Consumers Hate Being Forced to Register At A Site to Buy

[Kristijntje]

Online retailers face a dilemma: they value the customer information they obtain when shoppers register, but many consumers will abandon a sale if required to register. The solution, Forrester Research says, is to explain to consumers the value they receive by registering and to sweeten the offer with discounts or other benefits.

23% of consumers say that the last time they were asked to register for making an online purchase they left the site, Forrester says in its report “Required Registration Lowers Online Conversion Rates.” Most likely to leave were those 63 and older (26%) and shoppers 52 to 62 (24%). All other age groups abandoned at a 22% rate, Forrester says...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=26177

[BellisimaJ.]

I hate being "required" to register. I like having the option to register, and I usually do register if I plan on making repeat purchases.

IMO, ecommerce sites should never make it mandatory to register. And yes, I have clicked off a few times when registration was required and I simply didn't want to be bothered or became annoyed.