Visitors consider lengthy forms, such as the one displayed in Figure 6-2, to be intrusive. It’s not too difficult to get an email address from visitors, but the moment you start asking for more information, you will see a significant drop in conversions. We understand that an email address in many cases is not enough to capture all the information needed to follow up with a potential customer; however, you should limit forms to the minimum number of fields you need.
Many times ecommerce companies would like to increase their email subscriptions, and although this is not a problem in itself, if it competes with the overall goal and objective of the page, it becomes a FUD. This is where the idea of congruency on a page is crucial—there should be one primary goal to any single page on the site. Other secondary goals can be identified without directly competing with the primary goal. Figure 6-3 shows an attempt by an online retailer to increase email subscriptions by placing the email subscription box within the checkout process. Of course, visitors who go through the checkout are going to provide an email address to the retailer anyway.
Forms and sign-ups have an impact on FUDs because this is the point where the user includes his personal information. Sensitivity to this issue is very important to decrease any fears users may have about giving out their information. It’s important to reduce the number of fields and try to be conscious of where you ask for information from the user.