Complications with Website Log in and/or Passwords
Providing an opportunity to register on your site is advantageous to the site visitor as well as the site owner. For the site visitor, registering can provide many benefits: the ability to pay bills online, review account information, receive personalized news or updated content, or a multitude of other services. The website owner benefits too from an immediate revenue stream, increased brand loyalty, and an opportunity to push news, information, products and services to their visitor base. Once registered it is key for this very important audience to have an easy and successful experience when logging in to the website. In reviewing feedback from WebIQ data, three issues continue to surface as login problems.
The first issue occurs when web sites require a unique combination of login and password values that differ from the majority of other sites. When visitors are forced to create a login and password that are different from the ‘common’ ones they use they tend to forget one or the other or both and get highly frustrated when trying to log in to the site. Example visitor comments when this occurs include, ‘Need to be registered - thought I was but did not come up’ and ‘Can’t remember username or password’. The second situation that exists is one that is compounded by the first situation. When the site visitor tries to log in and either the log in and/or the password fails the site displays an error message that is either not helpful in resolving the problem or is displayed in a location on the page where the visitor fails to see there is an issue. Again, this results in visitor frustration and the success of the visit results in failure.
Example visitor comments include, ‘I have no idea why I can’t log in.’ and ‘I am not sure if my password or my user name is incorrect. I have tried everything I know. This is futile.’ Finally, the third and most frustrating situation is when the visitor realizes the log in and / or password have failed and there is no clear way to retrieve the correct log in and/or password or contact the site owner for resolution. Visitor comments include, ‘I planned to order a number of items for Christmas from this site but clearly they aren’t really interested in me doing so because there is no way to find out what my username and password is for logging in. I will go somewhere else.’ and ‘How can I log in? There is no way to find out the password I used.’ Here’s what we recommend:
If possible, provide visitors with the ability to create user names and passwords that are consistent with the format used by ’streamline’ sites. For example a six character password which requires at least one alpha and one numeric character is reasonable.
When visitors are attempting to login to the site and fail, provide clear direction regarding the problem in an obvious area of the page. For example using red letters for the error message is usually effective in getting it noticed; telling the visitor whether their ID or password is not recognized is helpful rather than telling them that either the ID or password is invalid. At least they have some direction as to what’s wrong.
Lastly, ensure the site visitor has an easy method for contacting the site owner or retrieving the correct login information. Clicking a link that triggers the password being sent to the visitor’s email address seems to work well for our customers. (Note: your password email could end up stuck in a spam filter)
Sharon Johnson
WebIQ Project Manager