While searching for best practices on “how to design user friendly forms”, I stumbled up this very interesting article here.  The author has given a very practical example of how a change of a button and user flow has given a tremendous boost to the sales for a retail store. He explains how a simple registration form (with 3 fields) can still cause a problem for users to complete the purchase. The usability tests showed 2 important results –

– First time buyers are not interested in a relationship with the retail shop. They just want to purchase the items and leave.

– Many buyers don’t remember their email or passwords that they registered with. They resented registring again and leave the site without completing the purchase.

Simple solution –

Change button from “Register” to “Continue” that takes users to next step where they fill up the billing and shipping details and DONE. No need to overwhelm users with settig up a yet another account whose password they will forget in few weeks anyways. If they do like your site and wants to come back for more shopping, give them an option to create an account after they complete their first purchase. But remember – if they do choose to create an account, make sure you save their previous filled information (name, email, billing & shipping details) so that they don’t have to fill them again.

You should always try to  think of all possible ways to make  your customer’s life easy. The more free they feel, the more happy they will be which in turns get you appreciation and more sales in long run !