Sales vs user registration

Which would you rather - sales, visitor data or neither?

Marketeers love data, so there is an instinct to collect as much as possible, but if this is at the expense of sales then that's probably a bad idea.

Some ecommerce sites require the visitor to login before they can get to buy or book. Have you been faced with this yourself? Did you continue? Somewhere between 10% and 30% of people go elsewhere at this point.

Standing it on its head: how much effort would you put into getting an extra 10-30% of sales? Yet through a login wall you may be throwing this away.

User registration tips

ask for registration information as late as possible - once they have made the decision to buy, registration formalities will be easier for them to handle
offer guest registration for the one-time purchaser - sad to say, they won't be coming back any time soon
ensure prices with attendant shipping and taxation are clearly laid out
give the visitor a registration-free wishlist - even the anonymous data of what's in these wishlists could be useful to you

The first principle of web marketing

Don't annoy your users!