Registration Workflow Question

amy_damnit

This is a question about something I hope to build down-the-road after learning PHP/MySQL and "earning my wings"...

I would like to build an e-commerce site that allows visitors to register for a seminar. The process is uber easy, because there really aren't concepts to deal with, like creating a fancy storefront, browsing a catalog, and adding multiple products to a shopping cart. It is more, register and pay or move along!

So here is my casual question...

Which (high-level) "workflow" would be better for both me and my visitors/customers:

SCENARIO #1:
shop
1.) User selects seminar.

register
2.) System prompts user to create an account (e.g. "register" with the site).
3.) User completes 'New Customer Form'.
4.) System stores registration information.
5.) System sends 'New Account Authentication' e-mail.
6.) User clicks on link to authenticate new customer account.
7.) System receives and processes e-mail.
8.) System finalizes creating New Customer Account.
9.) System e-mails User and verifies that his/her account has been created.

checkout
10.) User returns to site to "checkout".
11.) User logs in to account.
12.) System displays selected seminar and details.
13.) User reviews seminar information.
14.) User enters credit card information and approves payment.
15.) System begins payment processing.
and so on, and so forth...

SCENARIO #2:
all-in-one
1.) User selects seminar.
2.) System displays selected seminar and details.
3.) User reviews seminar information.
4.) System prompts User to create an account (e.g. "register" with the site).
5.) User completes 'New Customer Form'.
6.) User enters credit card information and approves payment.
7.) System creates new Customer Account.
8.) System begins payment processing.
and so on, and so forth...

The vast majority of e-commerce sites require a user to create a user account (i.e. "register") before they can purchase anything, however, I have seen a few sites that do it all in one shot and may even by-pass making you create a user account.

Obviously I would prefer a more formal process.

However, the crux of my question is "What kind of 'workflow' would be most attractive to users and increase my chances of them registering/paying for a seminar??

Note that this is all off the top of my head, and is in no way a formal use-case/work-flow/design plan.

Just something on my mind while I take a study-break from the last chapter of my "PHP 5 Advanced" book... whew :p

Thanks,

Amy

mpb001

2.
Purely as it shows the information for SEO purposes as well. The real battle is getting people to find the site then entice them enough to book a seminar. Google will rank you higher the more information you display about the searched topic. Sometimes when you build a site for someone else they believe 'build it and they will come' like there is a whole hungry hoard of people franticly typing in searches finding nothing.

It might sound negative but there are a few things you can do.
1. register a domain that holds what you believe are the most prominent key words
2. make sure are titles contain the keywords with then the category subcategory appended
3. Make sure all urls follow similar pattern to number 2 with mod rewriting
4. Ensure all copy is written in search engine and human friendly form. Ie use the right terms but in a way it is obvious that it is not spamming. There are some more slightly more black hat techniques I have used before.

Search engines are your friend. Option 1 would defeat number 4 and possibly leave you high and dry.

2 is also the more common one and I don't mind that. Unless I really knew what I wanted and you had it I might leave as I couldn't be bothered to register and couldn't tell you had the answer to all my troubles.

amy_damnit

mpb001;10921780 wrote:
2.
Purely as it shows the information for SEO purposes as well. The real battle is getting people to find the site then entice them enough to book a seminar. Google will rank you higher the more information you display about the searched topic. Sometimes when you build a site for someone else they believe 'build it and they will come' like there is a whole hungry hoard of people franticly typing in searches finding nothing.

It might sound negative but there are a few things you can do.
1. register a domain that holds what you believe are the most prominent key words
2. make sure are titles contain the keywords with then the category subcategory appended
3. Make sure all urls follow similar pattern to number 2 with mod rewriting
4. Ensure all copy is written in search engine and human friendly form. Ie use the right terms but in a way it is obvious that it is not spamming. There are some more slightly more black hat techniques I have used before.

Thanks for the response. Now, not to start a religious battle, but I'm going to shoot down - no "table" 🙂 - your advice here for a few reasons...

1.) My (potential) business model is 180 degrees out-of-phase from this entire approach.

2.) Even if it was all about where I came up in Google (i.e. SEO), I would have lots of "content" for SEO's regardless of the payment process. So coming up on top would not be a function of the registration/payment process.

2 is also the more common one and I don't mind that. Unless I really knew what I wanted and you had it I might leave as I couldn't be bothered to register and couldn't tell you had the answer to all my troubles.

Okay, this part is spot-on with where I am concerned...

I agree with you, however, this creates some conflicts with other parts of my proposed "business-model" for this potential business...

1.) I want to know who you are and build a customer profile. That necessitates a register now and buy later like most e-commerce sites require (e.g. Amazon.com)

2.) It is my sense - although maybe falsely - that #1 also slightly decreases fraud and just generally makes it easier for me to contact you and visa-versa from a Customer Service standpoint.

3.) While this part could vary, ultimately I would be looking for repeat business. So a customer account/profile is a must. (For example, you attend a seminar, like it, and sign up for another seminar and/or you also pay fr a subscription to compliment the seminar.)

4.) While I totally see your "take the money and run" approach, sometimes it might work better to let people register, surf the site for free, and then after they are sold, then come back and register. (Of course in fairness to you, I never presented things that way.)

As you can tell, I have already pretty much made up my mind (on #1), but yet I still always like other people's thoughts/ideas/perspectives!

Personally, I am a power-user with e-commerce sites, so I "know the drill" and have no issues setting up a customer account and then going shopping, but I'm not sure how Joe Citizen views things.

I think most people realize they have to create a customer account before they can buy online, but for some silly reason, I just felt that having a shopping cart filled with 20 items totaling $1,500 in computer parts might make someone want to put up with a more in depth registration process, versus something (e.g. a seminar) that to maybe could be a "one off" purchase from their perspective?!

