Registering to buy something - Why?

[Bud]

Why do I have to keep having to register with merchants to buy something or even determine the price of something?

If I walk into a shop on the high street I don't have to register with them, going through all my personal details etc before I can buy anything? If they did insist on that I know what I'd do - go elsewhere!

This is actually even worse, as with many merchants as I can't even check the final price of an item without going through all that nonsense. If you happen to run a 'real' store - try this - when a customer asks how much something is tell them that you'll need to; get their credit card details, all their personal information, set-up an account, give them a new password to remember and then you'll tell them. Bet you won't sell much.

So why do online stores insist? One merchant even placed the order on the same click where it gave me the final price! I don't bother anymore.

Whilst I understand the desire to get at least an email address of a potential customer, it shouldn't really be necessary for them to give you this just to determine the price of an item. Again, think how this would work in the high street?

Only answer I can think of - junk mail - Is it really worth it?
You haven't got me as a customer because of this.

[vizzy]

hey Bud,

you seem to be bringing up so many sore points of affiliate marketing and online shopping as a whole in such a short time :)) be careful ;))

yes, it is very painful to register everywhere and certainly you reg.data is something merchants take as an extra bonus for their profits you deliver. I have seen many spam e-mails sent to those non-trivial addresses used only for online shopping.. :(

Google Checkout tries to fix this, so it's more convenient but still far from perfect.

[Bud]

yeah vizzy - sometimes it seems that way!

As I'm now able to devote far more time to the business I can't believe the lack of standards and professionalism at some levels - NOT ALL - THERE ARE SOME STUNNING EXAMPLES OF GREAT WORK/IDEAS! That's why I love AM.

Before I get grief from anyone, I'm only trying to understand things and point out where I think problems lie - please correct me if I'm wrong at any point. I'm friendly really!

My background before AM was highly professional and some of the things I see make me cringe...

I'm really not trying to stir things up, that's not my nature, I'm just trying to help and expand my knowledge.

[ian-d]

Hate registering too, and tend to avoid where i can, just more places to store my details.

For the record, all my merchant businesses can checkout without registration, with a couple giving the option of registering if you like, but not a requirement. Must better way of working i feel.

[Bud]

That's great Ian.

Having the option to register is fine and indeed the opportunity shouldn't be missed!

[deadgoodundies]

We make it compulsory for people to create an account before they pay (not before they see final prices i might add)

Reasons for this are

1. So that we can assign loyalty points to them
2. So that we can track discount coupon usuage per person for limited coupons
3. 95% of our customers come back so it makes it easier for them rather than enter all their details again

We've only had one person ever complain in 5 years of trading and when we told him the facts he agreed it was a good idea.

[Indigo]

What annoys me the most is when online traders are not upfront about their delivery chargers, i.e you have to put it in your basket and add your card details before it will even tell you the delivery costs, 99/100 I won't even bother to find out if they don't state.

[3wdl]

Agree completely. Posted about this a few days ago whilst doing some xmas shopping!

Why do retailers still make life hard for customers? | Affiliate Marketing Blog by James Little

[fizzbird]

What annoys me the most is when online traders are not upfront about their delivery chargers, i.e you have to put it in your basket and add your card details before it will even tell you the delivery costs, 99/100 I won't even bother to find out if they don't state.

I agree. If they are so cagey about their delivery charge I just assume it's going to be expensive.
I've always been of the belief that people resent paying for delivery and a company that promotes free shipping will always do better than a comparative company that doesn't. Even though the one that charges delivery might be cheaper overall?

[Indigo]

I agree. If they are so cagey about their delivery charge I just assume it's going to be expensive.

Exactly, although I was surprised once when it didn't state delivery charges (think it was the Grundig Website) and it turned out to be free delivery, poor marketing from their point of view as they should have flagged it up on the front page.

[sgpratley]

We've only had one person ever complain in 5 years of trading

You honestly think that someone who would give up on your checkout because they had to register would then take the effort to complain?

[ian-d]

We found through research that quite a significant amount of customers will leave a site because they 'cant be bothered with registering', even though you are ultimately entering the same details, thats why we have given the option of both. That said, our sites are geared around one time customers selling big products, where as for example sites like play and svp i'd used more often and therefore wouldn't mind registering.

[sgpratley]

I can see Justhom's point about using the registration data to control discounts etc, but those don't appeal to everyone. I've seen uplifts of between 10-25% on sites that stop making this compulsory.

It's not just shopping sites either. Maz Darvish at IBG was talking about similar numbers on travel sites at A4UExpo.

[deadgoodundies]

You honestly think that someone who would give up on your checkout because they had to register would then take the effort to complain?

Yup I would , well i would expect more than one person.
Generally our customer base are not ones to shy away from making complaints at the drop of a hat.

[deadgoodundies]

Going on the comments above, why excatly is it such a problem for people to register their details???

The merchant needs your name and address and possibly telephone number and email address (so that they can contact you in case there is a problem with the order) so the only other two bits of information would be a login and password for your account (less than 2 second extra time for the customer).

Ok so there is the argument that they don't want their details "kept" but you walk into any store and use a credit card and your spending habits are recorded (go into somewhere like TKMAX and they ask you your postcode) someones name and address can be looked up in a phone book. So it's not exactly any more or less safer than registering your details with a website.

So is it a real problem or just basically paranoia