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by idle_processor 5471 days ago
Email registration won't always fix retention problems.

In general, if a site forces me to register, and I either (a) don't trust the site ownership/security, or (b) don't yet intend to become a long-term user, I will fall back to using a http://bugmenot.com/ login or sign up with a disposable email address obtained via a service like http://mailinator.com or http://10minutemail.com. In general, I find having to verify email addresses tedious and annoying, but it's not generally a deal-breaker.

In another post, you mentioned "i do not allow for email address change." That could be a problem for impulsive users considering making the switch from short- to long-term use. Churning email addresses out isn't that hard, if one is so inclined. Ironically, one of the places I think confirmation email might be helpful, is when changing email address. If you force the user to confirm from both addresses, you run less risk that they make a typo in their new address.

That's all personal, though. You may want to search for existing conversion/retention research or just conduct some A/B tests.

If spammer sign-up is a big concern, and you want to prevent them from mucking up your data, consider something like http://www.google.com/recaptcha to deter bots.

1 comments

Thanks for the pointers.

spammer sign up is not a concern.

I will try some A/B tests. I was ust hoping to get similar data from fellow HNers...