Don’t Force People to Stay on your Website

One of the great things about the Web is that it’s virtually timeless. A business can operate 24/7. Likewise, people can purchase products at any time of the day. But, it is common for Websites to only allow users to complete sign ups, purchases, etc in one sitting for fear of having to start over.

Now, Vectormagic, like Browsershots, understood that people are busy. Both sites offer an easy way to link back to the results of their request. No need to wait in front of the computer.

Those sites also understood that it’s not because a transaction is not completed that it never will. Perhaps your users underestimated the time it would to take to sign up, receive a service or purchase a product on your Website.

So what if they did?

Users can always leave. Maybe some will not return but, if you make it easy for them to stop and come back without losing what they were working on, they will remember the quality of your customer experience.

Netflix, the online video rental site, goes even further by turning pending sign ups or transactions into marketing opportunities through email reminders.

Sure, keeping additional sessions is more work on your back-end and there’s information you can’t (and shouldn’t) be keeping (eg. live inventory, credit card information, etc) but, if it leads to more engagement and additional business, maybe it’s an idea your company should consider.

Suggested Reading:

• [Design ideas] SAP, Bloglines, Gap checkout
• [Design ideas] Geni, Facebook, AOL