3 alternatives to creating a customer account

Conversion rates show how many visitors to an online shop actually become purchasers and is influenced by numerous factors. The wrong colour, a non-functional internal search, or poor customer support can send conversion rates into the cellar. But even when wares are already sitting in the shopping cart, the customer journey is by no means over. Apart from payment providers and the length of the checkout, compulsory registration is also a reason for potential customers to break-off their purchase, despite a full shopping cart. So what alternatives are there to the customer account?

Ordering as a guest

The option of ordering as a guest is recommendable for the occasional shopper in particular. As long as registration is optimised, the customer can complete a purchase in just a few clicks and address input. The confirmation of an account is eliminated and is replaced by the shortest possible registration and check-out process. The online shop KICKZ uses this method effectively.

After a click on “order as guest” comes just the address form and the selection of a payment provider. If you select PayPal here for instance, the last email address used is taken as a log-in. Up to 26 percent of potential purchasers break-off the purchasing process if registration is compulsory, which is why guest registration makes a lot of sense.

Ordering via a payment provider

Most online shoppers have an Amazon or PayPal account. Both offer their own check-out system. The customer uses their Amazon or PayPal account and finishes the purchase with one of these providers. From a shop operator’s perspective however, the disadvantage of the wallet solution is that they incur fees from 3 to 10 percent per transaction. On the other hand, there is the trust which customers have in the brands PayPal and Amazon which has a positive influence on conversion rates. PayPal is one of the most popular payment methods for purchasing in the internet.

Ordering via a social media account

Registration via a social media account is also possible. Here the customer just has to log-in via Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube. The online shop MMOGA.de sells keys and virtual objects for computer games. Apart from the above-mentioned log-in options, the registration process here is additionally tailored to the target group, as log-in via the platforms Steam, Twitch, or Reddit is also possible.

A social log-in eliminates the creation of a new account. The customer does however need to already have a high degree of trust in the shop if they are supposed to log-in with a Facebook account for instance, as it involves granted diverse legal rights, such as access to the friends list.

Making registration palatable

The aim of an online shop should still be to get the potential customers to create a fully-fledge account. This is the only way to address the customer better in the future, for instance with personalisation. This may be achieved with a bonus for new customers, for instance. Rakuten for example, offer a bonus of 5 euros for the creation of a new user account.

The optimisation of the registration process only plays a part in improving the conversion rates. Similar to the shop colours, operators have to make sure that registration fits into a holistic shop concept. MMOGA is exemplary in this case, as their social log-in possibilities are oriented directly towards their target group. The alternatives to traditional compulsory registration are diverse and should play an important role in the conceptual design.