And the debate over "forced registration" rages on . . . weighing in today is MarketingCharts.com. Their article, Consumers Frustrated by Site Registrations, Passwords, confirms what many of us already suspected: consumers don't like being asked to register on a website. In fact, one survey the site quotes found that 90% of consumers will leave a website if they forget their required login information. (For the record, I'm among that 90%.)

The Conflict

Most consumers have password fatigue. You can sympathize with this, I'm sure. However, you have made the significant investment in your website because you are hoping it will generate leads for you. In order to generate a lead, your website needs to somehow capture the contact information of the people visiting it. But the last thing you want to do is annoy them in the process, potentially losing their business.

One way to do this is with a simple lead capture form – you know, the good old "For more information" box in the side navigation where people enter their name and email address. The other way is what we're talking about today: forced registration. Forced registration requires a consumer to create an account on your website in order to gain access to some sort of benefit. In creating the account, they provide their contact information and (herein lies the rub) choose a username/password.

Oh, and did I mention that they apparently HATE it? According to MarketingCharts, more than half of respondents in a recent study will leave a website and never return if presented with registration requirements. That's a pretty disheartening statistic. So what is a poor agent or broker to do?