the sign-up form.
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Abandonment Rate: The abandonment rate is the percentage of users who start the sign-up process but do not complete it.
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User Feedback: User feedback is a qualitative metric that provides insights into user satisfaction with the sign-up form.
Below, we present the metrics we obtained from our second version of the form. Our single form captured traffic from three of our landing pages, which resulted in considerable traffic compared to other areas. However, upon analyzing these numbers, we realized that our form concern required immediate attention. Thus, we got to work on addressing these issues
Signup V1
Our first mistake was related to the layout of the sign-up form. We created a modal that required users to scroll down to fill out the form. Our data revealed that users who were directed from our landing pages to the sign-up form quickly dropped off within seconds of accessing it. Having all the questions included in one large form proved to be overwhelming for users, causing them to abandon the process. Considering that these were the final critical steps in our customer acquisition funnel, it was unacceptable to lose potential customers at this stage.
To address this problem, we employed a reverse engineering approach. We had been utilizing Hubspot, a CRM platform, for our email marketing campaigns, which allowed us to track which prospective customers had shown the most engagement with our newsletters and had successfully clicked our call-to-action to learn more. Based on this data, we made an informed assumption that customers who had opened our newsletters multiple times were interested in signing up but were discouraged by our tedious sign-up form.
To gather concrete feedback, we reached out to these customers directly, and their responses were eye-opening. They stated that the form felt like a government document was too lengthy, and questioned why we had used pink color.
Improvements
Improvements we made:
- Divide the form into meaningful sections
- Provide a progress prompt to users to know what they are getting into
- Improve color scheme
Singup Form V2
Armed with the feedback we got from customers, we quickly took action and made the necessary changes to the form. We moved away from a single-page format and adopted a four-step form, which was broken down into key-grouped questions that focused on the user’s business information, location, products, and connectivity. Despite these changes, our conversion rates continued to remain lower than expected. Even with roughly 200 daily visitors and 1000 visitors from our newsletter campaigns, our sign-up rate was still not satisfactory.
Following a conversation with one of our startup advisors, we came to the realization that we had become too focused on gathering customer data and had lost sight of the overall customer experience. Our advisor pointed out that we had done an excellent job of generating excitement for our service through our visually appealing newsletters and landing pages. However, the sign-up form experience felt like a letdown in comparison.
Taking this advice to heart, we revisited our sign-up form with a renewed focus on the overall customer experience.
Improvements
Improvements we made:
- Removed questions that we could have collected later on to streamline the process.
- Enhanced the questions with visually appealing elements to maintain customer excitement.
- Added a progress tracker to inform customers of how much more they need to complete before signing up.
- Added a social login to help customers prefill information with their most used applications.
Signup Form V3
Breaking away from the pop-up form and creating a dedicated sign-up page was a significant step in improving our overall customer experience. By doing this, we were able to provide customers with a more spacious and visually appealing environment to provide the necessary information. We also made use of the space to incorporate rich visuals from our brand, which allowed us to reinforce our brand messaging and create a more engaging experience for our customers.
Furthermore, this change also allowed us to track data for each step of the sign-up process separately. This gave us the opportunity to analyze and refine each step of the process over time, leading to further improvements in our conversion rates.
We also made a shift in our approach to the sign-up process. Rather than seeing it as just a means of collecting customer data, we now view it as a step-by-step journey that our customers undertake when signing up for our service. This shift in perspective has enabled us to focus on creating an enjoyable and seamless experience for our customers, from start to finish.
Final Metrics
Take Aways
Creating a successful sign-up form is indeed a continuous process that requires a focus on the user experience and continuous improvement. By making use of metrics and customer feedback, we were able to refine our sign-up form and achieve stable conversion.
We learned that dividing the form into meaningful sections and providing progress prompts can help to make the process more manageable and less daunting for users. Additionally, we improved the color scheme, making use of colors that are visually appealing and communicate our brand message effectively.
Removing unnecessary questions was another critical step in improving our sign-up form. This allowed us to focus on gathering only the information that is essential to providing our service, reducing the amount of time and effort required from the user.
By adding visually appealing elements, we were able to make the form more engaging and enjoyable for users, which had a significant impact on conversion rates. And finally, creating a dedicated page for the sign-up form allowed us to provide users with a more spacious and visually appealing environment to provide the necessary information, further improving the user experience.