First appearance of form
Identified as new user
Password verified
Registered, positive motivation!
Account activated, lets get to work!
Recently I had the pleasure of registering for a new online wireframing tool called Mockingbird. Professional interest made me want to test the tool out, but like many tools out there these days, if you register for free you can make use of a significant amount of extra functionalities.
The registration process, to be honest, really made me feel good and happy. The process was to the point, intuitive and simpel. The first step was to click on the register button after which a small popup appeared. No difficult choices needed to be made, just fill in my email address and password. Since the title of the popup clearly stated “Login or Register” it was clear to me that as a new user I would not have a password yet and that I could either be in the Login or Registration process. It let me know that I was still in the right place. I started to fill in my email address where, upon completion, the login form welcomed me a new user! By checking to see if my email address appeared in their database they were able to make the distinction between a new or returning user.
Having been identified as a new user, a third field appeared in which I could verify my given password. It does not get any simpler than this. A quick click on Register and I am greeted with a pleasant ‘Welcome!’. In the welcome text that followed upon registering, Mockingbird tells me that I still need to activate my account, but empowers this action with the benefits of what I can do after I have activated my account, namely starting and aving wireframing projects. A positive affirmation of my need/want to register for Mockingbird’s services.
Form creation does not have to be difficult. Stick with the fundamentals and set priorities, what is the most important thing you want a visitor to do? For Mockingbird it is for visitors to sign up and test their service. They made a concious choice between which basic user information they needed to fulfill this need (email address and password) compared to extra information you want from the user to better identify them as an inidividual (profession, position, age, education etc.).
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