Vicky,
        From a "forms" point of view, we have had the greatest number of
responses on our survey's by adding them to a portion of an existing
"informational" page... Meaning not putting a "click here to take our
survey" (although we do that too) but bringing the entire form up to a
secondary area on a content page. You are forced to design the form with
few, short questions... but the nice part for the user is that they can see
the entire form/all the questions and don't get "scared off" by being
offered to "click here to take our (perhaps huge) survey"... we've gotten
over DOUBLE the number of responses using this method.
Perhaps this can help?

Charlie
 _________________________________
 Charlie Nichols, Internet Development Advisor
 Dell Online
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    The height of cultivation runs to simplicity.
        Halfway cultivation runs to ornamentation.
                                  - Bruce Lee


-----Original Message-----
From: Victoria Morville [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, February 05, 1999 10:20 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: gathering user profiles


Does anyone have any input on the best ways to gather user profile
information online?  I would like to learn more about who is using our site,
what their interests are, and what type of content they find most valuable,
but I'm concerned that lengthy registration forms will turn new users away.

Most of the content is free, but some requires payment.  So I'd like to have
two levels of registration - if they're signing up as members or purchasing
content, we can ask them a few profile questions as part of the registration
process.  But if they're using free content, how acceptable would it be to
take them through a page of 3-4 questions before first time access?

As an alternative, if we simply provide a "tell us about yourself" link on
our site, will enough people take the time to answer our questions
voluntarily?  And how many questions are "too many?"

Thanks for your input,

Vicky Morville, User Interface Designer