Thanks to everyone who replied to this topic. Many good ideas to 
think about. I haven't been able to reconnect w/the client this week, 
but I'll apply these ideas when we talk again.

                                         -- hs

At 03:40 PM 10/14/2008, Hal Shubin wrote:

>When you want people to sign up for a free trial of a Web 
>application, you want the signup process to be as quick as possible. 
>Email address and password (plus password confirmation) seems the be 
>the least amount of information.
>
>But, what happens when that user has to recover her password? 
>Because the signup didn't ask for any sort of security information, 
>how can we verify that it's the right user? We need some other 
>information, but that makes signup longer.
>
>This seems trivial (just ask for the customer's first pet's 
>elementary school principal's favorite color), but I'm sure the 
>Marketing folks will balk when I suggest adding to the nice, short 
>signup process.
>
>I thought of the explanation Staples.com gave when they started 
>asking for ZIP/Postal codes before showing products: we can serve 
>you better if we know where you live, and know what stores and 
>products are nearby (or something like that, and they don't seem to 
>do it anymore). If we do ask for a security token, explaining the 
>purpose might make it seem like a *good* thing to prospective customers.
>
>Any thoughts or experience with this?
>
>thanks                          -- hs
>
>. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>Hal Shubin
>Interaction Design, Inc.
>617 489 6595
>www.user.com
>
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