Does that make sense??

Thanks,

Amy

mpb001

Maybe I have been confused... I never said take the money and run and not to collate information. You make me sound like a cowboy 😉

SCENARIO #2:
all-in-one
1.) User selects seminar.
2.) System displays selected seminar and details. -> Amazon allows you to view product details before logging in
3.) User reviews seminar information. -> See statement above
4.) System prompts User to create an account (e.g. "register" with the site).( First time buyers at Amazon are then required to register )
5.) User completes 'New Customer Form'. -> See above
6.) User enters credit card information and approves payment. -> After registering/logging in Amazon allows continuation of purchase

The information is still captured. They still have to register before buying.

I don't know how much of your business model relies on people knowing the product before getting to you site and buying the product. Number 1 seems to rely on a form of captive audience more. That is my only concern and as I do not know your business model I was offering what I see as the safer solution. If you want to email to verify that the account is correct let them know, click on a link and carry on.

The only way to really answer this question for yourself is pick say five people you know to a good level of habitual behaviour, ideally with with different tolerances for different things and then impersonally make a decision about if they were interested would they do it, if they were potentially interested what would convert them? It abstracts it less and keeps a human connection( empathic ) in the business plan by using the mental image of them against each other to get to a central point. Your buyers are then not just some form of idealist mental figmentation. You know your target audience so so you have to find a way to relate to them to base your decision on.

"Thanks for the response. Now, not to start a religious battle, but I'm going to shoot down - no "table" - your advice here for a few reasons..."
I just want to help. I have long since learnt that people will keep asking the same question to different people until they hear the response they want. It is far more important to understand the true question and offer advice that even if it does no collude with the engrained thought it helps to accentuate the other persons desired direction.

In the end I have no penalisation of getting it wrong which is a pretty important point 🙂

Anyway I think this makes sense. The news papers are going on about "fit and healthy man has sore throat then dead 48 hrs later"( Pig Flu, starting to go around where I work but now has been deemed mild by the goverment ). I think I now have 12 hours left.

amy_damnit

mpb001;10921787 wrote:
Maybe I have been confused... I never said take the money and run and not to collate information. You make me sound like a cowboy 😉

Yah know, it was late Friday afternoon when I wrote that and I was in a hurry to get to the bank! LOL :p

Oh, I know you weren't implying anything as such. All I meant was seemed to prefer a "make it a quick, in-and-out" approach to my more layered approach.

SCENARIO #2:
all-in-one
1.) User selects seminar.
2.) System displays selected seminar and details. -> Amazon allows you to view product details before logging in
3.) User reviews seminar information. -> See statement above
4.) System prompts User to create an account (e.g. "register" with the site).( First time buyers at Amazon are then required to register )
5.) User completes 'New Customer Form'. -> See above
6.) User enters credit card information and approves payment. -> After registering/logging in Amazon allows continuation of purchase

The information is still captured. They still have to register before buying.

True, but you might not want to ask them to fill out as much stuff in Scenario #2, whereas in Scenario #1 you could have them do Username/E-mail, Challenge Questions, Billing Address, Shipping Address, Preferences, Interests Survey, etc.

Also, with Scenario #1, you are authenticating their Username/E-mail which is pretty standard these days.

I don't know how much of your business model relies on people knowing the product before getting to you site and buying the product. Number 1 seems to rely on a form of captive audience more. That is my only concern and as I do not know your business model I was offering what I see as the safer solution.

Well, as we discussed offline, my first goal is to just build an e-commerce site and get that out of the way. Then I can apply it to several business plans I have. I'm not 100% sure which way I'll go as far as creating a customer base. There are lots of alternative?!

You make good points, and I appreciate you playing devil's advocate.

But let me ask this - not having had to register in a long time...

What do you think would make people adverse to Registering in Step 1 and then Buying in Step 2?

Off the top of my head, I had to do that at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, NewEgg, Apple (I think), PayPal, and several other online stores/services.

If you have a captive enough audience that they want to spend $$ with you, isn't the relationship far enough along that they will gladly Create a Member Account and then Buy Online? (I can't think of any large and credible online stores that don't do it that way. It is only the Ma & Pa sites that do Scenario #2.)

If you want to email to verify that the account is correct let them know, click on a link and carry on.

So you are saying you could do that part all rolled up in Scenario #2?

The only way to really answer this question for yourself is pick say five people you know to a good level of habitual behaviour, ideally with with different tolerances for different things and then impersonally make a decision about if they were interested would they do it, if they were potentially interested what would convert them?

That is a good idea. 🙂

It abstracts it less and keeps a human connection( empathic ) in the business plan by using the mental image of them against each other to get to a central point. Your buyers are then not just some form of idealist mental figmentation. You know your target audience so so you have to find a way to relate to them to base your decision on.

And you said you weren't any good with business?! 😛

I just want to help. I have long since learnt that people will keep asking the same question to different people until they hear the response they want.

Sad but true for all of us!

It is far more important to understand the true question and offer advice that even if it does no collude with the engrained thought it helps to accentuate the other persons desired direction.

In the end I have no penalisation of getting it wrong which is a pretty important point 🙂

Ha ha. true!

Anyway I think this makes sense. The news papers are going on about "fit and healthy man has sore throat then dead 48 hrs later"( Pig Flu, starting to go around where I work but now has been deemed mild by the goverment ). I think I now have 12 hours left.

Well then, come on man, let's get this figure out! We - I mean you - don't have much time left!! LOL :p

I take it you caught something?? Well, I'll pray it is just a head-cold.

(One that is ONE THING that is a plus to being terminally unemployed...)

Please get better!!

Sincerely,

Amy