If you are in the online business primarily for the revenue then you will need to place your focus on how to charge those customers. Bottom line, you need a signup page. However, depending on how its built it can send many different messages to users considering purchasing your product or services. Keep in mind that a signup page holds a direct influence on conversions (people giving you credit card details and hitting the submit button) so for this reason you might want to stick to the following when it comes to creating a flawless signup page:
1. Help the client, for god sakes!
Make it easy for the client, don’t go creating hurdles everywhere. I have seen many signups do this. Don't try to impress your users with a highly elaborated page, this isn’t the place to do so, it’s the place to collect.
Avoid redirections to other pages and cut down on steps. Position credit card fields closer to the top. Always use prefilled forms in the credit card expiration fields to avoid human error. Implement a hard coding message filter to avoid sending transactions with errors; this will only increase your decline rate. For example, if a user types 15 digits on credit card field and he is using a VISA, send him a message when he is typing, if your programming team can do this. If not, make sure to have filters placed before sending the transaction to the processor. Remember that a user would like to know as much info as he can when he is not able to make the purchase at your site. Also, try to have as many different options for the user to pay: Visa, Master Card, American Express are the standard but you might want to do some extra research depending on the country or area you are targeting, setup ACH (direct debit to their bank accounts), allow them to wire money, pay by cheque, payment by phone or if possible, payments via cell phone. This could help you convert those users looking for the latest technologic breakthroughs. But please, keep in mind that by setting up as many payment options as you can, you are setting a strong business image of your site.
2. Make it crystal clear.
I have seen many signups where it is not explained clearly to the user what he is actually purchasing. If it’s a product be as precise as you can with measures, titles, etc. If you are selling a membership you might want to include a link to the terms and conditions chapter explaining more in detail what does each membership package stands for. Always ensure that it opens in small tab so the eyes stay focused on the signup page. Make sure to tell the user who will be billing him. For this, make sure to test and confirm the actual billing descriptor of your site. You can do this by using your personal or a friend’s credit card. This will avoid making users angry or unnecessary calls to your customer service department because the user has no clue who is billing them.
3. Be Reliable and Trustworthy.
Of course, have an SSL certificate in your signup page. However, don’t use a cheap service for this. If you can afford it, become a verified merchant by VeriSign especially if you are selling lots of products. Have the name of your company and telephone numbers in place for any questions or create a FAQ page especially for the signup (again, always opening in small tab so their eyes stay in the signup). For more info on SSL's: http://www.verisign.com/ssl/
4. Analyze your data and monitor.
Once you have finally tested the signup page, integrated all the payment options and are finally ready to make it live you need to collect stats on the signup. Collect the date and email of every signup, analyze the declines results. Grouped them by country, sex, date, province, etc. By doing this, you can analyze buyer’s habits and trends for example; what are the best times to purchase? Why they aren’t purchasing in the morning? And finally, monitor the signup page. You can find out more about these services following on twitter @pingdom
Or visit http://www.pingdom.com
And finally, even though this is not included in the main points, it’s very important to avoid having menu options present in the signup. Make sure to focus the user’s attention on the purchase.
I hope you make the most out of this info…
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